Moral relativism
DeLay, Gingrich and what the meaning of "is" is.
Topics: Tom Delay, Bill Clinton, War Room, Newt Gingrich, Politics News
So it turns out that it really does “depend on what the meaning of the word ‘is’ is”:
The New Yorker’s Jeffrey Goldberg, reading Tom DeLay’s book so we don’t have to, finds the Hammer criticizing Newt Gingrich for carrying on an affair with a Capitol Hill employee in the midst of Bill Clinton’s impeachment trial. “I don’t think that Newt could set a high moral standard, a high moral tone, during that moment,” DeLay says. “You can’t do that if you’re keeping secrets about your own adulterous affairs.”
But wait, didn’t DeLay himself engage in an adulterous affair? Well, yes, he did, but he says that was different because he wasn’t still having the affair by the time the impeachment proceedings rolled around.
“There’s a big difference,” DeLay says. “Also,” he adds, “I had returned to Christ and repented my sins by that time.”
Tim Grieve is a senior writer and the author of Salon's War Room blog. More Tim Grieve.
More Related Stories
-
Who is Toronto Mayor Rob Ford?
-
Colorado judge rules Abercrombie parent company violates Disabilities Act
-
When America became a third-world country
-
Inhofe and Coburn: Red state hypocrites
-
It's Whitewater all over again
-
Teen activist to meet with Abercrombie CEO
-
Anyone regret slashing National Weather Service budget now?
-
Oklahoma senator: Tornado aid "totally different" from Sandy aid
-
Aloof, shifty Obama: Nixon times ten thousand!
-
Obama: Moore "needs to get everything it needs right away"
-
California Tea Party group files first IRS lawsuit
-
Still no polling backlash for Obama
-
Oklahoma senator wants to offset tornado aid with other cuts
-
Former IRS commissioner to testify on Capitol Hill
-
Limbaugh: No one willing to impeach the first black president
-
Top White House aides knew about IRS probe but didn't tell Obama
-
Gohmert: IRS would've "probably shot the Boston Tea Party participants"
-
Oregon senator proposes appeal to Monsanto Protection Act
-
Supreme Court to rule on prayer at government meetings
-
Beltway scandal machine breaks, knows nothing about America
-
Top GOP official: "Sometimes our party does not value" women "as much"
Featured Slide Shows
The week in 10 pics
close X-
Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
Credit: AP/LM Otero -
Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
Credit: AP/Matt Rourke -
A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher -
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
Credit: AP/Molly Riley -
Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite -
Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster -
O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
Credit: AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jeff Scheid -
Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield -
When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin -
A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin -
Recent Slide Shows
Most Read
-
Horrifying new trend: Posting rapes to Facebook
-
Revenge, ego and the corruption of Wikipedia
-
"Jodorowsky's Dune": The sci-fi classic that never was
-
We're living in an Ayn Rand economy
-
My open relationship went awry
-
Obstruction will ruin GOP
-
Jaron Lanier: The Internet destroyed the middle class
-
GOP attorney general candidate tried to force women to report miscarriages to police
-
Will you marry me -- once you're done peeing?
-
Penn Jillette's secrets of "Celebrity Apprentice": Donald Trump is a whackjob!
Popular on Reddit
links from salon.com
763 points764 points765 points | 259 comments
102 points103 points104 points | 31 comments
41 points42 points43 points | 8 comments
18 points19 points20 points | 9 comments
-
Mayoral Candidates Downplay A Weiner Run -
Fred Karger: National Organization for Marriage Takes On the IRS: Whom Are They Trying to Protect? -
Low-Wage Strikes Come To Washington - Dave Johnson: The Latest Lie: IRS Targeted Conservatives
-
Half Of America Wants To Impeach Obama, According To Impeachable Polling Outfit
Connecticut Senator Suffers Through Food Stamp Challenge
White House Correspondents Association Remains Silent On Justice Department Spying Scandal
Obama Pledges Support To Moore, Oklahoma
Comments
20 Comments