Gingrich’s daughter here to debunk “urban myth” of her parent’s divorce (audio)

Radio Iowa ^ | December 10, 2011 | O.Kay Henderson

[iowamark]

As I’ve interviewed several self-proclaimed Gingrich voters over the past few months, many of them cite Jackie Cushman’s “Setting the Record Straight” editorial piece.  Jackie Gingrich Cushman is Newt Gingrich’s daughter, from his first marriage.

“His own daughter refutes the negativity in the media with her account of her parent’s divorce,” Jeremy Freeman, an Iowa State University student, told me in late November.

Competing candidates and their campaigns have been tossing a good bit of negativity at Gingrich since he’s risen to the top of the polls, some of it about spacey ideas (colonizing the moon) Gingrich has proposed, or his past support of a health insurance mandate. But the former speaker’s marital history is part of the campaign conversation, even among his own supporters. The Gingrich campaign called me yesterday and asked if I would like half an hour with Jackie Cushman to talk about what Cushman herself calls the “urban myth” about her parent’s divorce in 1980.

The rap on the twice-divorce Gingrich was that he served his first wife with divorce papers while she was on her death bed, dealing with cancer.  Cushman,was 13 when her parents told her and her sister they were divorcing.  She wrote in “Setting the Record Straight” it was her mother who requested the divorce and that her mother did not have cancer — a tumor was found to be benign.

Our conversation this afternoon, in the Starbucks at the hotel where Cushman and her family are staying, started with this question:  “Why did you write that piece?”

Cushman responded (here’s the AUDIO

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 of her answer): “Obviously, we’ve been quiet for a very long time and that’s really out of respect for my mother. She’s obviously still very important in our lives. She helps watch the children which is fabulous. I mean, she’s the best babysitter ever and she’s been really supportive of my sister and I and has said, ‘Look, y’all, you go out and help your dad and I’m glad to be here and help. I’ll watch the children. I’ll do whatever you need.’ But she is not a public person and she’s not wanted to be a public person and has very clear about not talking to reporters and has just kind of kept quiet because it really, from our perspective, it was about our family and it really shouldn’t be public, from a public perspective.

“But I’ll tell you one of the things that changed my mind, that made me really think about it and, in the end, write this straightening out the record, how to set the record straight. I flew to Alaska in February to give a speech to a Republican group there and one of the ladies that picked me up, a lovely lady, I said, you know, ‘Great to be here. Let me just call and check on my mom because she has the kids. I’m going to see how they’re doing.’ And so I called and, of course, they’re fine. They’re with my mom.

“But when I got off the phone, she goes, ‘That was your mother?’ 

“And I said, ‘Yeah.’  

“She goes, ‘She’s still alive?’

“I said, ‘Absolutely she’s still alive because she’s watching my children,’ but that’s when I realized here I was in Alaska, I mean, far away, right? Still in the United States, but very far away and clearly this urban myth that was very, is very untrue had spread so far that people not only believed it, but actually believed that my mother — I guess, if she was on her death bed, she would have been dead, so I understand how they might make that connection — but it wasn’t true, isn’t true and I really felt that, you know, we needed to set the record straight.”

My follow-up question was about how voters, not just candidates, are bringing up the subject of her father’s marital history. “How do you feel your father has been answering that question in the public?” I asked.

“I think he’s been very honest. He’s been very open,” Cushman said. “He very publicly said, ‘Look, I’ve made mistakes in the past. I’ve sinned. I’ve asked God for forgiveness. I’ve asked God for grace.’ And I don’t know what else more people want.

“You don’t fix what happened and you don’t change the past. It is what it is and I think when people see that both Kathy, my sister, and I are involved in the campaign. We’ve always been a close family…I think voters appreciate that and I think, too, he has changed very much from when he was speaker. He’s not the same man. He’s not the same man, I mean nor an I the same woman that I was 12 years ago.”

I asked: “How so?”

