"your degenerate ex-president"
"You've already forgotten your demigod"
As for those two delusional statements.....
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.
Carter was an abominaiton for different reasons.
I gotta wonder about when Newt's first romance/marriage began. He married his high school geometry teacher.
In fidelity is hypocrisy if the man is a Christian.
This has been public knowledge for quite some time; I guess this is just the first time it's been confirmed.
"It seems to me that most folks who are against Rudy are motivated largely by his political positions. His private life is just fuel to the fire. "
"Everyone knows that Newt was a cad as well in his private life, but politically? he was a conservative rock."
Agree with your first statement. But of his marriages, I don't know that he was as bad as everyone says. Just maybe his ex-wives were real bitches. It does happen.
"your degenerate ex-president"
"You've already forgotten your demigod"
As for those two delusional statements.....
Was the woman that he had an affair with someone who worked for him...
Yes.
...and was he sexually harassing her...
Unlikely.
...or giving preference to her as a subordinate employee and excluding other employees from the same special treatment and favors?
Very likely.
And you might also ask did he carry on the affair while at work, in his office?
Likely.
So, was Gingrich affair with a subordinate, a much younger subordinate at that.
Yes.
Let me make it clear that my biggest concern with this is that Newt's extremely reckless and self-indulgent behavior gave powerful ammunition to the "everyone does it" crowd, and helped the 'toon slide. And that was very damaging for our country.
One more time: It was not about sex or infidelity, it was about perjury.
That said, Newt needs to forget about presidential ambitions.
Yes. We will.
Why?
"Scratch that campaign."
I dunno.
If Hilary is the Democratic nominee, I ain't exactly sure that the issue would come up,...in polite conversation anyways.
I'd guess the former president's behavior offers Newt a great deal of "prophylactic" cover on the issue.
Yep, this one will... As much as I love Gingrich in his conservative books on conservative subjects... I will not call a lump of coal a diamond.
Isn't that the technical definition of an extramarital affair?
I'm shocked! Shocked that the mainstream media chooses to attack Newt's negative personal baggage this early on in the '08 Presidential race!!! They are afraid of Newt's present poll numbers.
Clinton screwed eveything in sight - including women who didn't want any part of it. I don't think a female dog or horse was safe around him.
The Dems and the usual RINO suspects didn't think anything of it. As a matter of fact, people like Orrin Hatch wouldn't even TOUCH the Juanita Broderick incident.
What Gingrich did was foolish and wrong, but at least he hasn't been married three times.
Not so sure about that. Although his behavior was indefensibly wrong, he's taken responsibility for it. More than that: he's admitted that his was a moral/spiritual failure. Sounds like a penitent heart to me. Most Americans, even many of us who call ourselves conservative Christians, are quick to forgive under such circumstances.
I'm not sure yet whether I'd vote for him, but I know I want Newt running. For him to disclose this embarrassing info on Dobson's show suggests that he's getting serious about campaigning. Doing it before he jumps in shows some savvy, too.
This isn't news. I knew this for years and thought most Freepers did too.
Nixon likewise, and he was the disaster that led to Carter.
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