Really? They did? Did they have a 3 year affair - while married - for the “Good of the Country”?
If so - then yeah boy. I’ll vote for Newt for sure.
/heavy sarc
Did they have a 3 year affair - while married - for the "Good of the Country"?
A brief timeline, to make some things clear, because most people just go by salacious gossip:
Newt Gingrich has been legally separated from his second wife, Marianne. since October of 1987 and they lived pretty much in separate states (he was working in D.C., she stayed home in Georgia). Despite the separation, legal and physical, Newt has been financially supporting Marianne and, in fact, most of their assets and bank accounts - which is where Newt's income from his lectures and publishing were deposited - were kept in her name (that proved to Newt's great disadvantage during their divorce). Newt didn't meet and started dating Callista until 1993, 6 years after separation, so she was not a "home-wrecker" and there was no "intern-chasing" as often asserted/insinuated/speculated on FR and other places.
In 1994 Newt embarked on and put all his efforts into the taking over the Congress and upon accomplishing that, after becoming Speaker, into pushing Contract With America and fighting Congressional Democrats who filed unprecedented 84(!) unfounded frivolous bogus ethics complaints against him, and getting stabbed in the back by jealous and spiteful Republicans who grew comfortable and lazy in power, didn't want to "rock the boat" and instead of defending and protecting the leader chose to backstab and plot to remove him from power.
In 1999, with welfare reform and most of the other points of Contract passed or otherwise accomplished, impeachment against Bill Clinton for perjury and obstruction of justice during the Lewinsky affair investigation pushed through the House, and tired of being a constant lightning rod for Democrats and the press, and having little support from Republicans in Congress, he settled a legal filing mistake by a junior lawyer at his defense law firm, resigned from Congress, finalized the divorce from Marianne (which cost Newt most of his earned assets, as most of the money was held in accounts in Marianne's name) and married Callista in 2000, when they moved to Virginia where they still reside. In 2009 he converted to Catholicism, for it's been Callista's life-long faith.
It is quite clear that a period of 1994-1998 has a pretty heavy and hectic legislative and political schedule, and that it was hardly a good time for Newt to be getthing divorced from Marianne and getting married to Callista, whom he started dating (with intention of eventual marriage) after almost 6 years of being legally separated from Marianne.
I can't speak for others, but I and many people I know really appreciate how much, I think, Newt personally sacrificed for the "Good of the Country", that he postponed his divorce from Marianne and his marriage to Callista by more than 5 or 6 years years, even though it cost him very much politically and financially (he was nearly broke after the divorce).
Links and refs:
"Cain/Gingrich 2012"?" - FR, posts #64, #69, 2011 October 06
Romney Must Get Personal Over Bain Capital Attacks - FR, posts #21, #36, #42, #3, 2012 January 12
Right wing rips Gingrich, Perry for attacks on Romney, capitalism (Rush, WSJ) - FR, post #33, 2012 January 11
I hope this might give you another, or somewhat different, perspective on the events.