Former House Speaker and struggling presidential candidate Newt Gingrich sure has a way with words.
During a campaign event in Iowa Friday, Gingrich dismissed same-sex marriage as a "temporary aberration," reports Jason Clayworth for The Des Moines Register.
That choice of words could also perhaps be used to describe Gingrich's bid for the Republican presidential nomination. Despite being a long-time figure in Republican politics, the GOP hopeful's campaign is reportedly running low on cash and in the past month, he's been forced to compete against former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney and Texas Governor Rick Perry for media attention.
Gingrich's full remarks on the issue of same-sex marriage, in response to an audience question, are as follows: “I believe that marriage is between a man and woman," he said. "It has been for all of recorded history and I think this is a temporary aberration that will dissipate. I think that it is just fundamentally goes against everything we know.”
It's not the first time Gingrich -- who has been married three times -- has made contentious statements about gay marriage. In June, when New York became the sixth state to legalize gay marriage, Gingrich spoke out against the legislative achievement. “I think we are drifting towards a terrible muddle which I think is going to be very, very difficult and painful to work our way out of,” he said at the time, according to Reuters.
Gingrich linked same-sex marriage to the country's economic troubles in an interview in August.
As the race shapes up and is increasingly defined as a two-man showdown between Romney and Perry, Gingrich is showing signs of frustration. He recently snapped at a Los Angeles Times reporter for asking about his fundraising numbers. "You should really go home and think about why you would even ask that today," he said.
A mid-September USA Today/Gallup national poll showed Gingrich with 5 percent of the likely GOP primary vote. That puts him significantly behind Perry, with 31 percent, Romney, with 24 percent, and tied with other third-tier candidates Herman Cain and Minnesotta Rep. Michele Bachmann.
