The Workday Liberal

In light of the recent controversy over David Kuo, I found this report of how many residents of the White House would support a Newt Gingrich candidacy for President very interesting.

To flesh out the context, Mr. Kuo has impeccable credentials as a so called Christian Conservative. He claims that Christians are being used by the White House, that their leaders are ridiculed, that everything the White House does is for politics alone, and that Karl Rove is a lout.

Now comes word from this same group of White House Pharisies that they could get behind the candidacy of one of the men who led the fight to impeach Bill Clinton, while he was conducting an affair of his own. Focusing on that issue, the article in U.S. News quotes White House insiders (called "top Bushies") as saying:

As for his [Newt's] past marital infidelity, they think it's a nothing-burger, especially if he faces Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, whose hubby had his own problems she'd rather forget.

To me this isn't about the opponent Gingrich would face in the 2008 Presidential election. I wonder about the message this would give to the so called family values crowd that the Republicans so desperately depend upon for votes. Is this particular demographic, so famous for passing moral judgement from on high, willing to promote an admitted hypocritical horndog as their candidate?

Let me remind the reader that Newts marriage was ruined by his infidelity, where as Hillary and Bill are still an item. In no way do I claim that the Democratic candidate for President ought to be a paragon of personal virtue. But after the example provided by Republicans of how they inspect and nit pick the morality of the other side, they really ought to choose their Presidential candidates with caution. I would not expect Gingrich to survive the Republican primary based upon this issue alone, but admittably I'm not the best expert at gauging the Republican mind.

I must conclude that this little blurb from U.S. News points to the absolute tone deaf nature of the Bush White House to the issues that matter most to their Christian base and provides very timely proof that Mr. Kuo is spot on with his observations. I feel compelled to thank these top Bushies for the demonstration that proves the case of Mr. Kuo.