Newt Gingrich Flops on Ground Zero Mosque

Newt Gingrich is an interesting guy, to say the least. He led the Contract for America and helped gain the House majority for Republicans in 1994 and became Speaker of the House. On the other side of the coin, he is "not in favor of creating the notion of gay marriage," yet has run roughshod over the "sanctity" of marriage himself, marrying his former high school geometry teacher (clearly sine curves weren't the only thing being studied) and then finalizing their divorce while she was recovering from cancer surgery. He married a second time, but took that as a chance to have an affair with someone almost two and a half decades younger than him (while investigating the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal.) Once he ditched his second wife, he married the "other woman" and, in an ironic twist, converted to Catholicism for her. In summation, there are many layers to the onion that is Newt Gingrich.

The latest layer to be (re)revealed is Gingrich's lack of logic. In opposition to building a mosque near Ground Zero, Gingrich stated:

There should be no mosque near Ground Zero in New York so long as there are no churches or synagogues in Saudi Arabia. The time for double standards that allow Islamists to behave aggressively toward us while they demand our weakness and submission is over.

I am failing to understand why backwards religious views and rules in Saudi Arabia should dictate America's domestic actions in any way, shape or form. Quick refresher on the First Amendment:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

There is no "Saudia Arabia clause" that says "Congress shall make no law respecting an estalishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof (unless the future country of Saudi Arabia does it, then it's OK.)" It's funny that Gingrich has called Obama a "teenager with a credit card," because this outburst reminds me of the age-old plea to parents of "But so-and-so's parents are letting him do it!"

In short, Gingrich's handlers should be kicking themselves for allowing him to write this on his blog. If he had said it in an interview he could make some weak-ass excuse like, "I was in the heat of the moment, it's taken out of context, etc." but he leads his post with this garbage and there is no wiggle room for him. I feel sorry for those who listen to this rhetoric and actually believe it. The day the United States of America starts taking cues from a Wahhabi extremist country that follows Sharia law is the day I get the hell out of Dodge.

Photo - Gingrich (AJC)