How Newt Left Wife #2...and How Republicans Laugh at the Poor

[donsu]

http://www.davidcorn.com/2005/01/how_newt_left_w.php


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But it's even worse than that. In my routine, I got an easy laugh by poking fun at Gingrich for wanting to post the Ten Commandments in government buildings while forgetting about Ol' Number 7 in his own life. I then decided not to do a follow-up joke on Gingrich I had written, which was sharper. In the post below, I reveal that particular gag. It was based on a not widely-known piece of Newt trivia: not only did he leave wife number-one when she was ill; he did the same with wife number-two. Few people seem to realize that when Gingrich dumped Marianne, his second wife, on Mother's Day in 1999 (half a year after he was forced to resign as Speaker), she was in medical trouble. Eight months earlier, Marianne had been diagnosed with a neurological disorder that could lead to multiple sclerosis. The New York Post's Brian Blomquist reported this in July 2000. But the tidbit seems not to have become part of the Gingrich legend. Imagine the question, though, that could be put to Gingrich as a presidential candidate: You ended your first marriage when your wife had cancer, you divorced your second wife after she was diagnosed with a neurological disorder, can you please tell us what this says about your character and your respect for family values? Do you believe there is a need for an Eleventh Commandment: Thou shall not leave your wife when she is really sick?

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But before we get to that, let me provide another reason why non-Republicans are right to suspect the worst of self-righteous Republicans. Of all the media coverage I absorbed of the inauguration nothing peeved me as much as several short paragraphs that appeared in a Washington Post piece on the inaugural balls. Here they are:

Though there was no official poem for the occasion, impressionist Rich Little, emceeing the Constitution Ball at the Hilton Washington, did provide a bit of inaugural doggerel.

The gist of it was: "Let's get together, let bitterness pass, I'll hug your elephant, you kiss my ass!" And the crowd went crazy.

Little said he missed and adored the late President Ronald Reagan and "I wish he was here tonight, but as a matter of fact he is," and he proceeded to impersonate Reagan, saying, "You know, somebody asked me, 'Do you think the war on poverty is over?' I said, 'Yes, the poor lost.' " The crowd went wild.

Stephen Glass or Jayson Blair couldn't make this up: Republicans at a fancy soiree laughing about the poor. I hope none of them spilled any champagne while convulsing.
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newt smirks

[cthrumatrix]

1. MSM allows this clown to "lie all day" w/o questioing his character

[imenja]

2. Sadly, Gingrich isn't near the extreme Right of congresspeople today

He is actually somewhat critical of the war. He was a lightening rod for criticism in the 80s and 90s, but he seems actually tame compared to some Republicans today.