An Authentically Dishonest Newt

Adult newts, we are told, have lizard-like bodies and may be either fully aquatic, living permanently in the water, or semi-aquatic, living terrestrially but returning to the water each year to breed. (Wikipedia)

Newt Gingrich apparently has found his element in the murky, toxic depths of the rhetoric of the far right .  In conversation with the National Review Online he offers the outlandish and racist suggestion that the first President to successfully pass legislation that helps make healthcare affordable for all Americans  “is so outside our comprehension, that only if you understand Kenyan, anti-colonial behavior, can you begin to piece together [his actions]?” According to Gingrich, Obama “is a person who is fundamentally out of touch with how the world works, who happened to have played a wonderful con, as a result of which he is now president.”

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/246302/gingrich-obama-s-kenyan-anti-colonial-worldview-robert-costa

Here is  The Patient Bill of Rights http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/patientsbillofrights

Clearly in touch with the needs of millions of Americans previously left uninsured, President Obama remains inexplicably outside Mr. Gingrich’s comprehension or ability to recognize Christian faith principles in action.

The man who wrote Rediscovering God in America and who embraced Catholicism upon marrying for the third time apparently sees the President’s commitment to justice and to serving those in need as alien and unfathomable. Perhaps Mr. Gingrich should rediscover the Gospels to better understand President Obama’s commitment to living it. Love the Lord your God; Love your Neighbor. Don’t have to go to Kenya for that, Mr. Gingrich. It’s right there in your Bible. Try Matthew 22:36-40

Thanks to Wikipedia, we also know that “most newts can be safely handled, provided that the toxins they produce are not ingested or allowed to come in contact with mucous membranes or breaks in the skin.”  The best thing to do this election season apparently is to keep Newt Gingrich from coming into contact with unsuspecting, credulous voters. Meanwhile, thankfully, some conservative voices like David Frum are expressing outrage at the hijacking of their authentic conservative philosophy by the likes of Newt.

David Frum upbraids Gingrich, Dinesh D’Souza and Forbes which published the D’Souza piece that inspired Gingrich’s remarks,  for perpetuating the argument “that Obama is an infiltrating alien, a deceiving foreigner — and not just any kind of alien, but specifically a Third World alien…. Nothing more offends conservatives than liberal accusations of racial animus. Yet here is racial animus, unconcealed and unapologetic, and it is seized by savvy editors and an ambitious politician as just the material to please a conservative audience. That’s an insult to every conservative in America.”

As it should be to every Christian.