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.
Who would you pick?
Yeah, sure. That'll happen.
Perjury, obstruction of justice, lying to a federal judge?
These are only crimes if you are a Republican. Clintons and Democrats get a pass.
Have to say this, he and his daughters by his first wife have been close and good terms and with his grandchildren.
Yep
"I've looked on many women with lust. I've committed adultery in my heart many times. God knows I will do this and forgives me." --Jimmy Carter, The Playboy Interview - Excerpt. November 1976
This isn't news to those who were paying attention at the time. I remember folks castigating Gingrich for blowing his credibility in going after X42.
I'm with your wife! I'm not sure where I heard it (years ago) but it has stayed with me. Anyone who would inform his wife of his divorce plans while she's in the hospital being treated for cancer is a lowlife and will not EVER get my vote.
Was she Guilty or Not Guilty?
Not Newt -- Duncan Hunter, Haley Barbour, even Mitt Romney -- DEFINITELY not Newt!
bkmk
Duh....who the hell hsn't had affairs?
Yeah, and as a faithful husband of 22 years, I don't understand why it's so darned difficult for so many men to keep their pants on.
I guess power just corrupts everyone.
Do you have a source to show that this is true.
Newt, Newt, Newt...bad form dude.
I find Newt's personality - ego - about as unappealing as there is in any politician.
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