I also like his record of helping to bring the Pubbies, the contract with America, and the legislative accomplishments during the Clinton years. A candidates statements at any point in time are less important to me than the actual record and results.
So now that we have established that he is not perfect, what do you see as his 2 biggest weaknesses that might hurt him in the primaries and the General?
Let's face it - it was a bit of a scandal, tho only a bit, that Reagan was divorced and remarried. The fact that he hadn't instigated the divorce, tho, meant that he had theological wiggle room, even for Christians. Newt hasn't even practiced serial monogamy faithfully. And that is a problem, in both the primary and the general elections. Indeed, my conscience bothers me even to suggest electing a publicly poor example to the office designed for a paragon named George Washington.It matters but little that there have been others who have strayed and been known to stray, or that Clinton made a public mockery of fidelity. When you drive through town and see a billboard picturing the man, and know that the label it assigns to him - "faithful Republican, unfaithful husband" - is the truth, it smarts.
And there are other things relating to policy - sitting down with Nancy to promote the AGW hoax, for one, and questioning the Tea Party for another. Palin would have been so much better. But there it is - I guess the alternative is to vote for Santorum or Bachmann or Perry, and hope for a miracle of suddenly enhanced ability to keep foot out of mouth.