99: The Self-Empowered Woman: Collins & Gingrich

Dear Followers,

As most of you already know, I'm a huge fan of Gail Collins, who was the first female member of the New York Times' editorial board. In the past, I've shared with you my great admiration for her amazing book "America's Women: 400 Years of Dolls, Drudges, Helpmates and Heroines," as well as her more recent best seller "When Everything Changed: The Amazing Journey of American Women from 1960 to the Present."

Both books are excellent volumes that belong in the library of any reader with an interest in American History or Women's Studies.

Recently, Collins wrote a New York Times editorial about Newt Gingrich's interest in winning the Republican nomination for the 2012 Presidential Election. Her comments were so incisive that I just had to share them (and you might want to forward this blog to other women who know what it's like to be a Starter Wife).

Collins indites politicians (like Angelo Errichetti, Randy Hopper, Carl Kruger, Carl Paladino, Mark Sanford and Elliot Spitzer) who suggest that "hard work and patriotism" can drive them into serial adultery and other "inappropriate choices."

The editorial reminds readers that Gingrich's first wife, Jackie, had once been his high school Math teacher. While she "was recovering from surgery for uterine cancer...her husband walked in [the hospital room] and started talking about the terms of a divorce."

Gingrich's second wife, Marianne, "was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and was visiting her mother when her husband called to tell her there was another woman." Now, Gingrich has told the Christian Broadcasting Network that "he's found true love with Wife No. 3, converted to Catholicism, and 'learned an immense amount.'"

Here's what Collins has to say about his late-life epiphany and his new-found happiness with his latest bride, Callista: "People, can we all agree now that men who spend their early and middle ages betraying women right and left are not allowed to get credit for discovering the joys of monogamy at about the same time they receive their first Social Security check?

"Of course, Gingrich is being a better husband this time around. He's 67! By then, most men have not just finished finished sowing their wild oats. The oats have been harvested, ground up, reprocessed and turned into soggy cornflakes."

Looking forward to your comments...