The Upside and the Downside to Christian Conservatives' Opposition to Newt

A lot of my Christian conservative friends are supporting Rick Santorum over Newt Gingrich in the race for the Republican nomination for President. They dislike Newt's history of adultery, while Santorum strikes them as a principled, morally-upstanding conservative. According to this story, influential Christian conservative leader, Dr. James Dobson, "made a strong pitch for Rick Santorum's wife — and noted that Callista Gingrich was her husband's 'mistress for eight years,' questioning whether that's what people want in a first lady, three sources told POLITICO."

Part of me likes this, and part of me dislikes it. The reason that part of me likes it is that I am glad that Christian conservatives are acknowledging that the Democrats do not have a monopoly on sin----that Republicans, even conservative heroes, have done wrong in their lives. Often, I feel that this insight is missed in partisan debates!

The reason that part of me dislikes it is that I can somewhat appreciate Newt's desire to start anew with his life. Whether he's sincere or not, I don't know. But we've all made mistakes and should be able to start afresh. I just wish two things: (1.) that Newt would apologize to his ex-wife, for with repentance should come at least an attempt towards restitution or reconciliation, whether it's successful or not, and (2.) that conservatives who realize that nobody's perfect would cut other people some slack----such as the poor, people who are victims of the American health care system, etc.----as opposed to judging them.