Marianne Doubtful

American Thinker ^ | January 20, 2012 | Elise Cooper

[2ndDivisionVet]

Newt Gingrich's personal life has become an issue. What a surprise! I was waiting to see how long it would take. Personally, I would rather have the candidates and media focus on what is needed to make America great again, instead of this sideshow. Marianne Gingrich, the former Speaker's second wife, has made allegations in an ABC interview about her relationship with her former husband, which has turned into a "he said, she said."

She has accused him of requesting an open marriage and asking for a divorce shortly after she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. During the South Carolina debate Gingrich denied the allegations.

There is a question of her credibility since in a July 2000 Associated Press article it was reported that "Marianne Gingrich disclosed Tuesday that she has suffered from neurological problems that could be a precursor to multiple sclerosis...Such an episode could represent a single event, perhaps related to a viral infection, or be a forerunner of multiple sclerosis." Considering they were divorced in the late 1990's, it does not appear that her recollections during the recent interview are accurate....

[miss marmelstein]

She hasn’t been a doper for a long time. She was beautiful in her youth and I love her music. Anyone who got mixed up with the young Jagger went off the rails.

[susannah59]

I have no sympathy whatsoever for Marianne.

First of all, she was running around with him when he was married to his first wife. She reaped what she had sown.

I think she is probably over-exaggerating her health issues; "a neurological condition which can lead to MS" is not the same as a firm diagnosis of MS. The timeline does not line up, as well.

Since she has inserted herself into this, and brought her marriage to Mr. Gingrich into the discussion, some journalist might think about taking a look into her life at the times in question. Just how open or closed was her end of the marriage?

I've been thinking about that several days, since Hannity had Matt Towery and a couple of other guys on his program. Towery is now a pollster but was a Gingrich staffer during the time he was married to Marianne. As he was leaving Hannity, Towery threw something out that makes me wonder. He said something along the lines of: "Ask yourself this. If Mr. Gingrich did ask her for an open marriage, what would have made him think that it would be okay to ask her that?" Hannity didn't follow up on his statement, but I'd like to know what Matt Towery knows about Marianne and their marriage. It does seem to imply that Marianne wasn't spending her time away from Newt alone. If I were a reporter, I'd certainly be trying to find out.

[FrankR]