I am reconsidering my leanings toward Newt. Here is the problem.


Post script:  I may have just talked myself out of supporting Newt.  Here is why:  

Problem number one:  Understand that Newt had an affair with his second wife while married to his first wife.  He had a six year affair with his present wife (Callista) while married to his second wife.
While he might win the GOP nomination in spite of this matter,  I am concerned about the national opinion.  Understand that all this is an “old scandal,”  a matter of record for 12 years. While it is old news,  it might be so old that its rebroadcast could be considered “news” by a younger generation.
You can bet that the press will not be intimidated by Newt’s angry response. 
Will his request for forgiveness be enough to close the doors on these episodes?  What would be the impact of all this mess if presented to a 40 year old not familiar with Newt's past?  

Issue number two:  that business of Newt on the couch with Pelosi.  I remember that event and I remember my immediate response:  “Well,  that does it for Newt.”  Understand this, in sitting on that couch, Newt totally misunderstood the angst against Pelosi,  felt by the conservative community.  There is a reason why,  to this day,  she is the single most unpopular congressional personality.  
How could he have ever made the decision to sit on that couch and partner with Pelosi on environment climate issues? While he was trying to do the right thing as relates to the environment,  he didn't have to partner with the Nazi Lady,  did he??  
Understand that the “couch” is not the “rest of the story.”  He was a six year member of the Sierra Club and he supported the 1989 Global Warming Prevention Act.  The bill failed in the House.  In fact, it never got out of committee.   Its description includes this official commentary: 
101st Congress:  1989-1990                   To establish national policies and support and encourage international agreements that implement energy and natural resource conservation strategies appropriate to preventing the overheating of the Earth's atmosphere, known as the "greenhouse effect".
What is not stated in the above description, is the fact that this proposal included a population control element – a social conservative’s biggest nightmare.  This is sooooooo not conservative legislation and Newt worked to pass this bill just four years before becoming Speaker.
As if that was not bad enough, the couch episode was followed by his call for mandatory carbon caps and this was in 2009. 
While Newt has solved this positional problem by simply admitting that it was “stupid and uninformed,” such does not mitigate the fact that had he been successful,  these laws would be on the books,  today . . . . Newt’s apologies not withstanding. 

A third problem is a current issue:  Newt has decided to take the position that he would ignore Supreme Court decisions with which he disagrees.  Isn’t that what Obama is doing?  It’s “ok” as long as our guy is doing it?  I don’t think so.   This is not a good thing . . . . . . . . . . . in fact, the more I think about (as I write),  the more disturbing this is.  Understand that, with Obama’s recent decisions to on his own and outside the Constitutional precess,  we now know that there is little we can do about a rogue president.  We can’t shoot them,  of course, and, apparently,  we cannot impeach them for acting outside the course of Constitutional law.  And Newt is promising to do just that  -  to act out rogue behavior. 

A fourth issue includes the ethics violations that cost Newt his position in the House.  His supporters argue that the $300,000 penalty he had to pay was for receiving an advance on a book he was writing.  They point out that Hillary took an advance and nothing was said.  O.K. ,  so why is Newt so determined to keep the House documents concerning this matter closed?  When Pelosi threatened to do just that,  more than a month ago,  Newt almost panicked.   Do we think,  for a minute,  that what Pelosi knows,  Obama doesn’t ????  Understand that 3 out of 4 Republicans on the Ethics Panel voted to remove Newt as Speaker (1999).  While that might have been an unfair action, it is clear to me that we need to know what the enemy knows . . . . . . before Newt is nominated.  There is simply no way this information will remain private.  The Dems do not care about the law,  except when it works against them.  We need to know and Romney would be righteous in pursuing this matter,  for the sake of the nation’s future. 


Update:  add to the above the fact that Newt's "likability" coefficient is 25/53 .  a terrible ratio of more than 2 to 1 in the negative column.  While his message might overcome this,  and it appears to have done in South Carolina,  it remains a significant consideration.   In that primary,  non-Republicans were allowed to vote.  Gingrich took the Independent vote and ran a close second with Moderates.  Her is hardly "warm and fuzzy,"  but Nixon was certainly no favorite,  either,  in terms of "likability."  

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