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Gingrich had affair during Clinton probe
AP on Yahoo ^ | 3/8/07 | Ben Evans - ap

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.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Government; Politics/Elections; Your Opinion/Questions
KEYWORDS: affair; clinton; gingrich; newt; prez; probe; slimeball
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To: NormsRevenge

People talk about Giuliani's record of failure at marraige and how the conservative Christian movement has a problem with that. Gingrich's history is just as bad.


41 posted on 03/08/2007 7:23:24 PM PST by Non-Sequitur (Save Fredericksburg. Support CVBT.)
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To: NormsRevenge

Well, while Newt was having an affair, Bubba was probing Monica so what's worse? They're both bad but a segment of society still hold's Clintoon in high esteem.....(usually the one's that are as disgusting as he is).


42 posted on 03/08/2007 7:23:28 PM PST by Dawgreg (Happiness is not having what you want, but wanting what you have.)
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To: Dog Gone
We tend to eat our own.
If we don't have the perfect candidate, we give up.
Suicidal, but true.


Perfect? Please.

Nobody wants somebody perfect but this is a lifelong pattern for Newt.

Think he will stop when he is in the White House? How much fun will that be for the Democrats?
43 posted on 03/08/2007 7:24:07 PM PST by msnimje (People are crossing party lines to support Giuliani - even some Republicans support him.)
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To: cgk
Gingrich: 'I sought God's forgiveness'

Over and over and over again apparently.

44 posted on 03/08/2007 7:24:38 PM PST by Non-Sequitur (Save Fredericksburg. Support CVBT.)
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To: SomeCallMeTim
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.... She won't even listen to him for 5 seconds. She reacts to Newt the way I do to Hillary.

That's the way the cookie will crumble on Newt.

45 posted on 03/08/2007 7:25:46 PM PST by paulat (I'd rather spend my vote on someone who CAN ACTUALLY BE ELECTED)
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To: Dead Dog
Of course Xlinton's impeachment had nothing to do with sex, and Gingrich didn't suborn purjery...but that is the fine print.

Agreed, Messr. Clinton's problem was using the powers of his office to procure and then get rid of interns for sex toys.

But still, dang it. This was just -- STUPID.

I still think Newt has the best combination of experience and skills for the job. But dang it, this was a big oops.

46 posted on 03/08/2007 7:26:34 PM PST by Dominic Harr (Conservative: The "ant", to a liberal's "grasshopper".)
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To: PhiKapMom
Came out today on an Atlanta TV station.

It's been known for over a decade that Newt had this affair. It's not a news headline--"Gingrich Asks for Forgiveness for Affair" might be, but "Had An Affair" isn't news, it's history.

47 posted on 03/08/2007 7:26:54 PM PST by atomicpossum (Replies must follow approved guidelines or you will be kill-filed without appeal.)
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To: Non-Sequitur
Rudy was a Saint living with a gay person was just perfect Clinton's will have a field with that
48 posted on 03/08/2007 7:28:12 PM PST by StoneWall Brigade (Charge'em Both Ways)
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To: dfwgator

That makes two of us. I think you are correct in your analysis it has to do with power.

Think some of these folks on here with their heads buried in the sand are not in the real world either where you see affairs going on all around. Not sure that it is all that different today then before -- just more open.


49 posted on 03/08/2007 7:28:25 PM PST by PhiKapMom (Broken Glass Republican -- RudyforPresident2008@yahoogroups.com or http://www.rudygforamerica.com)
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To: NormsRevenge

Clinton was not impeached for having an affair. He obstructed justice, intimated witness, destroyed evidence, committed perjury, suborned perjury, turned in a false affidavit, and tried to fix a trial to deny a woman her day in court.

What Newt did was not nice, but he is no Clinton.


50 posted on 03/08/2007 7:28:26 PM PST by doug from upland (Stopping Hillary should be a FreeRepublic Manhattan Project)
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To: atomicpossum

I know! I thought the same thing but sure enough it had a dateline of today. Although I said something on a thread recently and got clobbered and told it never happened. Guess my memory was correct after all. It must have been written because of his forgiveness deal with Dobson. Only reason I can think for it to come out today.


51 posted on 03/08/2007 7:30:23 PM PST by PhiKapMom (Broken Glass Republican -- RudyforPresident2008@yahoogroups.com or http://www.rudygforamerica.com)
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To: Mr.Unique
Did he lie about it on national television denying the whole thing, speaking directly to the American people? No.

Did he encourage others to commit perjury before a grand jury with threats and enticement? No.

And does anybody remember when Newt returned his 4.5 mil advance on his book? Click here for an old transcript from Crossfire about it.

52 posted on 03/08/2007 7:32:23 PM PST by perfect stranger
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To: NormsRevenge
There are times that I have fallen short of my own standards.

LOL! That's just weird. Is he bi-polar?

Clinton's, Gore, Pelosi, Newt, Bush, Reid, Kennedy, Boxer, Kerry, etc. Not really the cream of the crop are they? Who can you point to in Washington and honestly say "I admire that person"?

53 posted on 03/08/2007 7:32:27 PM PST by isthisnickcool (Oh! The Obamanation! Durka durka durka...)
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To: NormsRevenge

So what? I'm getting really tired of the press trying to nail Republicans on moral issues that they think we all care about. I think that someone forgot to tell them that the moral majority has mostly moved on, maybe literally. I know that my mom, a card carrying member, has been dead for two and half years and she was 93. I'm not saying that we have abandoned our morals, just that we are not as judgemental as our parents.


54 posted on 03/08/2007 7:32:50 PM PST by Eva
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To: Baynative

I am 21 years old... man..I have probably done enough bad things already...to the point I could never run for President.

we cant be this judgemental. can we ?


55 posted on 03/08/2007 7:32:54 PM PST by se_ohio_young_conservative (Rudy for President !)
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To: isthisnickcool
Who can you point to in Washington and honestly say "I admire that person"?

Absolutely nobody that I can think of.

56 posted on 03/08/2007 7:33:21 PM PST by dfwgator (The University of Florida - Championship U)
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To: bwteim

Or was "lustful in his heart"--


57 posted on 03/08/2007 7:33:49 PM PST by cmotormac44
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To: Darkwolf377

I'd rather have a fairly successful conservative with an imperfect marital record, then a liberal with an imperfect martial record pushing a leftwing agenda.


58 posted on 03/08/2007 7:34:19 PM PST by Reagan Man (FUHGETTABOUTIT Rudy....... Conservatives don't vote for liberals!)
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To: Holicheese
Did he lie about it?

Oh, no he was a paragon of virtue--he openly admitted to having an affair while attacking Clinton. He didn't have to be found out to admit it...oh, wait...

Yeah, in fact, he DID lie about it by only mentioning it when CAUGHT--which we here always dump on politicians for doing. Unless they agree with our politics--then it's no big deal.

59 posted on 03/08/2007 7:34:40 PM PST by Darkwolf377 (Anti-socialist Bostonian, Anti-Illegal Immigration Bush supporter, Pro-Life Atheist)
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To: Lancey Howard

Exactly right. I can't believe conservatives are so desperate that Gingrich is even considered.


60 posted on 03/08/2007 7:34:55 PM PST by Zechariah11
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