Thank you for your rather strained treatise on financing ala credit lines. Somehow, I never thought of Tiffany’s as a bank. Frankly, this is the least of my concerns over Newt. He has a problem with perception and the fact that conduct with respect to the morality he preaches go hand-in-hand. As you say, it’s great that he treated “Callista” to a vacation before the arduous campaign. My experience with him as a Congressman/Constituent tells me it would have been better had he displayed that caring in his prior marriage.
Regardless, my biggest beef with him is his despicable performance at the height of the Lewinsky Scandal. I’ve been over this before and I’ll not go over it again except to say he promised certain things and he did not deliver. It has finished him as a candidate for me.
Any retailer or the company that can issue a credit card or can extend a line of credit (LOC) is, in effect, a "bank" - think Sears, Macy's etc., though without a bank charter - banking / financing services are outsourced. Tiffany's and other high-end retailers often issue higher limit "affinity" credit cards or LOCs to credit-worthy customers - it's a profitable, low-risk side business for them.
My experience with him as a Congressman/Constituent tells me it would have been better had he displayed that caring in his prior marriage.
I thought that my post #69 and the links within have shown that he more than cared for his chain-smoking self-described "sick," legally separated and estranged wife, including financially, despite the strain it caused him personally. As to how he would publicly display this caring, I don't think that ostentatious public displays of affection towards their wives, for example, by Bill Clinton, John Edwards, Al Gore et al constituted "caring" in the true meaning of the word. That's perception vs reality.
As you say, it's great that he treated “Callista” to a vacation before the arduous campaign.
I thought at the time that it was a display of caring towards his wife, though I doubt very much that it was Newt's intention to make it public or that he was happy about it becoming public. Yet the commentary, here on FR and elsewhere in political blogosphere and punditry, liberal or conservative, was universally of derision and scorn. Again, perception vs reality.
He has a problem with perception and the fact that conduct with respect to the morality he preaches go hand-in-hand.
As is often said, in politics "perception is reality". We know that people on both ideological fronts worked long and hard to create perception of Newt that, we now find, is far removed from reality.
I can only introduce some facts and try to inject a dose of reality. I don't expect to be able to change some people's perception of reality - perception is in the eye of the beholder.
"Don't underestimate your power to change yourself; don't overestimate your power to change others" - Wayne Dyer