I read the Ethics case story - I get it- Gingrich was railroaded out of Congress on bogus ethics charges for which he was later exonerated. That is not what Coburn is talking about in “Breach of Trust”:
“Before the government shutdown we thought Newt Gingrich was invincible. After the shutdown, however, he was like a whipped dog, who still barked, yet cowered, in Clinton’s presence. Our policies after the shutdown were inconsistent, and Gingrich’s leadership seemed erratic. He would often surprise and shock us with his midstream course corrections, as he did with his attempt to increase committee funding. His inability to discipline himself in his public comments was also a serious liability” (pp. 80-81).
Coburn took part in an unsuccessful 1997 effort to remove Gingrich from the speakership. He regretted the failure. “For example, the next year Gingrich would secure $450 million for the construction of seven C-130J transport planes in his district, though the Pentagon ordered only one. As he secured one of the largest pork projects in history, Republicans lost seats. This was the type of thing we were raging against...” (p. 89)
After that seat loss, Gingrich left Congress. “The day Newt Gingrich resigned, he hosted a conference call in which he bitterly blasted the `cannibals’ in the Republican party for his demise. The call was somber and very sad. The vast majority of Republicans by this point, not just the conservative `cannibals,’ had come to see Gingrich as a tragic figure who, through his own missteps and errors in judgement, had become more of a liability than an asset, in spite of his enormous gifts” (p. 138).
I am not interested in Coburn’s crap. Ok? Thanks.