Gingrich's past

A recent Gallup Poll has found that Rush Limbaugh and Newt Gingrich are in a statistical tie as the most popular figures within the Republican Party and that Mr. Gingrich is the likely front runner to be their presidential nominee in 2012.

For those who have forgotten Mr. Gingrich's shaky past, I'd like to remind them of two critical things that tarnished his record.

First, while he was ranting about the immorality of President Bill Clinton cheating on his wife with Monica Lewinsky, he was doing the same thing with a former congressional aide. Earlier, he had dumped his first wife as she lay gravely ill in a hospital.

Second, he basically was responsible for shutting the government down at one point in the early 1990s for a brief period of time. I don't know what the Republicans are thinking, but I liked John McCain more as a person and don't think that Newt Gingrich is the answer to their problems.

TOM BURNS
Rosslyn Farms