In a recent interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA) made the surprising claim that his multiple extramarital affairs actually make him “more normal” that his chief opponent, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney (R).
The interviewer was asking Gingrich why he thinks he’s been doing so well among evangelical Christians, and instead of pointing out that many evangelicals believe that Mormonism is a “cult,” he suggested that it was really due to his commitment to fight against liberals who he believes are conducting a “war on religion.”
Gingrich added that Christians “recognize that I have not hidden from the facts of my life, that I have confessed my weaknesses and I have had to go to God for forgiveness and for reconciliation.
“I think that most people can identify either with themselves or with friends or with loved ones that life has moments that are very sad and you wish wouldn’t have occurred, and then you look back on them and you seek forgiveness for not having been everything you could be,” he continued. “So, I think in that sense it may make me more normal than somebody who wanders around seeming perfect, and maybe not understanding the human condition and the challenges of life among the people.”
The unusual position is essentially the same thing that former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) said recently, suggesting that a revelation about Gingrich’s second marriage will actually help him “soar even more.” Gingrich has said he would consider Palin for a cabinet-level position in his potential administration.
Gingrich was recently blindsided by his second wife’s claim that after more than six years of sleeping with his mistress, who he’s since married, he asked her for an “open marriage” but was denied. He left his second wife shortly after she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, and his first wife a day after she underwent surgery for uterine cancer.
Gingrich has previously claimed that his extra-marital affairs happened because of how “passionately” he feels for the country.
The video below is from CBN, broadcast Jan. 24, 2012. The segment about the candidate’s affairs begins at 2:00.
