Here ya go:
I was waiting for the predictable, "baggage" comment.
Posted on 03/08/2007 7:02:04 PM PST by NormsRevenge
WASHINGTON - Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich acknowledged he was having an extramarital affair even as he led the charge against President Clinton over the Monica Lewinsky affair, he acknowledged in an interview with a conservative Christian group.
"The honest answer is yes," Gingrich, a potential 2008 Republican presidential candidate, said in an interview with Focus on the Family founder James Dobson to be aired Friday, according to a transcript provided to The Associated Press. "There are times that I have fallen short of my own standards. There's certainly times when I've fallen short of God's standards."
Gingrich argued in the interview, however, that he should not be viewed as a hypocrite for pursuing Clinton's infidelity.
"The president of the United States got in trouble for committing a felony in front of a sitting federal judge," the former Georgia congressman said of Clinton's 1998 House impeachment on perjury and obstruction of justice charges. "I drew a line in my mind that said, 'Even though I run the risk of being deeply embarrassed, and even though at a purely personal level I am not rendering judgment on another human being, as a leader of the government trying to uphold the rule of law, I have no choice except to move forward and say that you cannot accept ... perjury in your highest officials."
Widely considered a mastermind of the Republican revolution that swept Congress in the 1994 elections, Gingrich remains wildly popular among many conservatives. He has repeatedly placed near the top of Republican presidential polls recently, even though he has not formed a campaign.
Gingrich has said he is waiting to see how the Republican field shapes up before deciding in the fall whether to run.
Reports of extramarital affairs have dogged him for years as a result of two messy divorces, but he has refused to discuss them publicly.
Gingrich, who frequently campaigned on family values issues, divorced his second wife, Marianne, in 2000 after his attorneys acknowledged Gingrich's relationship with his current wife, Callista Bisek, a former congressional aide more than 20 years younger than he is.
His first marriage, to his former high school geometry teacher, Jackie Battley, ended in divorce in 1981. Although Gingrich has said he doesn't remember it, Battley has said Gingrich discussed divorce terms with her while she was recuperating in the hospital from cancer surgery.
Gingrich married Marianne months after the divorce.
"There were times when I was praying and when I felt I was doing things that were wrong. But I was still doing them," he said in the interview. "I look back on those as periods of weakness and periods that I'm ... not proud of."
Gingrich's congressional career ended in 1998 when he abruptly resigned from Congress after poor showings from Republicans in elections and after being reprimanded by the House ethics panel over charges that he used tax-exempt funding to advance his political goals.
And did Clinton divorce Hillary? Come on, man, think about the whole scheme of things.
"But evangelicals reject Romney out of hand because he is a Mormon."
This evangelical rejects him out of hand for the same reasons I rejected John Kerry. He's a flip flopper on too many important issues and he was electable in Massachusetts.
"I'm sure those who castigate Rudy for his marital issues will come down just as hard on Newt."
You have a point.
As a worthy candidate for the highest executive office in the federal government, yes. Neither deserves the position.
Gingrich remains a force to be reckoned with on policy matters, but should shoulder the responsibility of advancing someone else of like mind toward the office. Rudy is quite frankly a hard-charging sideshow at-best.
just my two cents.
Yes! Just as I've appreciated appealing men, I've always kept my promise...and I'm blessed with a husband who also holds to his vows.
Yep. And that's how we get the hypocrite tag.
Have you been keeping up on this thread? Plenty of posters here still hold Newt in high esteem.
There was a piece done years ago about Newt that referenced a soccer game, a soccer mom, and a car in the parking lot that made Newt look like Bill Clinton's philandering equal. And no, I have no cite for it.
Here ya go:
I was waiting for the predictable, "baggage" comment.
For the billionth time, the scandal wasn't about sex, or even extramarital sex, but rather about perjury, obstruction of justice, and witness tampering. Newt apparently did none of these things, and therefore his case isn't comparable to Clinton's, as much as the press would like to make them so. Actually, Clinton's case was more like Libby's, if anyone's. So if Libby's case is a big deal, so should Clinton's have been. And if Clinton's wasn't, neither should Libby's be.
I said the same thing about these two guys.
One was, and is a stupid traitorous fool; the other, was and is, a liar and whoremaster.
"I personally admire Newt, and would love to see him as President... but, my wife heard on Oprah that he divorced his wife while she was in the hospital recovering from cancer...."
Urban legend not true. He seperated from her in the spring of 80, and her surgery was in the fall. No divorce papers were served her on her hospital bed. Of course the MSM, like Oprah and the gang, want your wife and others to believe that.
Did they also reveal on Oprah that Jackie was his high school teacher? If they were having an affair while he was her student, well, everyone knows what happens to teachers today who have affairs with their students. Were they having an affair then? I don't know. Surely something was going on?
So what's your point?
The media still fails to understand that the whole issue wasn't that Clinton had an affair, but that he committed perjury regarding it. I also see they didn't mention Jesse Jackson visiting Bubba with his pregnant girlfriend while he was supposed to be giving the TOON spiritual guidance.
LOL. I'm sure those who castigate Newt for his marital issues will come down just as hard on Rudy. (/sarc)
"Although Gingrich has said he doesn't remember it, Battley has said Gingrich discussed divorce terms with her while she was recuperating in the hospital from cancer surgery."
"Doesn't remember it?"
In other words, it's a liberal media urban legend that may have zero truth to it, but the media will trot it out every time a newt story comes up to bash him without having to actually prove anything. God forbid people actually start to like Newt as a human being.
"I'm with your wife! I'm not sure where I heard it (years ago) but it has stayed with me. Anyone who would inform his wife of his divorce plans while she's in the hospital being treated for cancer is a lowlife and will not EVER get my vote."
Absolutely. This is why this urban legend is repeated by the liberal media everytime Newt surfaces. It hits home!
Never mind that the story, like many of the ethics charges thrown at Newt, is a half-truth at best. See post #112.
"Who can you point to in Washington and honestly say "I admire that person"?
"Personally, I have a fair amount of respect and admiration for Dr.Tom Coburn."
Dittos. Add in Mitch McConnell, Chris Cox, John Cornyn, and Rep Sensenbrenner.
I can also go to the Jefferson Memorial and point at the statue.
"Came out today on an Atlanta TV station."
And the reason they are recycling 10-year-old news is ...???
Done bashing the Bush White House?
Not enough current Republicans in Congress to beat up on?
Want to deflect from the Democrat plans to lose in Iraq?
Inquiring minds want to know.
The difference has been explained about 6,000 times, I think...
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