‘Very Bitter’ (Team Newt responds to ex-wife Marianne's Interview Remarks)

National Review ^ | 01/19/2012 | Robert Costa

[SeekAndFind]

In response to the Drudge Report’s scoop about Marianne Gingrich’s interview with ABC News, Bob Walker, a senior Gingrich adviser, tells National Review Online that the campaign will fight back. “It is pretty nasty to use personal tragedy for political exploitation,” he says. “That was a very bitter divorce, and you’re talking about somebody who is still, probably, very bitter.”

Beyond Walker, several sources close to the Gingrich campaign agree on the merits, but predict that Gingrich will likely ignore the story. They tell NRO that the interview is a “retread” of an Esquire magazine article published in 2010, and that Gingrich will not respond to the broadcast, at least in any official capacity.

“He’ll answer questions from voters, he’s not running away from anything, but these are old issues from the divorce,” says one source. “He has addressed these issues before, and there is nothing new here.”

Other sources familiar with ABC’s editorial direction on the segment shrug off the newsflashes, guessing that Matt Drudge, the site’s editor, was playing up a leaked scoop, nothing more. “Marianne Gingrich’s unhappiness with how things ended is something people close to Newt have known for a long time,” says a second source. “The real response from people who know him is disappointment with Marianne for doing this, and sadness about the whole situation.”

A prolonged battle with her over quotes, or with ABC News, is likely not on the horizon. There may be concerns voiced about how certain anecdotes are presented, and about specific claims, but “Gingrich has addressed this time and time again,” says a third source. “He is out there all of the time, in all of these forums, acknowledging that he has made mistakes.”

ABC News wanted Gingrich to come on Nightline to offer a rebuttal of sorts but Gingrich’s advisers declined. “This is a sideshow, a distraction,” the third source says. “Is it helpful? No. But is it a game-changer? No.”

EDITOR’s NOTE: This post has been updated to include new reporting.

Below, Gingrich’s daughters issue a memo to ABC News:

To:  ABC News Leadership

From:  Kathy Lubbers, Jackie Cushman

Date:  January 18, 2012

The failure of a marriage is a terrible and emotional experience for everyone involved.  Anyone who has had that experience understands it is a personal tragedy filled with regrets, and sometimes differing memories of events. 

We will not say anything negative about our father’s ex-wife.  He has said before, privately and publicly, that he regrets any pain he may have caused in the past to people he loves.

ABC News or other campaigns may want to talk about the past, just days before an important primary election.  But Newt is going to talk to the people of South Carolina about the future– about job creation, lower taxes, and about who can defeat Barack Obama by providing the sharpest contrast to his damaging, extreme liberalism.  We are confident this is the conversation the people of South Carolina are interested in having.

Our father is running for President because of his grandchildren – so they can inherit the America he loves.  To do that, President Obama must be defeated.  And as the only candidate in the race, including Obama, who has actually helped balance the national budget, create jobs, reform welfare, and cut taxes and spending, Newt felt compelled to run – to serve his country and safeguard his grandchildren’s future.

[Kickass Conservative]

Time heals all wounds, NOT...

[CPT Clay]

M.O. fits Axelrod IMHO.

[Rapscallion]

Why do you keep posting the same long article you have posted numerous places elsewhere on FR.

Brevity is appreciated, and read more often! Get it?

[Responsibility2nd]

Former Gingrich Wife Says He Asked for ‘Open Marriage’

Exclusive: Gingrich Lacks Moral Character to Be President, Ex-Wife Says

Bombshell Report: Gingrich News Will Be Accusation of ‘Open Marriage’

ABC interviewed Gingrich ex-wife (She could "end his career")

Newt Gingrich: The Indispensable Republican [same "bombshell" details in 2010 Esquire hitpiece]

NEWT EX-WIFE UNLOADS ON CAMERA; NETWORK DEBATES 'ETHICS' OF AIRING BEFORE SC PRIMARY

Newt Braces for Ex-Wife Interview (Nothing new revealed in interview)

Gingrich camp heads off ex-wife interview

‘Very Bitter’ (Team Newt responds to ex-wife Marianne's Interview Remarks)  

 

 

 

It's gonna be one of those days. Hoo Wee.

(And I'm not even keeping track of the Perry threads)

[svcw]

Oh, please.
I believe in repentance, Newt has said he has asked for forgiveness, I do not doubt that.
I do not care what happened before repentance.
What he did before repentance maybe disgusting but it was not illegal.
Therefore, I do not care.

[freespirited]

Our father is running for President because of his grandchildren

Spare us this sort of thing, please!!

[Prokopton]

We get it....Newt sucks...not going to argue that.

But he sucks less than the rest.

I swore after the last election that I was never again going to vote for a candidate who made me "hold my nose" when pulling the lever. Four years later I am in the exact same spot, being asked to vote for the 2012 McCain (either Romney or Gingrich) neither of whom I can support except as a defense against an Obama reelection. In the case of Gingrich, I think the man is an amoral scuzzball who will say or do anything to promote himself, and yet I am expected to wear a gas mask mask while voting and pull the lever for him.

I am not so sanguine that this is doing the right thing for my Country.

[sheikdetailfeather]

Like Limbaugh is saying. Most voters knew of Newts past before all of this and they want someone who will fight the Democrat machine. Not someone who never sinned and won’t fight. Apparently, ABC wanted to take Romney out first with his Cayman Island money story and then Newt next with the ex wife story. But Drudge beat them to the punch and forced them to do the Newt story first.

[NKP_Vet]

What a low-life bytch. She needs to let go and get on with her life. I guess ABC gave her a million or so for the interview to try and destroy Newt’s chances at the White House. Sad. Can you imagine that wench as First Lady. Well, on second thought, she would be an improvement on the butt ugly character that has never “been proud of my country”.

