Well, he did admit to "Lust in his heart" but as a practical matter, well... I offer this.
I understand that Helen Thomas loved him ---- but just not the exact same way that she loved JFK. ;~))
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.
What next, will Henry Hyde come out and admit (again) that he had an affair with Cherie Snodgrass in the 60's?
Every single poster on this forum has sinned at one time or another. Enough said.
I didn't make myself clear......my bad......like someone else said about Newt, there goes his campaign and deservedly so.
Yes, but under Newt's leadership, Republicans remained silent about Clinton for a while, because of Newt's affair. Newt even went so far as to say it would be better for the R Party if Clinton remained in office, because a President Gore could win, as a rationalization for his silence, and was for a long time opposed to Clinton's impeachment and ouster from office.
I believe in many respects Newt harmed our ability to really go after Clinton.
I think Newt's time has passed....maybe that's not fair...it's just a feeling...he is a smart fella and would probably work tirelessly to fix some of America's problems...i would vote for him...but someting just seems retro about him...not sure why i feel that way.
Every single poster on this forum has sinned at one time or another. Enough said.
--
Source 8-? :-}
I can't speak for others, but Rudy's problem isn't that he had 3 wives, although that certainly isn't a plus for him. It's that he is wrong on a host of issues.
However, Gingrich is no paragon of virtue. His resignation from the house was self-serving, as were his actions which lead to his being hit with ethical charges which, while overblown, weren't meaningless.
Gingrich is an ambitious man, who I think let power get to him. He was in many ways like Clinton, abusing power and authority. He didn't lie under oath, but he wasn't a "good man" with the power he was given.
I would vote for him in a general election, but he isn't my choice for a nominee, and I hope he doesn't enter the race because I can see him splitting the conservative vote and leading to a Rudy nomination.
My opinion is that Gingrich is trying to prop up Guiliani in the hopes that he can enter the race in the fall as the "conservative savior" to slay the Rudy beast.
I have, and will. Like the Little Red Rudester, Newt is not the answer.
I thought at the time that Rehnquist looked as if he were bored to death and half asleep while officiating at the proceedings. I wondered why. Now, I think he knew the fix was in all the time as did the Senate as a whole and probably the whole Beltway elite.
Gingrich was not the only Republican offender at the time, but he was one of the highest profile offenders. Remember Larry Flynt weighing in at the time with threats of exposing Republicans? Gingrich was one of the principle ones he Flynt referred to without naming names, I believe. I have lost a lot of respect for Gingrich because of this.
God. :)
You're right. Originally, they weren't even going to make an attempt to impeach for the same reason. I lost a lot of respect for Gingrich as well because of it.
Wasn't Clinton's issue something to do with lying under oath in a sexual harassment case?
Everyone in the country knew Clinton was boinking Flowers before he was elected. If Newt had an affair, it's tacky, but it's his business.
If Newt lies under oath in a court of law, it's my business. On a lighter note, has anyone noticed the MSM doesn't care what the Scooter Libby trial costs? Remember how we had to endlessly hear about Clinton's 40 million dollar trial? Wonder why they don't care about the cost? Hmmmm...
I have never given a damn about such things. The "real conservatives" can't say that. They're converts, now that "their guy" may be in the race.
Welcome aboard. ;)
Gingrich has a great mind and a knowledge of history that must be put to use. He's also an embarassment in some ways.
Rudy is quite frankly a hard-charging sideshow at-best.
As much as some people wish that were so, I don't see that.
Well, he did admit to "Lust in his heart" but as a practical matter, well... I offer this.
I understand that Helen Thomas loved him ---- but just not the exact same way that she loved JFK. ;~))
What they were doing to Scooter Libby won't help to feed a hungry child.
Newt's lack of personal character, his demonstrated scorn and disrespect for matters of fundamental decency and fidelity are current news.
A man who treats his family and marriage vows with the flippancy and casualness that Newt has demonstrated should not be allowed to lead the rest of us. This is about personal character, and personal character matters in a president. If we learned nothing else during the eight years of Clinton horror, surely we learned this.
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