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Jackie Gingrich Cushman: Setting the Record Straight (about my dad's first marriage)
Creators ^ | May 13, 2011 | Jackie Gingrich Cushman

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.


TOPICS: Extended News
KEYWORDS: gingrich; jackiegingrich; newt; newtgingrich
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To: Cringing Negativism Network
I thought the ‘filed for divorce while his dying wife was in the hospital’ version was true.

I did too.......

41 posted on 11/05/2011 2:37:15 PM PDT by Hot Tabasco
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To: MNJohnnie
I am willing to bet that Newt knows what the “right of return means” and knows China has had nukes since 1965. And I'll bet Newt can name a better fed chair then Mr Bubble Greenspan. I also doubt Newt wants to fry Mexicans on an electric border fence topped with barbed wire.
42 posted on 11/05/2011 2:42:24 PM PDT by jpsb
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To: bkopto

I have always bought into the story that he walked in, told her he wanted a divorce and left. This only to have her die, alone, a horrible, painful death a few short days later. That was the story as presented by the MSM IIRC and not one that I recall, said otherwise.


43 posted on 11/05/2011 2:42:56 PM PDT by chooseascreennamepat (When every candidate is running in last place, everyone is in first place.)
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To: org.whodat

Ah, the first of the “not guilty” crowd shows up.
Because it’s OK to have sex with your students if they like it.

I reject the perversion you embrace.


44 posted on 11/05/2011 2:44:22 PM PDT by MrEdd (Heck? Geewhiz Cripes, thats the place where people who don't believe in Gosh think they aint going.)
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To: bkopto
Nice. Glad to see Newt's daughter correcting the record for those who didn't know.

He still has too many other 'issues' for me, but the truth is extremely important in making the right choice of a candidate. Especially now.

45 posted on 11/05/2011 2:44:45 PM PDT by ohioWfan (Proud Mom of a Bronze Star winner!)
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To: bkopto
So this was his first wife, Jackie, not his second. Good to keep the facts straight. She didn't have cancer, she initiated the divorce not him, they had already begun the process when the hospital visit occurred. He didn't "serve her divorce papers while she was dying."

A lot of freepers owe Gingrich an apology for perpetuating these lies, and should eat some crow to go with the media spew they sucked down along the way.

46 posted on 11/05/2011 2:46:11 PM PDT by hinckley buzzard
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To: BenKenobi
He still cheated on her, which is what was the case.

Sorry but that's not the case. The "Case" is the fact that the MSM fraudulently and maliciously mischaracterized Newt as serving divorce papers on his wife while she was dying in a hospital......That has now been proven to be a lie.

47 posted on 11/05/2011 2:48:06 PM PDT by Hot Tabasco
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To: BfloGuy
Don't leave out collaborator with Pelosi.

Though I must in all.fairness defend Newt on this, he does have lots of warts.

Less egregious warts than Mitt or Rick, but pretty bad warts none the less.

48 posted on 11/05/2011 2:48:06 PM PDT by MrEdd (Heck? Geewhiz Cripes, thats the place where people who don't believe in Gosh think they aint going.)
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To: katiedidit1

Doesn’t change the fact that Gingrich is a serial womanizer. Who’s gonna guarantee me he won’t stray again as president and be controlled by our enemies?

Nice story, but it does not earn Gingrich a pass. Bad behavior should be sanctioned.


49 posted on 11/05/2011 2:51:13 PM PDT by dools0007world
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To: Hot Tabasco
And a whole lot of freepers were happy to spread the slander right here. I have never heard or read this lie anywhere else but FR.

Blame it on the media because someone started it, but certain people here kept it going without ever bothering to check facts.

Big lesson about trusting the whorehouse media, especially when they spew something that agrees with your preconceptions.

50 posted on 11/05/2011 2:52:48 PM PDT by hinckley buzzard
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To: dools0007world

Doesn’t change the fact that Newt played a major role in obtaining the first balanced budget in this country since 1969 when he was speaker. Doesn’t change the fact that Rainbow Coaliton backed Cain...doesnt change the fact that Cain donated money to DEMOCRATS AFTER he joined the GOP. Not to mention his take on Greenspan...I am watching the debates tonight with bells on...


