$1.50 25,000 Blue Chip Readers VOL. 39, NO. 5 An Independent Journal of Commentary MARCH 10, 2007 McCain, Guiliani and Gingrich The Adultery Trifecta By Frosty Troy The Grand Old Party that bleats forced an up or down vote on Bush’s In 1995, a mistress from that period, of U.S. troops. constantly about “family values” has judicial nominees. Anne Manning, told Vanity Fair’s Gail Guiliani is for a woman’s right to three acknowledged adulterers lead- Giuliani and Gingrich face a more Sheehy: “We had oral sex. He prefers choose, a ban on assault weapons and ing the field for the GOP presidential difficult challenge. Both conducted that modus operandi because then he pro-civil unions – all anathema to the nomination. well-documented affairs in the last can say, I never slept with her.” Christian right. Sen. John McCain [affair, divorce], decade – while still in public office. Gingrich obtained his first divorce As mayor he refused to meet with former House Speaker Newt Gingrich Giuliani informed his second wife, in 1981 after forcing his wife, who had African-American leaders even after [affair, divorce, affair, divorce], and for- Donna Hanover, of his intention to helped him through graduate school, New York City cops fired 41 bullets mer New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani seek a separation in a 2000 press con- to haggle over the terms of the divorce into an unarmed innocent Haitian [divorce, affair, divorce, affair, nasty ference. while she was in the hospital recover- man. divorce]. Giuliani marched with his then-mis- ing from uterine cancer surgery. Rush Limbaugh and Bill O’Reilly According to the New York Times, tress, Judith Nathan, in New York’s In 1999 he was disgraced again, are Guiliani fans, with Limbaugh call- the religious right is searching des- St. Patrick’s Day parade, an acknowl- having been caught in an affair with a ing him a “strict constructionist” who perately for a candidate they can sup- edgment of infidelity so audacious 33-year-old congressional aide while has potential. port. that Daily News columnist Jim Dwyer spearheading the impeachment pro- In 2000, George W. Bush’s allies The two-timing trifecta form the compared it with “groping in the win- ceedings against President Clinton. went well beyond raising McCain’s af- most maritally-challenged crop of dow at Macy’s.” He had her on the House payroll for fair – they smeared him in advance of presidential hopefuls in American po- His wife accused Giuliani of serial $55,000 a year. the South Carolina primary, claiming litical history. adultery, alleging that Nathan was The thrice-divorced Giuliani, who he had fathered an illegitimate black Previously a self-confessed adulter- just the latest in a string of mistress- once lived with a gay couple, is the child. er had never sought the presidency. es, following an affair the mayor had first choice among Oklahoma Repub- This strategy helped to deliver Bush Certainly, other candidates have been had with his former communications licans. the key primary victory and the nomi- dogged by sex scandals. director. He was not the hero of 9/11; to the nation. It wasn’t until 2000 that McCain, He moved one of his mistresses contrary, his errors and neglect cost McCain is trying to woo the re- emboldened by Clinton’s survival, be- into the mayor’s mansion while his police and firefighters their lives. ligious right after criticizing them came the first confessed adulterer to wife and children were still there. Read details in the new book, With- harshly during the 2000 campaign. have the nerve to run. The most notorious of them all is out Precedent, The Inside Story of the James Dobson of Focus on the Family Now, just a few years after infidelity Gingrich, who ran for Congress in 9/11 Commission. said under no circumstances would was considered a deal-breaker for a 1978 on the slogan, “Let Our Family Both McCain and Giuliani are fierce he support McCain, and he is critical presidential candidate, the party that Represent Your Family.” He was re- supporters of the war in Iraq and both of Giuliani for his adulterous past. presents itself as the arbiter of virtue ported cheating on his first wife at the have endorsed the surge. Gingrich has Mitt Romney’s problems are nu- may field an unprecedented triple- time. not and calls for a timely withdrawal merous. He’s a serial flip-flopper and header. is strongly opposed by the Southern McCain was married and living with Baptist Convention leadership be- his wife in 1979 while, according to cause he is a Mormon. the New York Times’ Nicholas Kristof, The SBC has declared Romney’s re- “aggressively courting