Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Gingrich's past INFIDELITIES DO play a factor in his electability

I for one, could not believe the rise of Newt Gingrich in the polls. As a political junkie, I knew about his loads of bagage and his past infidelities. I also knew that he had been out of politics for 10+ years and that his current status as flavor of the month would be short lived once the non-political junkies got wind of his past or where reminded.

The fact that current information on the circumstances around his first divorce have come to light, certainly will not help his cause. He has said all along and even on his website  that it was his first wife Jackie who filed for divorce after his affair came to light and not him. Court documents obtained by CNN show that his version is either a lie or a convenient lapse of memory. So it wasn't bad enough that he cheated on his wife, he was the one who filed for divorce not her.
"Carroll County Georgia court documents accurately show Newt Gingrich filed for a divorce from his wife Jackie Battley, but it was Jackie Battley who requested the divorce," spokesman R.C. Hammond said in an e-mail to CNN Saturday. "Gingrich, her husband, obtained legal counsel and filed the divorce papers initiating the legal proceedings."

"It was the same legal proceedings that determined and set the amounts of payments Gingrich would provide to support his two daughters," Hammond said.

Jackie Gingrich, who has rarely spoken to the media about the divorce, declined CNN's request for an interview. A friend said that Jackie Gingrich did not want to comment out of concern for her daughters and grandchildren.

In a brief interview in 1985, she told the Washington Post: "He can say that we had been talking about it for 10 years, but the truth is that it came as a complete surprise."

Here are the documents obtained by CNN:

Gingrich Court Documents: Original Divorce Complaint

Gingrich Court Documents: Motion for Contempt

Gingrich Court Documents: Petition for Alimony Modification

A former close friend of Newt Gingrich backed the story that Gingrich wanted the divorce.
"He (Gingrich) said, 'You know and I know that she's not young enough or pretty enough to be the wife of a president,' " Carter, who now lives in South Carolina, told CNN recently, relating the conversation he had with Gingrich the day Gingrich revealed he was filing for divorce. Carter served as treasurer of Gingrich's first congressional campaigns.

Carter, who was a fellow history professor when Gingrich taught at West Georgia College in Carrollton, said he broke off his friendship with Newt Gingrich because of the congressman's treatment of his wife during the divorce.
The full story is HERE.

Related to this story, is Right Speak's Poll on Newt Gingrich's endearing qualities. We've tallied the poll results and have posted a run off poll beginning today, to determine the winner of HIS most endearing quality. Make sure you vote. You will see the poll HERE and under the Chat box in the right column.

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8 comments:

Noelle said...

My issues with Newt don't include the fact that he has been divorced (twice). People get divorced. It doesn't even matter to me who wanted the divorce. My overriding issue with Newt is the WHY he got divorced. He cheated on his wives. For a VERY LONG TIME! If Jackie had been the one to ask for the divorce, knowing about Newt's infidelity, who on earth could blame her? The fact that Newt is trying to downplay his divorce by saying that she asked for it, in the face of the fact that Newt is a cheating scumbag of a husband, is an even worse reflection on Newt.

I can't believe the question of who asked for the divorce even matters. What matters is that Newt cheated on her for years.

Newt has plenty of other problems politically, but his lack of integrity when it comes to his family is my starting point for why I cannot support him.

Machtyn said...

'You know and I know that she's not young enough or pretty enough to be the wife of a president.'

Wow! Aspirations to be POTUS way back in the 80's. Is it that his ego is so large that he thinks it will be handed to him this go around? Or is it that he feels he is entitled to the position despite not putting in the necessary hard work? I'm of the belief that it is his ego that are bouncing checks against reality. (His ego is writing checks that reality just can't cash.)

As one republican told Newt earlier this year, "Your an embarrassment to [the Republican] party."

Teemu said...

Yeah it doesn't matter that much, since no one can blame a cheated spouse for asking for divorce.

What matters is though that Gingrich decided to lie about this issue also, continuing to lie for this issue further makes his whole redemption/"changed man" claim questionable.

Anonymous said...

Where are the rest of the stories yet to come out about Gingrich? Surely they are out there just in case he gets the nomination.

The most abominable thing to me about the entire Newt fiasco, is the way people like Rush and Levin have defended him and ignored his true record. It's beyond the pale.

-Martha

CRUZ COUNTRY said...

I am absolutely SHOCKED that CNN, not "fair & balanced" Fox News, obtained the court records that contradict Gingrich's account of his divorce.

Fox is probably so busy trying - and failing - to dig up dirt on Romney that it doesn't have any resources and time left over to vet the other candidates.

Had this story been about Romney rather than Gingrich, Fox would've been all over it like white on rice.

Anonymous said...

Newt's ego and head is so big that it will pop if he ever gets the nomination, which it doesnt seem like he will.

Let us remember newt's own words when he was riding high in the polls that "I am going to be the nominee."

haha yeah right

Teemu said...

I think Fox News has been now recently given lots coverage to Gingrich's and Perry's ballot fail at Virginia, and Gingrich's stupid Pearl Harbor comparison over it, and Gingrich's hypocrisy over his 2006 MassCare praise found from some internet archives. I think these kind of issues are actually more harmful than Gingrich's lie over who applied for divorce, so if they don't want to touch his personal life because he worked there, don't care that much, this political issues are more harmful in the end. Maybe Roger Ailes decided that in the end he prefers Republican's winning WH, and gaining in Senate and keeping House to rating boost that Obama's second term would give.

Doug NYC GOP said...

The man is a slug.

BTW, a Pearl Harbor analogy/defense for your VA ballot fiasco? Really?

To try and hide your own ineptitude behind the loss of American Servicemen is an abombination.

This pig has no shame.