A tale of two scumbags.

Newt Gingrich

John Edwards

John Edwards, as we all know, famously dropped out of the 2008 presidential election after it was revealed that he was carrying on an ongoing affair with Rielle Hunter, a woman hired by his campaign to produce a series of "behind the scenes" promotional films designed to market the Edwards campaign virally on Youtube and possibly be included in televised campaign ad footage.  

What made the affair especially heinous, and ultimately caused it to completely destroy not only Edward's presidential aspirations, but his entire political career and reputation as well, was two things.  First, the affair produced a child, whom Edward's initially denied being the father of, instead letting married former staffer Andrew Young claim publicly to be the father, only to finally admit, 3 years later, that he was, in fact, the child's father.  Second, that the affair was going on while Edward's wife, Elizabeth, was fighting inoperable breast cancer, which would later claim her life.

The public outrage over Edward's behavior was vicious and totally understandable.  His actions were reprehensible, his disrespect for his wife was unforgivable and his stubborn dishonesty was insulting to the intelligence of the voting public.  John Edwards, the politician, is done in this country.  He'll never be able to run for any public office again.  The damage done to his name and reputation are irreparable and it's a bed that he made and will have to lie in.  He's a scumbag of a human being and he deserves everything he gets as a consequence of his behavior.

Newt Gingrich was the speaker of the house from 1995-1999.  Like Edwards, Gingrich has also had his share of marital infidelity scandals.  Like Edwards, Gingrich cheated on his first wife, Jackie Battley, and eventually divorced her while she was in the hospital, being treated for cancer.  Six months after his divorce was finalized, Gingrich married his mistress, Marianne Ginther.  In the mid-1990's, Gingrich became a leader of the Republican investigation into the Monica Lewinsky scandal involving former president Bill Clinton.  Gingrich headed up the investigation, which focused on the heinous nature Clinton's affairs, conducted in the workplace, with a political staffer.  Lewinsky was a White House intern at the time of the affair.

At the same time Gingrich was chastising Bill Clinton for the shamelessness and audacity of having an extramarital affair, in the workplace, with a fellow "employee", and taking advantage of such a young and impressionable woman as Ms. Lewinsky, Gingrich was, himself, having an extramarital affair with a house of representatives staffer, Callista Bisek, in the workplace, and she was 23 years younger than him, or as he put it, "young and impressionable."  Gingrich would eventually divorce his second wife and marry Bisek, to whom he is still married today.

Unlike Edwards, Gingrich didn't father a love child with his mistresses.  However, he is not without paternal controversy.  His first wife, Jackie, had to take him to court to sue him to pay support where it was revealed that their utilities were about to be shut off and Gingrich had contributed nothing financially to help support his two daughters.

So, why is it that one scumbag, who cheated on his wife while she was hospitalized with cancer and later married his mistress is a public pariah who couldn't get a job at Starbucks, while the other scumbag, who cheated on his wife while she was hospitalized with cancer and later married his mistress only to cheat on her with another woman, whom he would also go on to marry is now announcing his intention to once again run for president? 

Oh, and let's not forget the house banking and ethics scandals Gingrich was involved in, you remember?  The 22 bounced checks that almost cost him his 1992 congressional re-election?  Edwards paid Rielle Hunter a completely undeserved salary using campaign funds to follow him around with a camera and pretend to be making this "behind the scenes" film while she fucked him, but Gingrich got his second wife a $2500 a month "plus commissions" job as part of a deal he made to establish a "Free trade zone" in Israel. 

Gingrich also abused two tax-exempt charitable organizations he headed in order to pay personal expenses and funnel money into other GOP candidates election funds, a violation that eventually led to him being fined $300,000 by the Senate ethics committee.

Gingrich also accepted a $4.5 million dollar book deal from Harper Collins, a publishing company owned by Rupert Murdoch.  This led to a complaint being filed for ethical and legal violations, as Murdoch's company is foreign-owned and his paying $4.5 million to a sitting U.S. politician was a clear breach of ethics and conflict of interest and was against the law.  The ensuing controversy ultimately ended when Gingrich agreed to reject the $4.5 million advance, instead quietly taking royalties on the back end, which would ultimately earn Gingrich far more than the initial $4.5 million.  

So, what's the deal?  Edwards cheats on his cancer-stricken wife and is worse than Hitler.  Gingrich cheats on his cancer stricken wife and he's an early front runner in the 2012 presidential election.  Edwards uses campaign funds to get his mistress a cushy job working on his campaign and he's an unethical bastard, Gingrich uses public funds to bounce 22 personal checks and makes a sweetheart deal with the Israelis to get his second wife a cushy job and earns $300,000 in fines for ethics violations and he's a front runner in the 2012 presidential election.  Why do Republicans love amoral, cheating, thieving, lying scumbags so much?  Why do Republicans want guys like this to lead them so strongly?  Why do Republicans idolize unethical shit heads?  I'm just curious.  What makes the Democratic shit head such a horrible guy, but the Republican shit head gets a total pass and everyone on the right can't suck his dick hard enough to be the next candidate for president to represent you?  Are these the values you hold?  Is this the guy you think best represents who you are and what you stand for?  Is this the message the rest of us should take?  That Republicans love guys who cheat on their cancer-stricken wives, then cheat on their second wives, then steal tax payer money, then violate ethics laws, then take millions in payoffs from foreign interests, then abuse croniesm to get cush jobs for chicks they're fucking?  Is this what you guys mean when you talk about strong, moral, Christian family values?