“When he was speaker, he was vilified by the press for four years,” Cushman said. “I mean, we’re near Christmas, so I can see that at one point he was shown as the Grinch that Stole Christmas, right? I don’t know if you remember that cover of, I think it was Newsweek, but I can promise you, as my father, he never actually stole my Christmas.

“…He wasn’t that person then, but even since then he’s changed a lot…He has grandchildren. I think that does…change your perspective and I think it makes you think about things a little differently.  The other thing is he’s been a small businessman…and that’s been really good for him.

“…I have watched his faith deepen in the last decade. You know, he’s grown much stronger in his faith. I think you can see that when he talks about, ‘I have sinned and asked for God’s grace.’  I mean, he means that very seriously. He’s always believed in God and had that as part of his foundation, but I’ve seen it strengthen enormously in the last decade.”

Here’s the AUDIO

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 of Cushman’s answers to those two questions.

According to Cushman, her dad “hadn’t bothered” to debunk the “urban myth” about the ‘death bed divorce’ because “he didn’t want (his first wife) to get in the middle of it.” It being the glare of media attention.

As for Cushman’s mother, Cushman put it this way: “She’s a very happy 75-year-old grandmother.”

[nickcarraway]

Him trying to shirk the blame for his actions. He committed adultery many times on his first wife. The fact that he thinks this is okay, as long as he didn’t divorce his wife when she had cancer shows what a rotten person he is...

[nickcarraway]

People on Free Republic trashed John Edwards and other for their adultery. They should defend Edwards just as strenuously as they are Gingrich in this case.

[yoe]

Newt Gingrich is one of the most deliberately misquoted political figures ever by the MSM...always find the text to his remarks and speeches, it will amaze you and make you wonder if reporters and those who parrot rather than research are really that dumb or really like to mislead. Any baggage Gingrich might have is “American baggage” while Obama’s baggage is Communist Party USA baggage, anti-Capitalist, and racist baggage.

[yoe]

"...trashed John Edwards and other for their adultery.

...others? what others....read the article... there was no adultery.

[DesertRhino]

What was every other candidate doing in 1980? What was Obama doing in 1980? Isnt that when he was in Pakistan for a year? What was Romney doing in the late 60s while other men were fighting in Vietnam? He was on a mormon missionary deferrment in France. How about Bachmann,, in 1976 she and her husband helped get Jimmy Carter elected. This is a FUN game to look 3 and 4 decades back!

In short, i don’t care about Newts marriage in the 70s. I don’t intend to marry him. Jimmy Carter was a great family man, loves Jesus too,,,and he was one of the crappiest presidents we’ve ever had.

[MrEdd]

That is a pretty perverted thing for you to say, given the known circumstances. Unlike your bad self, other people here don't defent pervert teachers who prey upon their students.

Attack Newt on his support of global warming, and things that are his fault. But if you continue the path you are now on of defending his pervert first wife to take Newt down you will quite properly receive crap for it, and what you will receive will be well within the FR guidelines.

[nickcarraway]

Unlike your bad self, other people here don't defent pervert teachers who prey upon their students.

You are a liar, I never defended, or even mentioned a teacher, and you know it. Furthermore I never violated any FR guideline. You can attack me for being anti-socialist and Christian you want. But I won't buckle. Being those things is still legal in this country, no matter how much you hate it.

[MrEdd]

Absolutely you mentioned a teacher.

Newt's first wife began having sex with him when she was his high school geography teacher. She married him later when he was in college. There have been numerous threads going over all of this for several months now.

Even the catholic church, sticklers on divorce granted an annulment.

Teachers got away with that back then, especially with males, but today they quite properly tend to go to jail for a bit.

None of this is contested information.

You continue to spout any crap at all about how awful Newt was regarding his first marriage, and I will continue to call you on your crap for supporting pervert teachers.

You do not now and never will get to have it both ways. If you claim Newt was immoral about that first marriage, then you are defending his first wife, who decided to get into her student's pants.

