Why does Newt Gingrich get to appear on serious television shows when his career barely qualifies him for Celebrity Apprentice?
In an effort to bring balance to the Sunday talk show circuit by booking someone who represents alternate forms of reality, Meet the Press had Gingrich on as a guest to argue that homosexuals (yes, you!) are making Catholics outlaws. Really.
The problem with the gays, says Gingrich, is “the one-sidedness of the desire for rights.” Because seeking protections from people discriminating against you violates the rights of people who want to discriminate against you. Gingrich’s case in point: Catholics who are “outlawed” from adoption services in Massachusetts and D.C.
Except, of course, it was the Catholic hierarchy that pulled the plug accepting public funding in both places because it couldn’t do so and still discriminate against same-sex couples. Undeterred, Gingrich insisted that the Catholics were the winners of the victimhood sweepstakes.
How about we take this to the next level?
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“This passing reference to religion, we sort of respect religion — sure, as long as you don’t practice it,” Gingrich asserted, before going completely off the rails and arguing that for “any institution which does not automatically accept [gay rights]…you’re going to have a secular state say to a wide range of religious groups… ‘You cannot practice your religion the way you believe it, and we will outlaw your institutions.'”
Getting morality lectures from Gingrich is pretty rich, given his own history. More to the point, how desperate do talk show bookers have to be to resort to a has-been who is going to recycle the same old arguments. Time to move outside the Beltway bubble, folks. The ’90s aren’t calling any more.
2eo
I think you’ll find the rampant paedophilia has forced catholicism out of the mainstream and onto the sec offenders register.
In fact it’s harder to find someone who isn’t a paedophile who preaches catholic doctrine than one who is.
Charles175
Irrelevant of what was or was not said here, when it comes to secular laws governing this country, the “Religious Right” “Moral Majority” ect… doesn’t want their perceived right to impose religious laws for everyone else infringed upon. Message to all Fundamentalists that are the first to rewrite US history: The United States is not a theocratic founded country. If it were there would be no separation of Church and State that protects both sides from each other. Also we would instead be called “The United Christian States of America”. The ends justifying the means and “Lying for the Lord” is not the way to go.
Origami Condoms
No, righteous catholics make catholics outlaws. Sheesh!
Nikkidane
This is rich coming from a guy who’s been married 3 times….lol and who probably should not be allowed to receive communion according to Catholic rules. Gays who have any sense at all have long written off the Catholic Church as a Mid-evil bunch of men trying to force society to accept their narrow view of religion. They have spent millions trying to obstruct civil rights legislation for LGBT people globally. The Catholic hierarchy have made horrible statements about LGBT people claiming they are “intrinsically immoral” and disordered. The psychological damage that the Catholic Church does to LGBT people, especially children, is immeasurable. We don’t even need to get into the pedophile problem and the hypocrisy of priests being sexually active in secrecy or their view on women in leadership positions and priesthood. How about their view on divorce and birth control, which seem to be ignored by the members? The Catholic Church is responsible for alienating itself from most self respecting, intelligent people. Only an idiot would not be angered by their arrogance and hypocrisy and immoral behavior towards LGBT folks.
sanfranca1
This from a serial aldulterer.
Cam
Catholics are NOT ‘Outlawed” from performing adoption services in Massachusetts.
Their bigotry meant more to them than providing adoptions so THEY closed up shop on their own rather than stop their bigotry to protest the laws protecting gays.
Again, if some group doesn’t think blacks should have the right to be citizens, and the U.S. says they do…if that group closes a charity so they don’t have to serve blacks, that isn’t them being forced out. That is them choosing their rac-ism over their desire to help others.
Of course the talking heads never take Gingrich to task for this, I guess asking for a little educated reporting is too much.
erikwm
The problem with people like Gingrich is they believing “practicing” their religion requires imposing it on others.
The worse problem for the Catholic Church is that as gays and lesbians become fully integrated into society, continued demonization will lead to empty pews. We already see this in current demographics trends. A record high 20% of Americans now say they don’t belong to any religious faith, a certain backlash against the rampant politicization of the church. The so-called “nones” have risen 12% in the past 2 decades.
The church may bemoan the increasing secularism in American society, but they are the ones causing it. They’re driving people away.
CaptainFabulous
Ahhh, Newton, just as crazy and full of hubris as ever. How’s that moon base coming along?
Polaro
I only wish I could outlaw Catholics. Someone should. I’d sure like to lock Newt up for adultery too.
NormdePlume
Works for me
PSPoolside
Stupidity really runs deep in this man. Is Newt Catholic and if so which of his marriages do they recognize?
Bulls Eye
Riiiiight. Gays make Catholics outlaws. Just like children make Priests pedophiles.
Or having a wife makes Newt an Adulterer.
Let’s just blame the victim, shall we?
Kieran
Gingrich cannot be a Catholic since he is divorced and technically living in sin. Repent Newton.
Fidelio
It was disconcerting that Joy Reid had to do all the heavy lifting against both Rich Lowry and Newt Gingrich in Sunday’s Meet the Press round table, although she did a great job exposing the fallacy in Gingrich’s argument. She repudiated Gingrich’s position that gay rights were stymying religion because religion ought not be setting public policy. Joy correctly pointed out that religion cannot exclude certain segments of society when that organization sets out to offer a public service. Later, Joy, again, had to single-handedly dismantle Gingrich and Lowry when they disgustingly tried to pin Kermit Gosnell’s horrific abortion practices on the plight of abortion rights and its advocates. Joy was truly the only adult in the room.
davegun2
@NormdePlume: And I’m down with it too.
Polaro
@CaptainFabulous: I elect Newt be President of the moon colony. He must move there immediately to attend to his new leadership duties.