51 posted on 11/05/2011 2:54:02 PM PDT by katiedidit1 ("This is one race of people for whom psychoanalysis is of no use whatsoever." the Irish)
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Remember How You Felt Before Finding FR?

Click The Pic To Donate

52 posted on 11/05/2011 2:54:54 PM PDT by DJ MacWoW (America! The wolves are here! What will you do?)
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To: MrEdd

“That she eventually married her boy toy does not make this okay.”

So you’re blaming her for him cheating on her when she was sick? This is rich.

“It was a pretty fair bet from the get go that this marriage could not last, but there were kids in the deal and no unmessy solution.”

And why, is this the case? I don’t see why it could not have worked out well, had Newt been devoted to her as her husband. He was not, and the marriage broke down.

I see nothing there that would have encouraged me to give him an annulment. He’s still married to wife number 1, and the fact that he’s on wife number 3 doesn’t change this.


53 posted on 11/05/2011 2:55:49 PM PDT by BenKenobi (Honkeys for Herman! 10 percent is enough for God; 9 percent is enough for government)
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To: Hot Tabasco

“Sorry but that’s not the case. The “Case” is the fact that the MSM fraudulently and maliciously mischaracterized Newt as serving divorce papers on his wife while she was dying in a hospital......That has now been proven to be a lie.”

I didn’t argue this. I argued that he cheated on his wife, which is the real moral failing. I could care less whether he or her served papers, but cheating on your sick wife is wrong.

Even if you are Newt.


54 posted on 11/05/2011 2:57:42 PM PDT by BenKenobi (Honkeys for Herman! 10 percent is enough for God; 9 percent is enough for government)
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To: Gipper08

Because if Cain stumbles it will be Mitt and Newt, Mitt is unacceptable, Newt is better than Obama/Mitt.


55 posted on 11/05/2011 2:58:04 PM PDT by Leto
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To: Cringing Negativism Network
Well a couple of hugh details in the daughter’s version: 1) Newt’s first wife is alive. 2) Newt’s first wife is the one who filed for divorce. Those need wider exposure.

Are you serious? He was having an affair. Is she supposed to just sit by and not file to save her own self respect? Trust me, who files first is not the way to look at who destroyed the marriage or made saving the marriage impossible.

56 posted on 11/05/2011 3:02:14 PM PDT by Hattie
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To: MrEdd

LOL, you know, I had no ideal newt was messing around with his high school teacher until today. He married her, got a marriage deferment, and got all he wanted and a free education that she worked and paid for. That Newt is one slick, operator. She was seven years older than he. And I embrace nothing, if you look around you will find I have said Newt has to much baggage to be president, but he would be a lot better than the Delaware dunce.


57 posted on 11/05/2011 3:03:16 PM PDT by org.whodat (Just another heartless American, hated by Perry and his fellow demorats.)
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To: hinckley buzzard
A lot of freepers owe Gingrich an apology for perpetuating these lies,

I do owe Newt an apology for believing all that death bed trash that came out years ago..........

I'm sorry Mr. Gingrich.........,.

58 posted on 11/05/2011 3:05:35 PM PDT by Hot Tabasco
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To: bkopto
Hmmmm ... it appears to be about a 20 year old pic ...

WHAT were you thinkin', Newt ?

59 posted on 11/05/2011 3:06:01 PM PDT by knarf (I say things that are true ... I have no proof ... but they're true)
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To: BenKenobi
I argued that he cheated on his wife, which is the real moral failing. I could care less whether he or her served papers, but cheating on your sick wife is wrong.

Then you're on the wrong thread dude.......that's called "thread hijacking" and is frowned upon.......

Start another thread called "Newt Cheated on His Wife"............

60 posted on 11/05/2011 3:10:00 PM PDT by Hot Tabasco
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