According to Answerbag.com:
In 1998 Newt Gingrich was facing numerous obstacles. The Republican attempt to remove then President Bill Clinton from office was unpopular with the public. Gingrich himself was increasingly unpopular with the public, he was facing numerous ethics investigations, he had lead his party to disappointing results in a recent election and he was facing a growing dissatisfaction with his leadership within the Republican party. On November 6, 1998 he resigned as Speaker of the House and from the Congress.
Declining Popularity According to the Washington Post, by July of 1998 only 31% of those surveyed had a favorable impression of Newt Gingrich, while 47% had a negative impression of him. According to that same poll, only 38% felt that Republicans were best suited to handle the nation's problems, down from 60% 4 years earlier.
Ethics Probe Gingrich and foundations he was associated with were under investigation for numerous ethics violations, primarily concerning using tax exempt status for organizations designed to further his political goals and making misleading statements to congress. In December 1998 he paid $300,000 of his own money to settle the last of these charges.
Were you around at that time? Your use of the article leads me to believe you weren’t.
He was unpopular because of his CONSERVATIVE stands of which his own party, the establishment, wouldn’t stand behind him on. Clinton was working his magic & had the public in his back pocket for the better part. “It’s the economy stupid”, & the economy was good, life was good for most & they didn’t want the boat rocked. Gingrich was rocking the boat.
Gingrich had dozens & dozens of ethics complaints filed against him, a favorite lib tactic (see Sarah Palin) but not one of them stuck (see Sarah Palin). He settled on the last to save a long drawn out process of which his own party didn’t have the conviction to stand w/ him on.
The Republican party at the time was a bunch of weenies afraid of losing power. Newt was the sacrificial lamb & it took years for the Republicans to get their conservative chops back after that despicable showing.
Do yourself a favor, go look at the last charge that he paid the fine on & tell me what it looks like to you, especially in light of what I just laid out & what congress has been getting away w/ ever since.