Newt Gingrich, Etta James, and a Lasagna Sandwich

I've had three topics in mind to blog about lately. Since I couldn't decide which one to focus on, I'm writing about all three.

I'll start with Newt Gingrich.

Like a lot of people, I caught Newt's angry exchange with CNN's John King at the beginning of last Thursday's Republican debate in South Carolina. Moderator King asked if Gingrich wanted to respond to allegations by a former Mrs. Gingrich that Newt had wanted an open marriage. Newt went off on King, condemning the question and the entire media industry. The audience cheered wildly, multiple times.

After watching this clip, there was no doubt in my mind Gingrich would win the South Carolina primary. Whatever your political persuasion, it's hard to deny this was an electrifying moment of television. And I believe that's exactly what both King and Gingrich counted on. I suspect King knew perfectly well that asking the question the way he did would ignite a Newt-tron bomb, which would then turn the moment into a viral Internet video. And that's good for CNN. At the same time, Newt calculated, accurately, that he would get big applause for taking King to the proverbial woodshed and, by extension, all journalists. The exchange, as it played out, between them was a win-win for both.

I must admit, Gingrich's flash of anger was fun to watch--to a degree. But the explosion eventually devolved into a tirade, diminishing what had come before. Also, King should have framed his question within a larger political context to give it relevance to the debate, in my opinion. Otherwise, the question as he phrased it came across as self-serving and pandering. A politician's private matters should remain their business and not ours, except when they publicly take one stance while doing the exact opposite. So maybe King should have said, "Hey Newt, at the time you were crucifying Bill Clinton over that whole Monica Lewinsky thing, you were allegedly asking your wife for an open marriage. What's up with that, dude?"



A moment of silence among married couples, please

Speaking of marriage, let's move on to Etta James. Married couples everywhere should share a moment of silence in honor of the powerhouse singer, who died last week at 73. How many weddings have you attended where the first song the bride and groom danced to was James' ballad At Last? She raised the roof with Tell Mama, I'd Rather Go Blind, A Sunday Kind of Love, and I Just Want to Make Love to You, among many others. She had a rousing, gritty voice, a cross between Billie Holiday and Aretha Franklin, and yet it was distinctly her own. 

And finally, that lasagna sandwich

Last Saturday night, Nick and I had dinner at our friends Bob and Kurt's home. Bob served his excellent homemade lasagna, leftover from Christmas. In honor of Paula Deen, we made lasagna sandwiches--stuffing the lasagna between two slices of cheesy garlic bread. Decadent? Wait until you hear the dessert: homemade chocolate cake and homemade chocolate chip ice cream.

The next day, I didn't eat until 4 p.m. And when I stepped on the scale at the gym, the scale wagged its finger and said, for everyone to hear, "Oh no you did-n't!"