George,

In the wake of the 2004 presidential election, the media has decreed that the most important political issue of our time is "moral values." And with this in mind, it looks like the Republican Party might have the perfect candidate for 2008. Newt Gingrich, Mr. Moral Values himself, might be running for president.

On tour to promote his new book, the disgraced former Speaker of the House refused to rule out a run for the White House, and in fact seemed to be encouraging speculation about his future. Fawning press coverage from the liberal media predictably ignored Newt's Greatest Hits, which include: serving his first wife with divorce papers shortly after she was diagnosed with cancer; getting reprimanded and fined $300,000 by the House of Representatives for using tax-exempt foundations for political purposes, and then lying to Congress; having an extramarital affair with his young scheduling secretary while a the same time hypocritically working to impeach Bill Clinton; and telephoning his second wife to ask for a divorce while she was at a birthday party for her mother.

Harry Tenney (electronic mail, January 17, 2005)