[loveliberty2]

In connection with his endorsement, Perry focused on central tenets of the Christian faith--repentance and forgiveness. That message is at the heart of what is called by Christians, the "good news" (gospel).

He followed it with, "Who among us. . . ?"

Challenging words.

[Prokopton]

Most voters knew of Newts past before all of this

Republican activists might have, but the general public knows very little about Gingrich. This is just the first expose of Gingrich's past with a hundred more coming if he is the Republican candidate. This will affect the election.

[A'elian' nation]

ABC goes for the Newt knockout.

Drudge posts a geek-pic of Santorum.

We are doomed.

Or maybe God is clearing the way for a Palin/Tebow ticket :)

[GraceG]

[ I’m not looking for a saint, but someone with a good mind and a mean streak, so maybe he’s the best we can do this year. I hope he trounces both Romney and Obama. ]

Indeed, I think we need a fighter, not a play along to get along type like GWB. Newt may be Nasty, but he is our monster.

[MHGinTN]

If the media vermin succeed in manipulating conservatives into making the perfect (unrealizable) the enemy of the better, the good, the able, then sooner than you can even imagine our right to make silly comments on the Internet and speak openly opposing the commie european socialist democrats will end. Newt Gingrich is a flawed man. We who are supporting him do not deny his past. But we also believe he has gone to his knees and sought forgiveness from the source of Grace, because not one of us can earn the Grace of God in Christ and all of us get under God’s wing in the same way ... by having the broken and contrite heart when we plead for His Grace.

[true believer forever]

During a recent debate, an ABC News commentator passed a bag of stones to Republicans on stage. Every candidate, except for one,  grabbed a handful of rocks, to throw at the man they considered the sinner amongst them.  In a scene right out of, well, the Bible, Republican candidates - again and again - pelted the sinner, a great sinner, to be sure, with stones; all the while, reassuring the audience: they, the upstanding candidates, were nothing like the sinner.  Each of them, they made it clear, were more fit to the hold the office. Their sins were small, not the large sort the sinner was guilty of;  humans of quality, they.

In another scene, right out of, well, the Bible, Jesus once spoke to those with great confidence in their own goodness: "Two men went to the Temple to pray. One was a Pharisee, and the other was a dishonest tax collector. The proud Pharisee stood by himself and prayed this prayer: `I thank you, God, that I am not a sinner like everyone else, especially like that tax collector over there! For I never cheat, I don't sin, I don't commit adultery, I fast twice a week, and I give you a tenth of my income.'

But the tax collector stood at a distance and dared not even lift his eyes to heaven as he prayed. Instead, he beat his chest in sorrow, saying, `O God, be merciful to me, for I am a sinner.' I tell you, this sinner, not the Pharisee, returned home justified before God."

This sinner.  Old as the Message is, it is so new and wonderful, if rightly presented, as to awaken astonishment in the weary, imperfect hearts who hear.  When babes in Christ give themselves to the Lord - justified through the Redeemer's sacrifice, brought into the family of God, begotten of the Holy Spirit - it means a great change for these. It means a Miracle.  Old things pass away; all things become new.

Only Now, just like Then – whited walls, the outside-of-the-cup crowd,  invested in the appearance of good conduct and their "core" principles,  make the Precious Savior, Bringer of Peace,  Lifter of Burdens, unapproachable, uninviting, intimidating, to sinners seeking forgiveness, desperate for a second chance.  The Rick Perrys, the Michelle Bachmanns, the Ron Pauls, the Rick Santorums and Mitt Romneys of today's world, their banners of spiritual pride waving high, keep multitudes of  sinners standing afar off, sure they are unworthy to approach the only One who can make them new.

On that stage, that night, there was not one word - not one word - from the political Christians about the miraculous saving work of Christ Jesus, sufficient to change, to make all things new, to transform the worst sinner, even Newt, into a new creature. 

America is full of sinners, who love their country, many of whom would die for it, and according to the purity test of  the republicans on stage that night, they probably couldn’t run for dog catcher.  Steve Deace sees things a little differently: sometimes the greatest sinners, "the most broken people are the ones God does the most tremendous work through." 

No one has walked a mile in Newt's shoes, except for Newt.  No one on that stage knows the crowded corners of Newt's heart.  There is only one thing every believer truly knows about Newt... he is forgiven. 

forgiven

[MHGinTN]

I’m sure you have your list of items that make your tongue wage at Newt. But the pride with which you condemn is a measure of your own state of neediness. We have your posting history, to see how you’ve spittled the issues.

[annieokie]

Your opinion is my opinion on Marianna.

As you say, she is simply thinking "I could have been FLOTUS".

That is if she had not been such a bitter woman in their marriage, no wonder Newt lived a seperate life. She is one nasty, vile, vicious and vengeful woman. I think when he is elected President, she will continue to embarrass herself with this. Very sad.

Newt is on a roll now, and I do not believe anything can stop him from being the nominee. My prayer at least.

[sheikdetailfeather]

The left dug up anyone and everyone against Newt in the past and made him look like dark vader. Like Rush said, how do we even know Marianne is telling the truth about this?

[Siena Dreaming]

For the record...Wyman divorced Ron, not the other way around.

Plus I'm pretty sure that Reagan never had a mistress or proposed some kind of open marriage.

I'll vote for Gingrich is he gets the nod, but I do find his behavior distateful. Plus, his fairly recent stances on global warming, health mandates and the slander about the Ryan plan have me scratching my head as to the apparent hypocrisy of conservatives who excoriate others who hold those liberal positions. Really weird.

[Chunga]

On the other hand, how can anyone stomach the idea of plastic homebreaker Callista as First Lady?

Is this really a consideration for you?