POINTING OUT THE OBVIOUS

Newt Gingrich will be giving this year's commencement address at Jerry Falwell's Liberty University. Because of the fact that I attended Liberty my freshman year of college, this news, in light of recent confessions by Newt of an affair, peaked my interest. Here's my take:


1. During an interview with James Dobson about a month ago Gingrich said this about the Lewinsky scandal, to sort of....justify his apparent duplicitousness:

The president of the United States got in trouble for committing a felony in front of a sitting federal judge. I drew a line in my mind that said, 'Even though I run the risk of being deeply embarrassed, and even though at a purely personal level I am not rendering judgment on another human being, as a leader of the government trying to uphold the rule of law, I have no choice except to move forward and say that you cannot accept ... perjury in your highest officials.

This is hypocrisy on a sickening level. Why? Because to accuse Clinton of breaking the oath he gave to a federal judge, while breaking the oath of marriage, which I last heard was an oath to God, is abominable. Basically, Gingrich is saying, "I was breaking my oath to God, and that was wrong, but Clinton broke his oath before a federal judge, which I couldn't stand for." From a right-wing Christian viewpoint, let's look at a similar scenario. Falwell's ilk believe that adultery is a sin which, without Christ's forgiveness, condemns your soul to hell. The same thing goes for murder. Let's say Gingrich murdered somebody. Let's say Clinton murdered somebody. Let's say Clinton got caught and lied about it under oath. Now Gingrich goes after him because, even though he knew he was wrong for commiting murder himself, he couldn't let Clinton get away with breaking his oath before a federal judge. So the murder (adultery) in the sight of God was of secondary importance. In other words, "it was absolutely necessary to do my duty as a public servant on earth, but not absolutely necessary to uphold my commitment to my wife and God."

And Gingrich will be speaking at Liberty this spring. Ironically, their motto, the flame, is quite an ironic label for a group who professes to be holding the light of truth whilst burning fires of hypocrisy. I wonder if they will be holding this memorable commencement ceremony in the basketball arena.....or as it was know when I attended, THE CAULDRON.