Derek Williams
The Vatican has made Catholics outlaws, not “gays”. The majority of Catholics support LGBT equality, even greater than the national average.
http://www.quinnipiac.edu/institutes-and-centers/polling-institute/national/release-detail?ReleaseID=1863
JohnMc888
Why doesn’t he just commit adultery with a Catholic bishop and shut up?
JohnMc888
@Kieran: Newt is married in the Catholic church. he’s in good standing. If you don’t like this fact ask your or a bishop why/
JohnMc888
@erikwm: Ex-Catholics would make the third or fourth “religious” group in the United States. The Catholic numbers stay steady only because of Hispanic immigrants. But they will also be leaving that chucrch within one or two generations. They will always hold on to a solid number of cranks.
Derek Williams
@JohnMc888: The Catholic Church outlaws Divorce as a mortal sin yet Gingrich has been married three times, with the first two marriages ending in divorce. That makes him a hypocrite.
Christ says not to judge others, and when Gingrich judges gays as sinners, that makes him a hypocrite twice over.
The Bible commands parents to kill their disobedient children:
DEUTERONOMY 21:18-21 If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother… then all the men of the city shall stone him to death with stones.
LEVITICUS 20:9 anyone who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death.
I happen to know Gingrich has not killed any naughty children, and so that makes him three times a hypocrite.
Ogre Magi
@NormdePlume: AMEN
Kieran
@JohnMc888: You claim Newton was married in a Catholic church? Citation needed.
LubbockGayMale
OK, a man who has had multiple marriages is blaming US for the woes of Catholics? Jeez, the hypocrisy of some folks is unbelievable!
JohnMc888
@Kieran:
ONE SOURCE, WITH EXCERPT
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/20/newt-gingrich-open-marriage_n_1218673.html
Gingrich began the annulment process, which may take years, in 2002 with a request that the Archdiocese of Atlanta declare “null” his marriage to his second wife, Marianne Gingrich. Church observers believe he asked around the same time to annul his first marriage. Both requests presumably were successful, as Gingrich is now in good standing with the church.
Church records on annulments are kept confidential and Gingrich’s current priest, Msgr. Walter Rossi of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., declined to talk specifics about his parishioner. Experts in canon law, the internal rules of the church, say it’s unlikely that a twice-divorced and twice-remarried man could join a Catholic church without his previous marriages being annulled.
P.S. The grounds for annulling his Lutheran second marriage could have been his expressed interest in maintaining an open marriage with his new second wife. Entering into an open marriage – as Newt expressed he was doing – is sufficient grounds for an annulment in The Catholic Church.
More, From NY TIMES
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/geneveith/2011/12/newt-wasnt-married-after-all/
Jerry12
Considering that Mr.Gingrich ——- OH what is the point? He has been a “Has been” of the first order for so long, why is he even quoted by news organizations any more? Yes, he desearves our respect for what he endured as a Prisoner of War, but that does not let him attack Gays for being what HIS GOD created them to be. GOD DOES NOT MAKE MISTAKES! MEN, MAKE MISTAKES! How dare you, or anyone else, say that GOD made a mistake when he created Homosexuals? We are here because your GOD wants us to be here. We are serving a purpose for GOD, weather you like it or not.
Kieran
How somebody like Newt Gingrich, who has THREE wives (so far) has the gall to cast stones at gay people is what Jews refer to as chutzpah. The rest of us just call it blatant hypocrisy.
JohnMc888
@Jerry12: I don’t get your point. Why are you accusing me of saying that God made a mistake when he made homosexuals. Where do you get that? And when was Newt a prisoner of war? I consider Newt an egomaniacal bigot and my posts clearly show his hypocrisy. I have worked hard for marriage equality and I don’t appreciate your weird post.
JohnMc888
@Jerry12: To clarify, this from the site 212 Republican Candidates: Gingrich received a draft deferment during the Vietnam War owing to the fact that he was studying at the time in Tulane University and he had children. In addition, he was also impaired with short-sightedness and had flat feet (pes planus).
jmmartin
Actually, NEWTIE has made Catholics outlaws. I mean, think about it. Here is a guy who has married and divorced twice and is currently on Wife #3, mainly because he cannot keep his dick in his pants. Both divorces were precipitated by extramarital affairs, which is a no-no in the RCC, as is divorce. (Newt served one wife divorce papers in the hospital where she was being treated for cancer.) That the Catholic Church would overlook his history of womanizing — including being caught red-handed getting a b.j. in a car outside a fundraiser or other social event — in complete opposition to their teachings tells you more about the Roman Church than about Newt. They need point men in government, including lobbyist types like Gin-grich. Things like this, not to mention the pedophile scandals, are what is outlawing Catholicism as a religion worth following. Newtie is making Catholics outlaws.
charlieg
@JohnMc888:
The Catholic Church was established by crazy powermongers who took control over one man’s mission, one Jewish man, and built up a ton of bs to which intellectually challenged nitwits like Gingrich subscribe. It just shows that it is a patriarchally controlled club for guys who want to dress up in drag! The mere fact that his 2 previous marriages were ‘annulled’ attests to the women-hating institution that it is. Women are totally subordinated & nullified. Of course that suits ‘Nit-wit Gin-rich’. And it is ‘rich’ that the biggest ‘drag show’ in the world won’t allow gays to play.
The Catholic Church is the most corrupt institution in the world & pope francis who denied support to the mothers of ‘the disappeared’. The church can ‘spin’ francis a fancy new bio but his sin is unforgivable. Just a pity that there is no ‘fiery hell’ for him & Nit-wit to burn in 4ever.
Derek Williams
There is a steaming argument going on with anti-gay commenters here:
http://www.mediaite.com/tv/newt-gingrich-slams-one-sidedness-of-gay-rights-citing-services-from-which-catholics-are-outlawed/
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