With less than a year to go until the much-anticipated 2012 presidential election rears its ugly head, it seems the competition is heating up a bit, particularly when you consider the laugh-out-loud circus that is the Republican offering this time around.

And no, I’m not trying (at least not intentionally) to offend anyone with that comment, but I must admit I find the hypocrisy involved in an election of any sort in this day and age – what with technological and communication breakthroughs such as Twitter and Facebook – well ... humorous, to say the least.

Case in point? Presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich’s recent pledge to “defend and strengthen the family.”

Sorry, but the only thing I see Gingrich strengthening here is his grip on a group of ignorant and weak-minded voters who have the memory span of a peanut. Why? Because I, for one, actually read the news, and I happen to remember just how dedicated Gingrich has proven to be in the past, particularly when it comes to the institution of marriage.

And while Gingrich did not, in fact, sign socially conservative group The Family Leader’s Marriage Pledge, he did send the group a written response in defense of “traditional” marriage, as well as the Defense of Marriage Act (completely unconstitutional, by the way), and in support of a constitutional amendment that would define (confine?) marriage to a union between a man and a woman.