We learn here that Newt Gingrich just pledged to never ever commit adultery, among other things. Luckily, for him at least, he was not required to affirm that he had never ever committed adultery, but as the article at the link points out, this is still at least the fourth time he’s taken such a pledge, given that he took one each time he married. I suppose you could argue that he’s batting 500, which isn’t bad in baseball, but when it comes to adultery, well..most of us do better.
But I come not to condemn adultery, but to condemn pledges. The pledge Newt signed, for the Family Leader, one of many whacko groups that extract pledges from Republicans, also contains pledges about gays, abortion, imposition of Christianity on the rest of us (he’s for it), performing his Christian duty to destroy Social Security and Medicare, and overturning judicial decisions that aren’t sufficiently right wing, if he can find any.
Republicans seem to have a particular affinity for both extracting and giving such pledges. Candidates happily agree to tie their hands in advance, changed circumstances be damned. Not only that, they now find themselves in the position of actually having to keep their pledges, or Grover will come and get them, and make sure there’s no cushy lobbying job awaiting them as the door hits them on the way out.
Are there any that refuse to give these pledges, which even a child can see are irresponsible, no matter where you are on the issues? Maybe Huntsman? I suppose when you approach politics as a matter of religious dogma, rather than as an exercise in attempting to determine what works, and implementing it, then they make a tad of sense, but that’s only because you are starting from a position that itself makes no sense.
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