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.
Surely there comes a time in an adult man's life, when he invests himself in a career of leadership and supposed integrity, when he should be held accountable to practice what he preaches.
Gingrich has had years to clean his own house, and hasn't come up to muster even while holding the reigns of power as an aging adult.
I don't want this man being my president.
There are other candidates who can keep their pants on and their hands on the wheel. Let them bear the burden of the office of Chief Executive. Newt still needs to get his life in order.
If he can't rule his own self, how can he govern a nation? (Answer: he can't; he would be open to bribes, and God knows what treacheries a man will commit to keep power when he has a track record like Newt's.)
I keep reading this as some kind of a bizarre excuse for Newt's behavior.
My marriage vows included an oath to forsake all others.
Newt is guilty of lying under oath as well.
He lied before he didn't lie.
I agree! I am for Dr. Coburn - he is so articulate! He was great at the hearings for the Supreme Court Justices! However - his record would come up also and the "choice" witches would make a bee-line to sabotage him!
See below:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/politicselections/vote2004/2004-11-03-coburn-profile_x.htm
I wouldn't worry much about the "choice witches". Coburn has enough character, integrity and determination to overcome.
He has been upsetting the apple cart and beating the odds for quite a few years now.
>>>Was the woman that he had an affair with someone who worked for him and was he sexually harassing her or giving preference to her as a subordinate employee and excluding other employees from the same special treatment and favors?
Callista Bisek was a House of Representatives employee at the time of the affair.
What about if we don't like Rudy because of his view of the second amendment... can we still like Newt then? Or what about the abortion issue? Or gay marriage? Or immigration? Or judges?
I disagree with your assessment. He violated his oath, he didn't lie. I say that because I believe at the time he took his oath, he meant it. I can't prove that, obviously, but just because you don't keep a promise doesn't mean you lied about it, although we use that term a lot regarding promises.
If you think he never intended to keep his marriage vow, then I you could say he lied, which is why I simply say I disagree with your assessment.
But I'm not making excuses for him. Pointing out that a person didn't commit a crime doesn't excuse him for something else he DID do.
Lying under oath in a criminal or civil case is a crime. Maybe unfortunately, breaking your marriage vow is not considered a crime anymore.
BTW, this is one of my strong points for Mitt -- he hasn't, so far as anybody can see, broken his marriage vow, nor does he seem likely to.
I'm not saying other candidates can't say the same, but I know several who cannot.
One would think, given the propensity for the MSM to, shall we say, "color" the news, that you would want to confirm this story before making such judgement. We know for a fact, based on Rathergate alone, that the MSM will lie to further a liberal agenda. Do you think this practice is something they just started in the last few years?
I don't know, call me old fashioned...
It's not a matter of wishing, but the sell is definitely on by the MSM to define the race early.
And he may win, but it will then be proof the Republican party has abandoned its base.
Someone please ask Hillary if she has had an affair.
Newt should run as a DEMOCRAT.
More to the point, he's such a dildo that he couldn't get lucky in Southside Johnny's.
I don't care about Clinton's extramarital affairs (I due care about his perjury). I don't care about Rudy's, and I don't care about Newt's indiscretions. What I do care about is their stances on basic Constitutional rights. Newt shines brighter than the other two.
Folks...there's still Duncan Hunter! Come on! We DON'T have to hold our noses at the polls.
If a person betrays their spouse, why not others also. Research has indicated that betrayal in one are of life is associated with betrayal in other areas.
Although Clinton's actions were far worse (sexual harassment, sex in the Oval Office involving an intern, etc.) this pretty much kills Gingrich's chances.
Did you mean the "infidelity?"
Uh, can't to tell the truth about your president, eh ... he suborned Monica's false affidavit then lied to claim it was accurate; clinton is a rapist; clinton abused women; clinton sent henchghouls to intimidate women he feared might expose him. Sheesh, some people will do anything to lie for the bent one. That you cannot see the huge difference between Newt's affair and the degenerate clinton says alot about you, korn.
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