Posted on 03/08/2007 10:53:12 PM PST by Luis Gonzalez
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
Oh look a Rudy Guiliani drive by hit on Newt.
surprise
surprise
yawn.
Seems the wind is being dragged out of Rudy's sails. (shades of the Dean scream)
To know Rudy Guiliani's positions is to prefer another candidate.
rudy is in trouble if his MSM, NYC AP press pals have to do this.
REMEMBER FOLKS THE AP ROUTS ALL STORIES THROUGH NYC!
>>>Oh look a Rudy Guiliani drive by hit on Newt.
I was unaware the Dobson was a Giuliani supporter.
we should care about this because the AP is writing a hit piece for some reason.
The AP wants a subway election.
They want a contest between Hillary Rudy Guiliani Clinton versus Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Two identical lawyer liberals.
We should care because the MSM is attempting to circle the waggons to protect their own pro-homosexual, anti-gun, government only theology candidates.
This is old news. Anyone who didn't know it already must have been under a rock the last several years.
At least Newt has owned up to his failings and even done it publicly, with no equivocation. That takes a lot of guts and, yes, character. He didn't have to do it. He says he prayed about it and asked God's forgiveness. Do you have reason to doubt that?
If God has forgiven him maybe you could also consider it.
Oh, and I congratulate you on your perfection of character.
You make an excellent and undeniable point. Newt would be a formidable President were it not for his character flaws. And while voting for him would make us look like, as you stated, hypocrites or worse, dems; if he won, at least we'd be hypocrites with a conservative agenda!
Ok ok... I know. You're right.
look at the NYC source of the article.
We have NYC news distributors circling waggons to defend their NYC liberal candiates.
AP/Yahoo
all routed through NYC
Attention AP: Got any other old news?
This has-been was trotted out by the MSM almost a decade ago... even the typically uneducated liberal-types can tell you that Newt had an affair.
You start off with a very worthwhile point; pity you go stupid after that. Though against my usual policy, I'll overlook the 75% stupid to respond to the good point.
I've read that an interview with FoTF comes out today, and I mean to catch it. Of course sins can be forgiven, and the fallen restored. But Clinton enablers also say he's repented, because he once said in the past that he had. However, it was unlike anything the Bible describes repentance, which actually produces confirmatory works.
So I'm interested to see whether NG TALKS repentance to get back in good with his base, or whether there's any fruit to attest it.
Yes, but it was Newt's decision to speak to Dobson and have the interview broadcast on Focus on the Family that has made this a news event again. This was driven by Newt, not the MSM.
Newt's time has come and gone. He is bad news. Too many are pushing for his rehabilitation. He has too many strings attached to be considered uncompromised. He has deeper character flaws than the grand canyon and is not to be trusted with domestic or foreign policy.
Exactly. This tells me more about his being serial about running for President than anything else. I've been thinking for some time that the signal he's running will be if he comes out and starts openly addressing the infidelity issues. Hey, it's ok for Rudy but it's not ok for Newt?
He's holding a clownfish. How appropriate for this situation....
I don't know when that was taken, but if it's recent, another sign he's running will be dropping 40 pounds.
I was not aware that Gingrich resigned because he was having an affair.
LOL
I can forgive infidelity in either Rudy or Newt. I can't overlook Rudy's positions on the issues, and if he tells me he's changed his mind on them I won't believe him. With Mr. Newt I believe what he says.
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