Newt, Newt, Newt

[salinen]

WASHINGTON (AP) - 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.


"I am not a criminal", said some other weirdo. So James, is Newty "Presidential" now? Will you and God forgive him? Will you pour Christodollars into his warchest? I love Newty.

[saltpoint]

1. In another life, Newt Gingrich was 'Roger' in Golding's LORD OF THE FLIES.

'Roger' was one of Jack's gang, uninterested in the political power struggle between Ralph and Jack, but altogether satisfied to be the rock-thrower, the go-to hit man, the One Who Draws Blood.

Gingrich is hypocritical to knock Bill Clinton or anyone else for infidelity, and if the Republican primary voters have an opportunity, I believe a majority of them wil reject his candidacy.

[Olney Blue]

2. He's such a hypocrite.

Here's a link to an LA times article about it.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/politics/wire/sns-ap-gingrich-affair,1,802958.story?coll=sns-ap-politics-headlines

[salinen]

3. Thanks

[smtpgirl]

4. I have Newts in my fish tank, any questions?

[Cobalt-60]

5. I hope they run him

We'll whip their asses with a coat hangar!

[GreenZoneLT]

6. IIRC, Newt kept a pretty low profile on Clinton

I remember him being less out front on that than a lot of other Republicans (and some Democrats and lefties -- remember how apoplectic Chris Hitchens was?). There was a lot of speculation at the time that Newtie must have something to hide, because he wasn't as noisy as you'd expect him to be, and then the shoe dropped about his girlfriend some months later.

I still can't believe anybody seriously considers Newt a viable candidate for president. He's a fucking toad. I mean, an actual amphibian; a completely ineligible species. I don't think there's any chance he's going to run; he's just being coy about it to raise his Q rating and make more money off being a half-assed pundit and celebrity.

[brucefan]

8. I remember differently n/t

[maine_raptor]

10. Less out front???????????

Oh, come on here.

Newt was the one that proclaimed that he would always use the words "criminal" whenever referring to Clinton and urged others to do so also. He was also Speaker of the House, and pushed the impeachment effort forward in it's early days while in the position.

Newt was one of the leaders in the "Get Clinton Movement" from the start. If the '98 elections hadn't gone so badly for the GOP he would have been there during the winter of '98-99 when impeachment was voted on and brought before the Senate.

Newt was up to his eyeballs in it.

As for Chris Hitchens; he's too drunk to remember where he was at that time.

[GreenZoneLT]

13. Eh, just how I remember it. (Edit: And I'm right)

Sure, he was out front because of his position, but he wasn't the lead hatchet man they put on the Sunday morning talk shows and whatnot. Contrasted with his loudmouthed championing of the "Contract for America," it was pretty circumspect, for Newt.

Don't get me wrong; I'm not saying Newtie is anything other than a scum-sucking piss weasel, but I remember wondering why he wasn't LOUDER about Clinton. It made sense when the info about his girlfriend came out.

Edit: The Internets rule: Salon clip from 1998 about why Newt wasn't going after Clinton more aggressively.

http://www.salon.com/news/1998/08/28news.html

[maine_raptor]

16. Ok, But behind the scenes he played a big part.

And I do agree with your assessment (re: "scum-sucking piss weasel"). Did his affairs have something to do with his reluctance; very likely.


As an aside: Have you read his Alt History of the Civil War (3 books - "Gettysburg", "Grant Come East", and "Never Call Retreat". Co-written with William R Forstchen)?

It's very surprising and the ending is actually quite "liberal" in terms of what might have been possible.

[Lusted4]

7. David Bonior will just have to kick his ass again. nt

[itsmesgd]

9. Lemme get this straight

Bill Clinton, of whom I am not a fan, was attacked by the "family values crowd" for having a trist- not even a full blown (pardon the pun) affair. They spent the entire 8 years that he was in office investigating him for personal issues. Newt who is on his what, 3rd marriage led the charge against Bill. Now it comes out that Newt had an affair while he was leading this charge.

I have so many questions: Who are these people that are sleeping with Newt? How does he manage to have an affair, ick?

Let me remind all of us that Newt broke up with one of his many wives while she was in the hospital fighting cancer. What a compassionate conservative. Bill kept his family together and was able to raise what appears to be a very smart, grounded (and cute) daughter while he was attacked from all sides during his time in the White House. Like I said, I'm not a fan of Bill, but HFS can we please attack Newt today over this issue- as the definition of hypocracy?

[salin]

12. attraction to power

that is the only way I can fathom newtie newt was able to keep having affairs during his marriages. But the idea that folks are just now realizing that Newt is a hypocrite is sorta hard to fathom. Hasn't that been obvious throughout his career?

[GreenZoneLT]

15. The affair isn't news.

That broke publicly years ago, about the time he was ridden out of Washington on a rail. He's currently married to the former girlfriend and future ex-Mrs. Gingrich, ianm. What's news is that he owned up to the affair to a bunch of Bible thumpers, when he really didn't have to, considering their inability to look up old newspaper clips.

[Skidmore]

11. The other crock of stink Newtie is trying to sell now is that

he's shocked at the shrillness and meanness of political discourse now and I caught a bit of a lecture he was giving a few weeks back where he was actually calling for people to play nice. Now this may have been calculated toward wanting to run himself. However, it was a golden opportunity for some enterprising Dem to point out that Newtie was the author of the lexicon of the current political discourse. Frank Luntz has also been out peddling a similar line. These two individuals were the original brokers in this area. We need high profile Dems to call people on this and mock them for their hypocrisy. They deserve derision.

[SoCalDem]

14. Everytime i hear that dumb-ass name, I keep thinking I need to watch some Monty Python

:)