Chuck Norris Endorses Gingrich 2012

Chuck Norris, one of the GOP's biggest celebrity supporters, has endorsed Newt Gingrich in the 2012 Republican presidential primary on the eve of the South Carolina primary.

Norris, who has been touted as the most sought-after endorsement by Republican presidential candidates, threw his support behind former U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Newt Gingrich Friday afternoon in a posting on the Web site WND.com.

He announced the endorsement in a lengthy, wide-reaching post, in which Norris also tore into President Obama for failing miserably to fix our economy, deepening us and our posterity into more than $6 trillion in additional national debt, and adding that Rome is burning.

Chuck Norris then outlined his and his wife's reasons for supporting Gingrich as the candidate best-equipped to beat Obama and fix the country.

We believe Newt's experience, leadership, knowledge, wisdom, faith and even humility to learn from his failures [personal and public] can return America to her glory days, Norris wrote. And he is the best man left on the battlefield who is able to outwit, outplay and outlast Obama and his campaign machine.

Chuck Norris did not shy away from the recent controversies facing Gingrich, including allegations from his ex-wife that he asked for an open relationship before they divorced, and past infidelities that have arisen repeatedly throughout the campaign.

No man or candidate is perfect. We all have skeletons in our closet, he wrote. If buried bones became unforgivable bones of contention, the world would never know or will never know another Benjamin Franklin, King David and others like them. We must remember that we're electing a president, not a pastor or pope.

He wrapped up his remarks with a bold-faced call on voters to join him in supporting the Gingrich 2012 campaign:

If you're ready to keep fighting the good fight and once and for all restore our republic, then I invite you to join my wife, Gena, and I by endorsing, rallying behind and voting for Newt Gingrich as GOP nominee and then president of the United States.

Norris, an action-movie actor and martial arts guru, gained a high level of popularity in recent years through the explosion of the Chuck Norris Facts Internet meme.

Facts like Chuck Norris is the reason why Santa Claus only comes once a year, and Chuck Norris doesn't make jokes, he roundhouse kicks them propelled him to a second wave of fame for the Internet generation.