[VictoryGal]

Interesting. What does his daughter have to say about when the local church had to take up a collection to support his family after he divorced Jackie because he refused to pay child support?

What kind of a man does that? A conservative man? A man with values?

http://marriage.about.com/od/politics/a/gingrichn_2.htm

Oh, before you call me a Mittbot — I despise Mittens and his liberal RINO candidacy. One of the only things I like about Newt is his ability to give Myth heartburn.

[VictoryGal]

Interesting. What does his daughter have to say about when the local church had to take up a collection to support his family after he divorced Jackie because he refused to pay child support?

What kind of a man does that? A conservative man? A man with values?

http://marriage.about.com/od/politics/a/gingrichn_2.htm

Oh, before you call me a Mittbot — I despise Mittens and his liberal RINO candidacy. One of the only things I like about Newt is his ability to give Myth heartburn.

[des]

Sexually abused children often develop compulsive sexual behavior.

[nickcarraway]

I had no idea his first wife is a teacher. I just checked and he was 19 years old when he married his first wife. You are claiming he was not an adult male at 19?

Whatever the case, I guess you believe that two wrongs make a right. Personally, if his wife did something bad, that doesn't give him free reign to do something bad.

How do you excuse the fact that he was committing adultery on his second wife? This was when the rest of the Republican party was trying to remove Clinton from office. He knew his behavior was treasonous!

But you are right in one sense, none of that matters, when you consider the evil he's embraced in the 20s. He's green on the outside, red on the inside.

[nickcarraway]

Even the catholic church, sticklers on divorce granted an annulment.

Do you have any proof of that?

[nickcarraway]

Should we also consider Callista to be a pervert?

[CitizenUSA]

nickcarraway: “Him trying to shirk the blame for his actions. He committed adultery many times on his first wife. The fact that he thinks this is okay, as long as he didn’t divorce his wife when she had cancer shows what a rotten person he is...”

I think that’s an unfair characterization, and I’m no Newt Gingrich fan. He admitted his mistakes. As an Christian, I’ve done evil things I’m not proud of. What’s done is done, and I can’t erase those sins. What I can do is admit them, ask Christ who has the power and authority to erase my sins for forgiveness, and try to go forth and sin no more. I don’t think it’s fair to expect more than that from any person.

[PhilDragoo]

His daughter corrects the record on what Rush calls one of the top things people know that isn't so, the dramatic divorce of the cancer-ridden wife on her deathbed.

[vette6387]

“Him trying to shirk the blame for his actions. He committed adultery many times on his first wife. The fact that he thinks this is okay, as long as he didn’t divorce his wife when she had cancer shows what a rotten person he is...”

I guess you don’t bother to read the article before mouthing off!

“The rap on the twice-divorce Gingrich was that he served his first wife with divorce papers while she was on her death bed, dealing with cancer. Cushman,was 13 when her parents told her and her sister they were divorcing. She wrote in “Setting the Record Straight” it was her mother who requested the divorce and that her mother did not have cancer — a tumor was found to be benign.”

Oh, well, I guess if you don’t like him for this reason or that, it’s o.k. to promulgate a lie to support your feelings!

[Evergolightly]

Before we all get carried away, Newt has made many mistakes, should he be spurned for life?

Forgiveness is a Christan virtue, we must all try it.

I dislike Edwards, not because of his infidelity but his socialist policies.

I dislike Clinton, not because he was a horndog, but a slick socialists.

I dislike Obis, not because he is black, but he is a socialist.

I can forgive all of them their human weaknesses, but not their evil intent.

Try to put things in perspective, we will never find the perfect candidate.

GOD is not running!

[maine-iac7]

. . The fact that he thinks this is okay, as long as he didn’t divorce his wife when she had cancer shows what a rotten person he is...

Are you illiterate or deaf or both?

How many times does his daughter have to tell us that her mother did NOT have cancer, did NOT die, and SHE was the one who asked for the divorce before you give up your "pontificous" self-righteousness?