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Posted on 05/14/2011 9:33:58 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
My father, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, has been in politics as long as I can remember.
And as long as I can remember, media coverage about him has contained misstatements of facts. The vast majority are simple mistakes that are easily corrected, understood and rewoven into an ongoing storyline.
But one of them seems to have taken on a life of its own, and simple corrections have not sufficed to set the record straight. Why does this happen? I can't be sure, but I suspect that the narrative created by these untruths proves to be so much more compelling and more dramatic than what actually happened that it proves irresistible.
I'm talking about the story of my father's visit to my mother while she was in the hospital in 1980.
For years, I have thought about trying to correct the untrue accounts of this hospital visit. After all, I was at the hospital with them, and saw and heard what happened. But I have always hesitated, as it was a private family matter and my mother is a very private person. In addition, for the four people involved, it was one of a million interactions and was not considered a defining event by any of us.
My mother and I have both recently run into quite a few people who hold an inaccurate understanding of this hospital visit. Many think my mother is dead.
So, to correct the record, here is what happened: My mother, Jackie Battley Gingrich, is very much alive, and often spends time with my family. I am lucky to have such a "Miracle Mom," as I titled her in a column this week.
As for my parents' divorce, I can remember when they told me.
It was the spring of 1980.
I was 13 years old, and we were about to leave Fairfax, Va., and drive to Carrollton, Ga., for the summer. My parents told my sister and me that they were getting a divorce as our family of four sat around the kitchen table of our ranch home. Soon afterward, my mom, sister and I got into our light-blue Chevrolet Impala and drove back to Carrollton.
Later that summer, Mom went to Emory University Hospital in Atlanta for surgery to remove a tumor. While she was there, Dad took my sister and me to see her.
It is this visit that has turned into the infamous hospital visit about which many untruths have been told. I won't repeat them. You can look them up online if you are interested in untruths. But here's what happened:
My mother and father were already in the process of getting a divorce, which she requested.
Dad took my sister and me to the hospital to see our mother.
She had undergone surgery the day before to remove a tumor.
The tumor was benign.
As with many divorces, it was hard and painful for all involved, but life continued.
As have many families, we have healed; we have moved on.
We are not a perfect family, but we are knit together through common bonds, commitment and love.
My mother and father are alive and well, and my sister and I are blessed to have a close relationship with them both.
My sister and I feel that it is time to move on, close the book on this event and focus on building a great future. We will not answer additional questions or make additional comments regarding this meaningless incident, which occurred more than three decades ago.
As I said, my mother is a private person. She will not give media interviews. She deserves respect and should be allowed to live in peace.
-- To find out more about Jackie Gingrich Cushman, and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit www.creators.com.
I think the point here is not that he is not a flawed person or that he should be President. I don’t support him for president either. But, after so much time, it turns out that the media was lying viciously about his first marriage. Of course that’s no surprise to any of us but it still is shocking and infuriating. But I’m not worried: MSNBC will cover this new development in depth, lol!
A few days ago, a Newt spokesman stated the "park bench ad" was about his debating GW with Pelosi and that he did NOT agree with her.
Funny, I recall specifically the ad and Newt was very clear he agreed with Pelosi.
More spinning by Newster who, as Speaker, always caved to Bubba Xlinton.
LOL!!!
1. Are you brain dead?
2. Are you illiterate?
3. If the answers are “no,” then you are out of the woods…But then, you did read my post; therefore, you don’t fall into the #2 category.
His "baggage" is his record as Speaker and his much more recent involvement with leftists regarding "global warming" and education. Didn't he do some sort of tour regarding education policy with Bill Ayers and Rev. Farrakhan? How can anyone even be in the same room with those evil people?
The truth of this matter has been public knowledge for years. She's still alive, and she knew of the divorce before she entered the hospital. However, the truth doesn't make as good a story as "he divorced her on her death bed."
Having said that, I still won't support him for President. He has too many things against him. But that's a matter for another time.
Finally the truth is told.
Thanks for posting this.
He’s still a political disaster.
Snuggling on the couch with Nasty and pimping for algore, did it for me too.
Prior I thought the world of him as a strong conservative voice that could help right this country.
Like many brilliant people, they have major issues with personal lives and people. Newt must have a demanding need for personal approval, why else would he have teamed up with that witch nasty peelouisi to push a leftist lie?
One of the basic differences between the Democrats and Republicans is that conservative core values are not dependent on vagaries of political fashion nor political expediency nor pandering to the electorate. In recent years Mr Newt has acted much more like the former than the latter.
Glad that story is clarified. it does not clarify his philandering though. And he back scuzzifava!
I don’t care about this baggage.
I care about the picture of him and the old bag on a couch in front of the capital.
Gingrich voted to establish the Dept. of Educaton.
“In the 1970s, Newt Gingrich voted for the creation of the Department of Education, which is a department that Ronald Reagan wanted to eliminate. A Department of Education was also heavily supported by several early socialists and Jimmy Carter. With programs like No Child Left Behind, it has led to a large decrease in the educational standards in public schools in the United States.”
This is incredible. Newt let this lie stand and be reported incessantly by the Dummies and their fellow travlers in the MSM.
WHY would ANYONE stand by and let this lie fester when a simple phto op of Newt and his x would have shut it down immediately?
I don’t think I know anyone that would sit by and let such a collassal lie go unchallenged. Newt has more problems than this for me however.
And Newt's pimping of that fake Republican Dede Scozzafava in the 2009 NY-23 election did it for me too!
I always had serious doubts about that ‘deathbed’ story. That said, Newt is still scuzzy and he had a habit of folding like a cheap-tent at the drop of a hat. I was unyielding in my disgust with Bill Clinton over his behavior, and there’s no way I’m going to give Newt any kind of pass. I’d never give him my vote under any circumstance, even in the wildly unlikely scenario he becomes the GOP nominee.
Newt will undoubtedly be the nominee.... and I couldn’t be happier. Do you guys ever listen to anything he says? He is not perfect, but he is infinitely better than anyone else running (or considering it), including Chris Christie. He had admitted backing DeDe Scozzafava was a mistake..... what else do you want him to do?
A year from now, all the Newt-haters here will be on board, and openly cheering his speeches, statements, debate performances, ideas, and attacks on Obama. Who else has the vision, charisma, clarity, and knowledge to rally the country around? Tim Pawlenty? haha.... Mitt Romney? Uggh.
The “divorced her on her deathbed” story has long been debunked. It has been irresponsible for people (including many conservatives) to keep telling it all these years. What’s new here is that this is someone from within the family writing this first-person account of the details. But I had heard long ago that the story that he cruelly told his wife when she was in the hospital for cancer that he wanted a divorce was false. Somehow the debunking never seemed to “take” among conservatives.
I’m no fan of Newt for president and wish he had not thrown his hat in the ring. But my reasons have nothing to do with this myth.
He’s scum. He couldn’t even concentrate when the GOP had a historic opportunity in 1990. Instead he was out chasing interns. He’s a creep, he’s a liar, he’s opportunistic, and he wouldn’t know a principle if it bit him on the rear end.
I will NOT vote for him.
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