[CutePuppy]

This (slightly edited, for typos and added emphasis) was originally a response to a particularly uninformed post about Newt Gingrich and his wife Callista.

The post dispels and provides links and references to the information that debunks some still lingering myths about Newt and some periods of his life, general ignorance about which are constantly being exploited by his political opponents and nemeses, both on the left and the right.

Some FReepers suggested that it be made into a vanity post, and while vanity is not my strong suit, it's an important and relevant subject, so here it is, vanity by "popular" demand.

Link to the original post: Fox Fires Back at Gingrich: 'Bitter' Newt is 'Auditioning for a windfall of a gig at CNN' - FR, post #77, 2012 April 13

Also, Cincinatus' Wife provided a link to a blogger post which I found to have a lot of parallel themes and some additional details, so it may be of interest to readers as well. Nice to see some of this info getting into the blogosphere, maybe - finally! - it will find a wider audience, maybe even wide and receptive enough to change the course of history... Thanks, CW!

http://www.politijim.com/2012/04/honest-talk-about-gingrichs-woman.html - by PolitiJim, 2012 April 12

[OSHA]

WOW! That almost makes Newt look like a conservative.

[Jeff Chandler]

So are you voting for Mitt?

[CutePuppy]

This is the “by popular demand” vanity post, slightly edited from the other thread.

Thank you all, kindly, for nice comments there. I do not have a lot of time to tend the fort on this thread, but I hope you will do a wonderful job of it if it’s needed.

Thanks again.

[dforest]

I don’t care about Newt’s infidelity and marriages. I care about the republican record of Newt. The 1994 wins were not a victory for conservatives, it was a GOP victory. Newt has not been a conservative until this year when he ran for President.

Tells me all I need to know. The fact he was at an NRA conference declaring that the whole world needs the right to bear arms and taking it to the UN is worrisome because it shows Newt sees the UN as influential. He is a CFR guy you know.

I only care about the US and our Constitutional right to keep and bear arms. What the rest of the world does is up to them.

I do not acknowledge the UN.

[Gay State Conservative]

I don't hate Newt.Not at all.I simply am not convinced that he can beat Osama in November.In fact,I sincerely *doubt* that he can.Osama will eat him alive with his billion dollar scorched earth campaign.That's not the way it *should* be but,I'll wager,that's the way it *would* be.

[freedomfiter2]

Things happen in marriage, it doesn’t always work out between two people, no matter how wonderful or horrible they might otherwise be.

God has a different take on that. Newt has bigger problems than his women but I’d still vote for him.

[Sans-Culotte]

This vanity reminds me of fans of a losing football team saying “the other team won; but we had the better team”.

[Salvation]

Some people have disagreed with Newt on the subject of remarriage. He could not have become a Catholic unless all that was ironed out through panels in the Catholic Church.

Newt has changed dramatically. Here are some FR links about his conversion.

Newt Gingrich, a “John Paul II Catholic”
Newt Brings Gaelic Fury To The GOP Race (some personal family history)
Newt Gingrich Attacks Fashionable Anti-Catholic Bigotry
Newt Gingrich: What Kind of Catholic Is He? [Born Lutheran, Turned Baptist, Now Catholic]
Newt Gingrich: America’s Next Catholic President?
Clemson Palmetto Poll finds Gingrich (38%) momentum growing, most S.C. GOP voters still uncommitted
Gingrich Threatens GOP's Chance to Nab Independents

The Evangelical Case for Newt Gingrich
Gingrich Represents New Political Era for Catholics
Gingrich Represents New Political Era for Catholics [ecumenical}
Newt Gingrich on Catholicism and JPII
Why Newt Gingrich Converted to Catholicism
Exclusive: Newt Gingrich Opens Up on Catholic Conversion and Embracing 'Overt Christianity'
Newt Gingrich on his conversion to Catholicism
Gingrich Keeps Quiet on Catholic Conversion (received into Church over the past weekend)
Exclusive: Newt Gingrich conversion details; plans release of JP2 documentary
Gingrich to Become Catholic During Easter Season
The Newt Evangelization: Gingrich to become Catholic

[mosesdapoet]

Don’t “hate” Newt...but he doesn’t have the count needed for the job ahead
On April 24th
Vote for the man who fought it
Not for the guy who hrought it
Vote Rick Sanorum and his or Newts delegates
OBMACARE is a 1.76 Trillion $ Hydra
A 9 headed Serpent whose heads must be decapitated all at once with a Firebrand otherwise they grow back and devour everything in sight
by L.J .Keslin / http://www.theusmat.com

