Posted on 11/05/2011 1:37:42 PM PDT by bkopto
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.
Do not at any point attempt to put me in the Newt camp just because I won’t join people in anything goes rhetoric.
Newte didn’t marry a chaste womam, cheat on her, then divorce her on her deathbed.
Newt was seduced by one of his highschool teachers, later resented it, filed for divorce, separated, and played the field therafter. That is bad, but nowhere near what he has been accused of. Frankly, filing for divorce and playing the field is not even as close to a teacher seducing a student.
What made up positions do you accuse other people on hour day to day business Stymee?
I never defended anything Newt did in his second marriage.
Have you quit beating your wife yet?
My position is that his first marriage should have been annulled and that she should in fact have done time in jail.
I am willing to contend with you on that issue.
I’m more concerned about how he treated wife #2.
That’s history and does not mitigate one iota my salient points. Moreover, he’s part of the history that eventually led to a Marxist occupying the WH.
Isn’t it time we got some new faces?
Heh. No.
The straw you keep dripping from your self-righteous maw tells us you live in a haystack. And your effort to play liberal tactics is duly noted. When you become more acquainted with The Savior, get back to us. Until then, try not to expose too much of your self serving moralizing.
I put no claim on great righteousness, but teachers preying upon students to fulfill their lusts doesn't square with the Scripture I have read, however precious the thought of being at liberty to act so may be to some.
There is a way that seems right to a man but the end thereof is destruction.
You claim that my upholding prohibition against sex between adult students and adolescent students in post after post on this thread (an aspect of Newts first marriage not in debate) serves only myself. Have you squared your point of view with the site owner?
He dumped his second wife, Marianne, after she got multiple sclerosis.
She filed for divorce because he was cheating on her. How is that a plus for Gingrich?
Newt is not my guy but it is important that the truth is out there. People here at FR are now repeating the stories that he cheated on his other wives. Now might be a good time to refrain from repeating 2nd or 3rd hand stories about him.
In light of the way the MSM asassinated Gingrich, Bush, Palin and now Cain’s character I think caution and skepticism is called for before excepting anything from the MSM. MSM is not here to inform us but to destroy us.
Incidentally, Jackie was Newt’s geometry teacher, and he a high school student when their relationship began. He was 18, she was 25. They married when he graduated from high school.
Oh, for crying out loud. The affair with Calista is fact. He was carrying on with an intern while Clinton was being impeached.
He then proceeded to dump wife number two after she was diagnosed with MS.
Don’t know about you guys but Gail Sheehy a liberal, chest beating, frantic, man-hating liberal will not determine who I vote for. He was married to his second wife, Marianne for eighteen years. They managed a six year separation in the 1990’s and during this time, her cohort and friend was Gail Sheehy. In 1995 Ms. Sheehy wrote a piece in Vanity Fair and Marianne was her main source. In the article, among other things it was suggested that Marianne had a neurological disorder that “COULD LEAD TO MS.” You may remember Gail Sheehy as the far left “go-to gal,” who wrote the Vanity Fair hit piece on George Bush. (Remember? She suggested that GWB was dyslexic, had an attention deficit disorder. In addition she said that as Govenor of Texas, he would come in to his office in the morning and take a nap and then set aside 3 1/2 hours a day for jogging and video games.)
Just another example of a lie traveling the entire world while the truth is still getting its pants on.The wisest and most cautious of us all frequently gives credit to stories which he himself is afterwards both ashamed and astonished that he could possibly think of believing . . .It is hard to be as skeptical as we should be.It is acquired wisdom and experience only that teach incredulity,
and they very seldom teach it enough. - Adam Smith
Especially of journalism, and of anyone who tells us that journalism is objective. It isn't, and it never was. The trouble is, because they were the ones who had "the wire" and could tell us about events we were curious about which happened (or not) far away, we wanted to believe that they were telling us the truth.The story of Eve and the forbidden fruit which would enable her to know good and evil - and the story of Odysseus driven mad by the promise of the Sirens "to know all" - warn us about that.
Now that we have FR with which to pool our "incredulity," it should be a little easier to be skeptical.
Which rules are you referring to, BK?
He feel a disturbance in the force.
While Newts wife was on her deathbed at the hospital, Newt told her he wanted a divorce.
Sadly I bought into the lie as well. Nice to see this BS get corrected.
(Still not a fan of serial cheaters)
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