a 25-year-old ligion a cult. Knowing he has a prob- woman who was as beautiful as she lem with evangelicals, he is relent- was rich.” lessly courting them. McCain divorced his wife, who had The National Journal’s poll shows raised their three children while he 25% of respondents say they could was imprisoned in Vietnam, then ran not vote for a Mormon. Now he is pro- for office with his new wife’s family life and anti-gay marriage but as gov- money. ernor of Massachusetts he was just McCain is on record calling Pat the opposite. Robertson and Jerry Falwell “agents Asked by Newsweek about his flip- of intolerance.” But last year he spoke flop, he replied, “I would rather talk at Falwell’s graduation ceremony at about jihad, Iran and China.” Liberty University. Two other announced candidates, He is wooing John Hagee, the tel- ex-Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee evangelist who wants to close the and Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback, are public schools. social conservatives but neither has He enraged evangelicals when he caught fire. voted against a constitutional amend- How ironic that many of the sup- ment that would have banned gay porters of the Republican Trifecta marriage. are bitter critics of the Bill Clinton He also blocked the “nuclear op- sex scandal. It all depends on whose tion” in the Senate that would have “family values” you’re talking about. Observations Bad Bill The last bill that ought to become tricts graduated 100%. Most were in law this session of the Legislature is the 90s. one to arm judges. Dank is a typical rightwing Repub- The law-and-order Senate approved lican – he knows the price of every- Senate Bill 145, allegedly to provide thing and the value of nothing. Small further protections for the state’s schools are far better for faculty and courthouses by allowing judges to students. They also send a higher per- carry firearms while on the job. centage to college. Author is Sen. Brian Crain, R-Tulsa. Yes, Oklahoma has 540 districts It would allow for the carrying and use for 620,000 students. The main way of weapons in courtrooms by district, to save money is to eliminate dozens associate district and special district of state and federal un-funded man- judges. dates, including the sorry No Child The measure provides that the ad- Left Behind. ministrative director of the courts As Dank was issuing his press re- maintaining freedom of religion for Children in low-tax states are more would maintain a list of judges who lease he was voting in the House for the individual.” likely to suffer from poor prenatal would fall under the blanket of the yet another un-funded mandate, Free- Try this one, a statement of the care, early death, child abuse and new law. dom Week. principle that “fear of the Lord is teen incarceration than are children Judges would also be required to ob- He claims consolidation would not the beginning of wisdom and knowl- in higher-tax states. Duh! tain a self-defense license before car- “hurt local community identity, or edge” and support for the teaching Higher tax states invest in child and rying a concealed weapon into their even kill the hometown football team of creationism and the posting of the family programs, according to data courtroom. The measure now moves or the school mascot.” Ten Commandments and “In God We contained in the new book, Home- to the House for consideration. He doesn’t spell out how this is Trust” in all public schools. land Insecurity ... American Children Know why this is a bad idea? possible. He needs to work to break Anybody remember when Tulsa was at Risk. Because it’s voluntary, the judges up Tulsa and OKC districts where fail- the home for Oklahoma’s most intel- The top 10 higher-tax and bottom you don’t want armed are precisely ure is rampant. ligent people? Those days are long 10 low-tax states for children were the judges who will be armed. He ran for office promising school gone, which is why no county elects ranked, reflecting a stark and often consolidation – where is his bill? more loons than Tulsa County. life-and-death divide in the prospects for millions of American children. Dumbo Nine of the top 10 higher tax states Loons rank in the top 20 for overall child Freshman state Rep. David Dank, A Way Out well being, with six of the states in R-OKC, wants to consolidate Okla- The inmates were running the asy- the top 10. homa’s rural schools despite the fact lum when the Tulsa County Republi- Sixty three percent of the public By contrast, seven of the 10 lowest that they are the state’s most academ- can convention was held. The planks wants all U.S.