Ron Hughes: Eye of Newt
I’m having a good time watching the contestants slog it out in the media, dig up dirt from each other’s past and polarize the audience support base in a winner-takes-all competition.
No it’s not another season of Survivor. It’s a new “reality” show called Who Will be the Next Republican Candidate for the US Presidency?
As I write there are still four guys (and no girls) in the running, but it all seems to be coalescing around the establishment Mitt Romney and the grass roots loopy Newt Gingrich.
Last week Gingrich’s second wife Marianne told the US TV network ABC that her then-husband Newt had asked her for an “open marriage” so that, she alleged, Newt could carry on with his then lover and now third wife, Callista. Gingrich hotly denied the allegation and labeled Marianne’s comments near despicable.
When asked about the allegations during a televised live debate, the other candidates for the Candidacy all got very noble and pooh-poohed the idea of making political capital out of something so private and so ancient (it happened ten years ago.)
These are the guys whose cashed-up supporters are throwing millions into slurring one another in TV advertising.
Why does this interest me? Well of course Gingrich is a “God and Family Values” candidate who has opposed LGBTI rights for many years.
In the case of a politician like Gingrich, who will preach to ladies’ groups at the drop of a hat about God and family and values, shouldn’t he conduct himself to a high moral standard? If you are the one dealing the High Moral Ground card you’d better be able to live up to it, shouldn’t you?
Gingrich is riding on the back of a resurgent right wing in the USA with its anti-gay and xenophobic rhetoric, and its so called Tea Party Republicans who are largely unfocused and at best just vaguely nostalgic for a 1950s TV world that never existed.
The Australian right wing is marching to the same, if not somewhat muffled, drum; we’ve seen it in the attacks on LGBTI rights and the constant use of fear campaigns and dog-whistle tactics in politics.
Matthew 23:23
Look it up in your bible. Or ask a street preacher. Or email Margaret Court.
Ron Hughes is the editor of blaze.
- Tags: adelaide, blaze, Callista, gay marriage, GOP, Marianne Gingrich, marriage equality, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, ron hughes, Same-sex Marriage, Tea Party Republicans
About the Author
Ron Hughes
Ron started working for the Adelaide's former LGBTI newspaper Adelaide GT back in the late 90s. He was first engaged as a temp to work for a single hour and has remained through changes of company and publication for 12 years or so. He became editor of blaze in December 2010.
Ron loves collaborating with people and he also loves the arts, and editing blaze often brings both loves together. He is proud that blaze has played a seminal role over the years promoting not only Adelaide's LGBTI cultural festival Feast, but also the Adelaide Fringe, Adelaide Cabaret Festival and the OzAsia festival.
Ron is also proud that blaze has devoted itself to championing the rights of all LGBTI South Australians over many years. A bit of a dreamer, he nurtures a secret, furtive hope that SA may one day return to the socially-progressive state it used to be.
Comments (2)
The NewtBadger is really pretty bad*ss. It has no regard for any other person whatsoever. Look at it, it's just grunting, and telling lies. Eew! What's that? Another wife? Oh that's nasty. NewtBadger’s so nasty. Oh look it's chasing skirts and marrying them...
http://brettcottrell.blogspot.com/2012/01/newtbadger-is-real-badass.html
Ha, ha! Love the title of your article!