Gingrich had affair during Clinton probe

AP/YAHOO! News ^ | March 8, 2007 | BEN EVANS,

[Luis Gonzalez]

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.

"The president of the United States got in trouble for committing a felony in front of a sitting federal judge," the former Georgia congressman said of Clinton's 1998 House impeachment on perjury and obstruction of justice charges. "I drew a line in my mind that said, 'Even though I run the risk of being deeply embarrassed, and even though at a purely personal level I am not rendering judgment on another human being, as a leader of the government trying to uphold the rule of law, I have no choice except to move forward and say that you cannot accept ... perjury in your highest officials."

Widely considered a mastermind of the Republican revolution that swept Congress in the 1994 elections, Gingrich remains wildly popular among many conservatives. He has repeatedly placed near the top of Republican presidential polls recently, even though he has not formed a campaign.

Gingrich has said he is waiting to see how the Republican field shapes up before deciding in the fall whether to run.

Reports of extramarital affairs have dogged him for years as a result of two messy divorces, but he has refused to discuss them publicly.

Gingrich, who frequently campaigned on family values issues, divorced his second wife, Marianne, in 2000 after his attorneys acknowledged Gingrich's relationship with his current wife, Callista Bisek, a former congressional aide more than 20 years younger than he is.

His first marriage, to his former high school geometry teacher, Jackie Battley, ended in divorce in 1981. Although Gingrich has said he doesn't remember it, Battley has said Gingrich discussed divorce terms with her while she was recuperating in the hospital from cancer surgery.

Gingrich married Marianne months after the divorce.

"There were times when I was praying and when I felt I was doing things that were wrong. But I was still doing them," he said in the interview. "I look back on those as periods of weakness and periods that I'm ... not proud of."

Gingrich's congressional career ended in 1998 when he abruptly resigned from Congress after poor showings from Republicans in elections and after being reprimanded by the House ethics panel over charges that he used tax-exempt funding to advance his

[Polybius]

"The charges in the Clinton impeachment were NOT about having an affair."

And I've said nothing of the sort.

I never said you did.

Nor does the article.

It most certainly does:

"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......."

[Thorin]

>>>>Newt married his "other woman".

>>>>>Rudy married his "other woman".

Big deal. And they both made an oath to the prior wife to marry "till death do us part." Both Gingrich and Giuliani were adulterers then, and are living in a state of adultery now: "It was also said, 'Whoever divorces his wife must give her a bill of divorce.' But I say to you, whoever divorces his wife (unless the marriage is unlawful) causes her to commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery."

[Stone Mountain]

Should be end MLK Day as a national holiday since he was an adulterer?

No. My only point in responding to that last post is that you can't say that moral failings only count for Clinton, but not for Gingrich...

[cookcounty]

"We knew this years ago, didn't we. Isn't this why he left office? Smacked too much of hypocrisy, even tough, with clinton it was really about perjury, but dems tried to spin it about it being about his personal life."

For many people it was about his "personal life" in the publicly paid-for-office with the the publicly paid-for intern. The Grand jury lies just pointed up his lack of honesty.

All these politidcians with their boringly repetious infidelities are foolish to think they can get the GOP nomination in the face of 20% of the GOP voters who will not vote for them and another 20% that are rendered incapable of enthusiasm.

Which is why I'm betting that Romney (or some yet-to-emerge darkhorse) will overtake these guys.

[jwparkerjr]

Clinton never admitted to anything and in fact lied about it. Clinton was in hot water for lying under oath, not for having an affair. There was never an ounce of remorse expressed by Clinton. He conspired to deprive another citizen of that citizen's right to a fair day in court.

And, oh yes, by the way he also had an affair, just like Newt did. But Clinton did it in the Oval Office and with an intern who worked for him.

Sounds like a case of homeopathic guilt to me!

[Stone Mountain]

There was never an ounce of remorse expressed by Clinton.

I don't want to be the one to defend Clinton here, but this just isn't true. You may not have believed him, but he did express remorse.

http://www.australianpolitics.com/usa/clinton/impeachment/apology.shtml

What I want the American people to know, what I want the Congress to know is that I am profoundly sorry for all I have done wrong in words and deeds. I never should have misled the country, the Congress, my friends or my family. Quite simply, I gave into my shame. I have been condemned by my accusers with harsh words. And while it's hard to hear yourself called deceitful and manipulative, I remember Ben Franklin's admonition that our critics are our friends, for they do show us our faults. Mere words cannot fully express the profound remorse I feel for what our country is going through, and for what members of both parties in Congress are now forced to deal with. [...]

My point was that in the original post, the poster said that other biblical leaders had great moral failings and were still great leaders with respect to Gingrich. I was just pointing out that the same criterion would also apply to Clinton.

And, oh yes, by the way he also had an affair, just like Newt did. But Clinton did it in the Oval Office and with an intern who worked for him.

And Gingrich did it with a woman who was married to someone else. And he also did it with a member of his Congressional staff. I don't see Gingrich grabbing the moral high ground here.

[gracesdad]

"You're the one spinning this as a conspiracy (Newt and Dobson's)."

What in the heck are you talking about???

longtermmemmory was suggesting this was all a NY/MSM thing, when in fact Newt went to Dobson. All I was saying (and others agree) is that Newt wanted this out -- and it is. So what?

[staytrue]

He left office because of a scandal involving a book.

That was democrat Jim Wright.

[bushfamfan]

Yes, the left can get away with their moralless behavior as they basically support wild lifestyles and behavior. It shouldn't be right and people should be more informed of the fact those are not good people for leadership. But Newt is done in by the fact he embraces social conservatism and yet has led a very questionable life in regards to adultery and, the part that does him in for a national election, he did it during his leadership position as Speaker. He doesn't sit well with the publi and, frankly, he has been a hypocrite. He is better than Rudy. But there are candidates better than Newt for conservatives to go to.