Newt and Jerry, sittin' in a tree ...

If ever two wingnuts deserved each other, it's Newt Gingrich and Jerry Falwell.

Newt Gingrich's admission of an extramarital affair as he pursued President Clinton's impeachment in the Monica Lewinsky scandal has won praise from another conservative Christian leader: the Rev. Jerry Falwell.

It's also helped to gain Gingrich an invitation to deliver the commencement address at Falwell's Liberty University. Gingrich is considered a possible Republican presidential contender, although he has not announced any intention to run.

In an interview with Focus on the Family founder James Dobson that aired Friday, Gingrich admitted to the affair in 1998. In 2000, he divorced his second wife, Marianne, after his attorneys acknowledged his relationship with Callista Bisek, a former congressional aide now his wife.

"He has admitted his moral shortcomings to me, as well, in private conversations," Falwell wrote in a weekly newsletter sent Friday to members of the Moral Majority Coalition and The Liberty Alliance. "And he has also told me that he has, in recent years, come to grips with his personal failures and sought God's forgiveness."

Remember, kids, it's okay if you're a Republican. Yes, you can pretty much do anything you want, up to and including murder, so long as you aren't found, in those immortal words, with a live boy or a dead girl* (right, Mark Foley?).

Falwell, of course, is a shrewd judge of character (as long as you're a Republican):

Falwell, in his newsletter, said he has usually been able to tell when a man who has experienced "moral collapse" was genuinely seeking forgiveness. "My sense tells me that Mr. Gingrich is such a man," he wrote.

"I well remember the challenge we evangelicals faced in 1980 when our candidate, Ronald Reagan, was the first presidential candidate who had gone through a divorce. We wisely made allowance for God's forgiveness and America was the beneficiary of this historic champion," Falwell added.

Falwell "usually" can recognize "moral collapse." I presume his warranty doesn't extend to mirrors.

Last word: I heard that ABC is planning a sitcom based on the GEICO cavemen, from their ads. I think Jerry and Newt would be perfect in the roles of the madcap cavemen. Their attitudes fit the part like a glove.

* See, e.g., "Joe Scarborough Exception."