Thread: Gingrich tells Christian group of affair

WASHINGTON - Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich 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 political goals.

Interesting

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070309/...ingrich_affair

It's fasinating how our minds can rationalize the wrong things we are doing. Yes, I am cheating on my wife BUT at least I did not lie about it to a federal judge---now that would be just wrong on so many levels. Breaking the law and such.

I do think Clinton should have just told the truth and the public would have accepted it and maybe even given him a pass. Funny how you can cheat on your wife but lie to the public and you are dead meat.

Originally Posted by stresseater

It's not lying to the public he got in trouble for. He lied in court, committed perjury. That is illegal, as a lawyer he should have known that, anyone who watches tv does.

Yes, that's true. Broke the man made laws. He got in more trouble breaking man made laws than God made ones. But I still think public opinion would have been more on his side if he had told the truth from the start and took the heat. It wouldn't have been taken to court.

Why was he taken to court over whether or not he had sexual relations with someone?? I understand that they tried getting rid of him as President because he lied to a grand jury but WHY was he there in the first place?? (Before anyone gives me any grief over me asking this remember, in 1996 i was 12 years old so any news I heard about this came from my family and lets just say it was along the lines of "poor Clinton" and those evil republicans so please, explain!!)

Ahh see that explains a few things! Thanx for the link I'll have to check that out!

Originally Posted by stresseater

http://www.eagleton.rutgers.edu/e-go...tonimpeach.htm

Here's a link with all the info, basically he was being sued for sexual harassment by Paula Jones and during the deposition he lied about whether he had had sexual relation with Monica and whether he had ever been alone with her.

"I never told her (Monica) to lie in that deposition, I told her to lie in that der position".