Thread: Dobson Slams Callista Gingrich

Dobson Slams Callista Gingrich

Victoria Pynchon, Contributor
1/20/2012 @ 12:45PM |
23,718 views

To date, the sexual sins of candidates for President have rightfully focused on the candidates themselves

Now that we’ve learned about Gingrich’s bold “ask” for an “open marriage” to accommodate his acknowledged affair with Callista Gingrich, for the first time in history, the future First Lady’s sexual sins are front and center for evangelicals and perhaps a significant portion of conservative voters.

That’s the news this morning from the evangelical right as Focus on the Family’s James Dobson declares his preference for Santorum because, among a host of other reasons, Karen Santorum “would make a fabulous first lady role model.”

Here’s the zinger.

Dobson went on to compare Karen with Callista, noting that “Newt Gingrich’s wife . . . was a mistress for eight years.”

Will The Right Forgive a Woman as They Forgive Their Men?

The evangelical right has been pretty forgiving of men’s sexual misdeeds with women, while demonizing the allegedly far greater sexual sins of our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters.

We’re now about to see what the driving issues really are within the evangelical community and the far right when it comes to comparative sexual “sin.”

Feminists have all along contended that the driving issue on the “right” in the abortion debate is women’s sexual and reproductive autonomy.

Not the “life” of a zygote, but the behavior of the mother-in-making.

That’s the basis of the horror of “abortion on demand” in right-to-life circles.

It doesn’t matter one bit to the zygote whether it was conceived in a loving monogamous marriage, whether its growth in a woman’s womb might endanger the life of the woman who “owns” that womb, or whether it came into its incipient being as the result of rape or incest.

Sex is the Visceral Issue in Abortion Politics

How women become pregnant, however, matters deeply to those who would deprive them of their existing Constitutional right to choose to carry a pregnancy to term (or not) within the first trimester.

If the once and future “mom” became pregnant while unwillingly engaged in sexual relations (rape, incest, below the age of consent) her psychological well-being or the taboo against incest trumps that of the zygote’s “right to life.”

If, however, she willingly had sexual relations, the zygote becomes the property of the State and serves as a punishment to any woman who would freely exercise her sexual freedoms.

It’s notable that the second Mrs. Gingrich has scuttled her ex-husband’s evangelical support not for his own sexual misdeeds, but for the misdeeds of a future First Lady.

Lack of “purity” in a First Lady is unforgivable. The “First Man’s” impurity (so long as it is heterosexual) can be given a pass.

The visceral antipathy to having a free white woman in the White House is far greater to the evangelical right than having a free white man there. He, after all, has been indulging his sexual freedoms since Jefferson took a slave as his mistress.

Now that a woman’s sexuality is at issue, we’re going to have a far more interesting GOP candidate race.

UPDATE: In response to Politico’s coverage, Dobson has “explained” his comment about Callista’s fitness to fill a First Lady’s shoes without apologizing as follows:

“As you know, the American public is remarkably aware of details concerning each presidential candidate’s personal history and family life. Just as it is common knowledge that Speaker Gingrich has been married three times, which is discussed every day on the campaign trail, it is also known that Callista Gingrich was his mistress for years. That is hardly new news. My five second comment to that effect was not intended to be cruel or hurtful, just a statement of fact.

Should Dobson get a pass? Gingrich? Callista? Is there a good, worse, worst here?

Dobson Slams Callista Gingrich - Forbes

So what should we call her instead of 1st Lady ... 1st Home Wrecker?