“Hear that sucking sound?”

If it were possible for a television show to drain viewers’ IQs, this would be the one:

What does that say?

Dick Santorum mentions gay sex (not gay marriage or gay “lifestyle”) in 43% of his public speeches. He repeatedly compares gay sex to bestiality and pedophilia, and tells rape victims to “make the best of a bad situation”. What does that say about him?

Willard Romney has greatly resisted any sort of transparency about his income tax records. At first he announces that he would not release any of them. Then he claims he’ll release 2011 tax returns in April. Now he says he’ll disclose 2009 and 2010 returns on Tuesday. What does that say about him?

Newton Gingrich remains an inconsistent force in the primaries. Last year he said (simultaneously) that America was in danger of being both an Islamic theocracy and an atheist nation. He cheated on two wives (and married his mistresses) while claiming that he was “driven” to adultery due to his passionate patriotism. What does that say about him?

Ron Paul maintains friendly relationships with and refuses to disavow support from white supremacist groups such as Stormfront. Likewise, Paul refuses to disavow the writings of Lew Rockwell that appear in Ron Paul’s newsletters (edited by Rockwell) that are filled with racism (“the coming race wars“), homophobia (“First, these men [gays] don’t really see a reason to live past their fifties“), and wild-eyed conspiracy theories (“Evidence indicated the Anti-Defamation League monitored such groups as the Davidians in Waco, and may have helped instigate the attack“). What does that say about him?

Does the Republican Party really think it can field a winning candidate in 2012?

What does that say about them?

“It’s like we’re all amnesiacs.”

Chunks of the ABC interview with Newton Gingrich’s second wife Marianne are starting to ooze out into the public eye, including:

Marianne Gingrich, a self-described conservative Republican, said she is coming forward now so voters can know what she knows about Gingrich. In her most provocative comments, the ex-Mrs. Gingrich said Newt sought an “open marriage” arrangement so he could have a mistress and a wife. She said when Gingrich admitted to a six-year affair with a Congressional aide, he asked her if she would share him with the other woman, Callista, who is now married to Gingrich…. “He wanted an open marriage and I refused.”

She [Marianne] said Newt moved for the divorce just months after she had been diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis, with her then-husband present. “He also was advised by the doctor when I was sitting there that I was not to be under stress. He knew.”

Gingrich divorced his first wife, Jackie, as she was being treated for cancer. His relationship with Marianne began while he was still married to Jackie but in divorce proceedings, Marianne said.”

(Gingrich divorced his first wife while she was battling cancer.)

Dan Savage added a potent comment about Newton’s actions:

Technically you’re not asking your wife for an open marriage if you’ve already been fucking another woman for six years. You’re presenting your wife with an ultimatum. That doesn’t make you a proponent of open marriage, Newt, it makes you a CPOS.

Uh, folks?

If any of you were paying attention to the second Mrs. Gingrich in 2010 when she was interviewed by Esquire, you’d know all this already:

Early in May, she went out to Ohio for her mother’s birthday. A day and a half went by and Newt didn’t return her calls, which was strange. They always talked every day, often ten times a day, so she was frantic by the time he called to say he needed to talk to her.

“About what?”

He wanted to talk in person, he said.

“I said, ‘No, we need to talk now.’ ” He went quiet. “There’s somebody else, isn’t there?”

She kind of guessed it, of course. Women usually do. But did she know the woman was in her apartment, eating off her plates, sleeping in her bed?

She called a minister they both trusted. He came over to the house the next day and worked with them the whole weekend, but Gingrich just kept saying she was a Jaguar and all he wanted was a Chevrolet. ” ‘I can’t handle a Jaguar right now.’ He said that many times. ‘All I want is a Chevrolet.’ “

He asked her to just tolerate the affair, an offer she refused.

He’d just returned from Erie, Pennsylvania, where he’d given a speech full of high sentiments about compassion and family values.

How could anyone support a man who espouses one set of values and then shits on them in his private life? How could anyone support a man who is so erratic and secretive, and (ultimately) personally and politically unstable?

How?

Gingrich — joker of many trades, master of none

Awhile back, we talked about the proposed tax plans of the Republican presidential candidates.

At the time we were missing Gingrich’s ravings on the matter. However, the wait was worth it. The nonpartisan Tax Policy Center crunched his numbers, and delivered a bit of transparency and grim humor in one stroke:

Please note the theme prevalent here and in most of the Republicans’ plans. A small increase or decrease (a very small example of the latter in this example), but a huge tax cut for the rich.

Do these idiots really think they can sneak this past the public? If so, they’re not bright enough to pound sand, much less hold the highest office in the U.S.

(And if anyone thinks that Gingrich signing that silly-damn anti-gay hate pledge that “guarantees marital fidelity” will prevent him from gingriching again, I’ve got some swamp land in Jersey that I’ll sell to you cheap.)

“She isn’t young enough or pretty enough to be the President’s wife.”

Immortal words, Newton Gingrich. Immortal words.

People used to call Ronald Reagan the Teflon president. No matter what bad political steps he made (Iran/Contra, his terrible verbal gaffes, and his oncoming dementia), he managed to politically survive it all.

Newton’s been channeling Reagan, it would seem:

Click to embiggen.

One wonders how many more moral gaffes he can survive and still be a viable candidate.

Time and the internet will tell, because the media and the Republican Party sure as hell aren’t.