MORRISVILLE, Pa.—Long-time AVN readers know that the magazine originated in Philadelphia, and one of its editors spent several of his formative years in Morrisville, about 30 miles north of the city and just across the Delaware River from Trenton, NJ. Morrisville is basically a bedroom community for both of those "metropolises," but within the past couple of days, it's become known for what will likely be the most interesting billboard of the 2012 presidential campaign.
The billboard, located on Route 1 just before the road takes travelers over the bridge to Trenton, features a large picture of conservative Republican candidate Newt Gingrich, and next to the big head is the slogan, "Faithful Republican, Unfaithful Husband."
Well, who doesn't know that Gingrich is on his third wife now, having ironed out the terms of his last divorce while his then-wife was in her hospital bed recovering from major cancer surgery? But that apparently doesn't concern Noel Biderman, CEO of pro-adultery website AshleyMadison.com.
"I am pro-Newt. Big time," Biderman said,and according to a report in the Delaware County (PA) Times. "We lose as a society when good politicians are bullied out of office because of what they did in the bedroom And if Gingrich is elected—more so than FDR, or JFK, or Clinton—we'd finally have to acknowledge that just because you have personal issues doesn't mean you’re not capable of doing a million other things well.
"Now that Newt is the leading contender in the race for the GOP nomination," Biderman continued, "we felt compelled to make a point to illustrate how times have changed when a serial divorcee/adulterer is capturing the hearts of the American people. Gingrich proves that marital fidelity has no bearing on someone's ability to do a job. Rather than judge him, Americans have finally embraced the reality that affairs are commonplace, and perhaps paradoxically, might be an indication of great leadership to come. He is not the first nor last politician who will step outside of their marriage."
Biderman, who, to be fair, could be joking, didn't expound on just which million things Gingrich could do well, and considering Gingrich's recent promotion of the idea of firing school janitors and letting school kids clean the toilets and dump the trash, even his most ardent supporters might have a little trouble with such a list as well.
But Biderman's comments focused on that aspect of Gingrich's life that most closely relates to AshleyMadison.com's primary function.
"I can't convince someone to have an affair, and I surely can't do it with a billboard or radio spot on Howard Stern," Biderman said. "If anything, if we believe affairs are going to happen, aren't we better off aggregating it in a way where everyone knows what they're getting into? From that perspective, it's a societal benefit."
So, is he saying that Newt in the White House will give Americans more freedom to cheat on their spouses? Well, we'll just have to wait for the reports as to whether visits to AshleyMadison.com have increased over the past couple of days—and whether Newt's campaign will inded usher in, as the billboard's tagline reads, "the AshleyMadison.com Era."
