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.
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.
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).
Over and over and over again apparently.
That's the way the cookie will crumble on Newt.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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"?
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.
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 ?
Absolutely nobody that I can think of.
Or was "lustful in his heart"--
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.
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.
Exactly right. I can't believe conservatives are so desperate that Gingrich is even considered.
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