While the ex governor of the only state with mandatory state run health insurance (which is in trouble ) was busy buying up state primary elections Of the three GOP candidates remaining opposing him only one man, Sen Rick Santorum, had the courage to take on a what they call a third rail issue...Eugenics...one of the heads on that 9 headed snake called obamacare.. and Santorum had his character asassinated for it... Rick has been pummeled from both sides Called , a women hater ,, a religious nut, and ..a one trick pony. Santorum spends an hour discussing oil and the economy then 10 seconds comenting about pornography but guess what MSM and Santorum detractors will talk about... certainly not ,what’s really in the 1.76 trillion dolllar wonder called Obamacare ,,...!; Population control,.Death panels., Private presidential armys..US paying for birth control pills and abortions and all that goes in those 2400 pages of rules, laws,and regulations and with it. cost, 1.76 trillion and rising ..

[Marguerite]

“Newt was also an adopted child, an Army brat, having to move from place to place often, not experiencing or knowing much about love in his youth, and marrying very young and having two children in his 19 years long first marriage, yet at that time he also accomplished getting Master and PhD degrees in history and becoming a college professor. Yet he never plays up his humble and difficult upbringing.”

I would add to this that as a very young teacher, he struggled for years to provide for his family with two small kids and make the ends meet. He never talks about it, but his younger daughter Jackie Gingrich Cushman shared some memories ...

And also , you could add to your links this:

http://www.creators.com/opinion/jackie-gingrich-cushman/setting-the-record-straight.html

Setting the Record Straight, By Jackie Gingrich Cushman

[DallasSun]

CutePuppy, you may be as cute as a bug’s ear but you are dead wrong about when Newt started seeing Calista. It is well known in the DC area so it is not as though we can pretend it did not happen when it did happen. Sorry.

[Joe Boucher]

CutePuppy,
You can try blowing smoke up any where you care. Newt is NO conservative.
All one ever needs to see is him on a couch with ms. pelosi.
Look at his record. Conservative? NOt in his spending habit of the American peoples money.

[Lancey Howard]

That’s a lot of work there, and deserves a BUMP for good freeping.

[KantianBurke]

“Things happen in marriage, it doesn’t always work out between two people, no matter how wonderful or horrible they might otherwise be.”

That’s being quite charitable with regards to Newt’s indiscretions. I’m sorry but engaging in an affair with a floozy while married with kids is a serious black mark no matter how you slice it. Regardless, Newt won’t win the nomination and will soon be a footnote to history.

[mamelukesabre]

I’m equally nauseated by newt and mitt but I would vote for either against obama. Sure newt talks more conservative but he is a shyster just like mitt. I don’t believe him. So I don’t really see the point in arguing about this...especially since newt isn’t going to get the nomination anyway. Mitt wins both the coasts plus the mormon rocky mountain areas. There isn’t enough left over after that to matter. If by some miracle the convention is brokered, they will give the nomination to the man with the most votes. Game over.

[Williams]

If you have to write that much you know you’re screwed.

Callista’s hair is frozen in that stunning Magneto’s helmet style.

[Revolting cat!]

6 years later and you’re still a puppy, Puppy?

[stilloftyhenight]

“He who is without sin, cast the first stone” comes to mind. Look, we have a nation to save. Does anyone have confidence in Romney to do that?

[Engraved-on-His-hands]

I will not vote for Romney if he is the nominee. However, I will definitely vote for and support Newt if, albeit unlikely at this point, he is the nominee.

On the side, it would have been nice to have had a thread several weeks back titled “To Rick Santorum haters”. Would have been more appropriate.

[mountainbunny]

Newt Gingrich’s political life is tragic, because he is very smart and he has a deep understanding of history and of how our government is supposed to function. He should have been an excellent candidate.

Unfortunately, cast in the best light, as a person who was a repeated victim of wicked ex-wives, Newt and his supporters shows him to be unsuitable.

Being sorry and truly repentant for whatever one has done in the past does not fix the flaws that made those past acts possible in the first place.

It is absolutely our place to look at someone’s record as an indicator of future performance. We’re supposed to use history to guide us, just as Newt himself has argued. History is a useful tool.

If nothing was ever his fault because he was too easily swayed by these evil, terrible women, then he lacks the necessary discernment to be president.

Newt’s supporters, saying everything in his history is “not his fault”, and painting him as an innocent, naive victim make the best argument for not voting for him.