Posted on 11/30/2011 8:31:57 AM PST by SeekAndFind
Mr. Speaker,
Well done! You have risen beyond relevancy to serious competiveness by your grip, erudition and intelligence. You have come back from the political equivalent of Hospice care to become a serious contender for the Republican nomination for president.
You’re obviously extremely bright, knowledgeable, experienced on the issues and fully able to go toe-to-toe with the formidable campaigner President Obama has amply demonstrated that he is.
By the way, your idea of a series of Lincoln-Douglas style debates between you and the president if you are the nominee is a great idea. Those debates would do much to clarify and explain the critically important decisions that Americans will be making about their and their children’s future in the 2012 election.
However (and you have known me long enough to know that the “however” was coming), you still have some significant problems with Evangelical voters. These voters are, and will be, an important factor in both the primaries and general election.
Over the past three years, I have conducted more than 200 informal focus groups with Southern Baptists across the land, in rural, urban, suburban and exurban settings. Mr. Speaker, I have good news and I have bad news.
The good news is, as you know Evangelicals are a forgiving people, who having experienced redemption and forgiveness in their own spiritual lives, are most often willing to extend it to others who ask for it. Consequently, a high percentage of Evangelical men are willing to cut you some slack over your turbulent marital history. The bad news is that Evangelical women are far less willing to forgive and let bygones be bygones. There is a large and significant gender gap on the issue of your two previous marriages. My research would indicate a majority of men, but less than a third of Evangelical women are currently willing to trust you as their president.
Even my own mother, a rock-solid Evangelical, was extremely uncomfortable voting for Sen. John McCain until he acknowledged to Rick Warren that the failure of his first marriage was the greatest regret of his life and it was his fault.
Mr. Speaker, if you want to get large numbers of Evangelicals, particularly women, to vote for you, you must address the issue of your marital past in a way that allays the fears of Evangelical women.
You must address this issue of your marital past directly and transparently and ask folks to forgive you and give you their trust and their vote.
Mr. Speaker, I urge you to pick a pro-family venue and give a speech (not an interview) addressing your martial history once and for all. It should be clear that this speech will be “it” and will not be repeated, only referenced.
As you prepare that speech, you should picture in your mind a 40-something Evangelical married woman whose 40-something sister just had her heart broken by an Evangelical husband who has just filed for divorce, having previously promised in church, before God, his wife and “these assembled witnesses” to “love, honor and cherish until death us do part.”
Focus on her as if she were your only audience. You understand people vote for president differently than they do any other office. It is often more of a courtship than a job interview. I know something of your faith journey over the past 20 years. Do not hesitate to weave that into your speech to the degree that you are comfortable doing so. It will always resonate with Evangelical Christians.
You need to make it as clear as you possibly can that you deeply regret your past actions and that you do understand the anguish and suffering they caused others including your former spouses. Make it as clear as you can that you have apologized for the hurt your actions caused and that you have learned from your past misdeeds. Express your love for, and loyalty to, your wife and your commitment to your marriage. Promise your fellow Americans that if they are generous enough to trust you with the presidency, you will not let them down and that there will be no moral scandals in a Gingrich White House.
Such a speech would not convince everyone to vote for you, but it might surprise you how many Evangelicals, immersed in a spiritual tradition of confession, redemption, forgiveness and second and third chances, might.
Your fellow American,
Richard Land
Yeah, shameful isn’t it that the many made money. BTW, what did he do with that money? I’ve heard much has been donated to charities, but that doesn’t matter, he’s a slime bag according to you.
This seems like sound advice to me. I see no reason for folks to get snarky about it.
I believe Newt has already acknowledged wrong, but it would be wise to do so again as Land suggests. I don’t think this is a “make or break” thing, but I do believe it would make him more palatible to conservative evangelicals that have problems with his past infidelities.
GEEZ people he isn’t running to be your husband.Granted he isn’t my first choice but I’d vote for him in a heartbeat over having who is in office serve a second term.
That only applies to Catholics and marriages preformed in the Church or approved by the Church.Marriages outside of it and before conversion are not recognized by the Church.
That's something that has to be considered.
That's something that has to be considered.
Well, not exactly. I had to look into this issue because I too was divorced before I became a Catholic. The Church does recognize the validity of marriages that weren’t performed by a Catholic priest. If you become a Catholic and want to get married in the Catholic Church, you need to take care of those loose ends from your previous marriages.
Do not put words in my mouth, I never said he was a slime bag.
I said what he does is slimy: cashing in immediately after being elected Speaker, and continuing to cash in after leaving his wives and his offices.
You evidently believe this behavior is acceptable.
It’s not up to evangelical women to forgive him. Newt converted to Catholicism, and assuming he made a good confession about his adultry, was forgiven.
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Um, perhaps you missed the context of this discussion. This is about an election, not his eternal soul. The word forgiveness has other uses besides one’s relationship with God.
Oh ok I was told something different by the church.I was born Catholic but married the first time out of church and was told that it was not viewed as valid and would not need to be annulled of course it did not last long and no kids.
PING
Theodore H. White, who wrote the “Making of the President” books, said the ONLY presidential candidates who never fooled around were Harry Truman, George Romney and Jimmy Carter. That, to me, says a lot about the Romney family’s character.
Newt got around that little problem by marrying Callista first in a nondenominational ceremony, THEN converting to Catholicism 2 years later.
Since the United States is over 70% Christian, if everyone in America votes like the women you know, Newt will win in a landslide. Of course Perry supporters also tell me that everyone supports Perry because he is a "Christian" and those who do not "hate Christians".
I'm at the anybody but Romney point, but I won't be enthusiastic for Newt, or frankly any of them. At least Newt helped sort of balanced a budget.
We are in agreement over Richard Lamb. I don’t trust him.
maybe I made a mistake
is this Richard Land a different feller?
you’re right ..SBC man is Lamb
nearly all my Christian kin in Mississippi and here...women too
have gone same as I
Sarah, Michelle, Perry briefly and now Newt
some peeked as Cain too
Newt is far more popular amongst folks I know than he is with freepers, Levin and Savage
Don't really know what to say about that, just is funny.
Perry is a good man, and I do like him, would have NO problem voting for him.
The response I get from these women, is Newt's ability to speak well on any issue, his ideas, etc. We are not looking for a spiritual leader, we already have one, and we are more than aware of that wonderful "Amazing Grace".
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