Politics

Rep. on Gingrich’s marital issues: ‘Jesus is not on the ballot’ [VIDEO]

Nicholas Ballasy Senior Video Reporter
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Responding to critics who say that former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich’s past marital issues would pose problems with voters in the general election, Arizona Republican Rep. Trent Franks told The Daily Caller that “Jesus is not on the ballot.”

Watch:
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“All of us have baggage, but Jesus is not on the ballot. Maybe it would be great if he were, but the point is we have to, in this case, pick the person who can best lead this country into the place that the Founding Fathers dreamed it could be,” Franks, who has endorsed Gingrich, told TheDC at the GOP presidential debate in Myrtle Beach, S.C. on Monday night.

“I think if Barack Obama is re-elected, we will see our economy really diminished into a European socialism that will be hard to ever break free from.”

When asked why he chose to back Gingrich over the rest of the field, Franks said, “He has an almost asymmetric capability, a political casucci I would call it, of being able to take the left’s questions — who are nearly always laced with false premise — and turn them around before they ever know what hit them.”

Franks went on to cite Gingrich’s exchange on race with black moderator Juan Williams during the debate, saying that if any other candidate on the stage was in the same situation, it would have been an “uncomfortable” moment for the audience. (RELATED: Gingrich defends himself from charges of racial insensitivity, gets standing ovation)

Despite his endorsement of Gingrich, Franks was clear that he would support the candidate who wins the GOP nomination.

“Whoever becomes our nominee, I probably will take out legal adoption papers on them,” he told TheDC. “I think that defeating Barack Obama is one of the most critical, pro-American things that I can possibly do right now.”

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