Republican politicians have never been paragons of virtue in their private lives.
You’re right of course. Which politicians ever have been paragons of virtue?
Except, of course, Adolf Hitler. He loved animals, and so wouldn’t eat them. He was a vegetarian. He was a teetotaler. He not only didn’t smoke, but wouldn’t allow smoking in his presence or residences or workspaces. He was so virtuous he had no woman, but gave himself wholly to his nation. He strongly disapproved of sexual hijinks on the part of his associates, and favored marriage for them. When approached by his propaganda minister, Josef Goebbels, for his permission to divorce his wife, Magda, Hitler refused, and compelled Goebbels to remain married to her (she, sweetheart that she was, later murdered her six children in the Fuehrerbunker before dear Josef, with her permission, shot her and then himself).
Other than his little foibles of genocide and inciting a world war, Hitler was a real nice guy, right?
One could go on and on. Virtue is good, real virtue. But observable morals and real virtue are not quite the same thing, connected to be sure, but not the same thing. And everyone falls short of real virtue.
Best to look at it this way: would the American people rather cede leadership to a political party that approves of a steadily downward trending degeneracy (the modern day democrat party) or a party that upholds what we all know in our conscience to be right while at the same time having some of its leaders exposed as cheats and hypocrites from time to time? And on this score it should be remembered, as Rush points out, immoral behavior is a resume enhancement in the democrat party, whereas the Republicans have a way of punishing their own for such misbehavior. But they also have a way of recognizing when wrongdoing is admitted openly, forgiveness asked, and better behavior follows.
The old saying goes: “Hypocrisy is the deference vice pays to virtue.”
Newt is a flawed conservative. But he is most surely a conservative. He is deeply knowledgeable about the U.S. and its history and governance. And he fights ... even against long odds. Therefore, in my view, he is the best available candidate to take on the Obama slime and deception machine. That machine will eat Mitt or Rick.