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.

Gingrich argued in the interview, however, that he should not be viewed as a hypocrite for pursuing Clinton's infidelity.

Reports of extramarital affairs have dogged him for years as a result of two messy divorces, but he has refused to discuss them publicly.

In 1981, Newt dumped his first wife, Jackie Battley, for Marianne, wife number 2, while Jackie was in the hospital undergoing cancer treatment. Marianne and Newt divorced in December, 1999 after Marianne found out about Newt's long-running affair with Callista Bisek, his one-time congressional aide. Gingrich asked Marianne for the divorce by phoning her on Mother's Day, 1999. [Source: New York Post, July 18, 2000, Newt's Ex Wife Aiming to Pen Book by Bill Sanderson, available on lexis].

Newt (57) and Callista (34) were married in a private ceremony in a hotel courtyard in Alexandria, Va. in August, 2000.

He later resisted paying alimony and child support for his two daughters, causing a church to take up a collection. For all of his talk of religious faith and the importance of God, Gingrich, who often campaigns on a platform of family values, left his congregation over the pastor's criticism of his divorce.

Soon thereafter, Gingrich married Marianne Ginther, whom he had previously met at a political fund-raiser. He called her ''the woman I love'' and ''my best friend and closest adviser'' in his first speech as House speaker, in January 1995... Yet, his relationship with Bisek, a House employee, apparently extended back to 1993 while he was talking of reforming the corrupt welfare state and promoting society's moral regeneration. Rumors of his relationship with Bisek, more than 20 years his junior, did not stop him from writing his political testament, in which he criticized sex outside of marriage, promoted traditional family life and opined that “any male who doesn't support his children is a bum.”

Family values are for other people.

You know; the kind that vote.:faint:

Why in the world should he not be thought of as a hypocrite!?

Why in the world should he not be thought of as a hypocrite!?

He just screwed around on his wife. He didn't lie to a sitting federal judge, he says. Of course, I don't recall that any federal judges ASKED him about his infidelity, but that's a minor point.

Kind of like Rush Limbaugh. He made a big deal out of his "honesty" regarding his illegal drug use. I maintain that 'fessing up AFTER you're caught is not the same thing as being "honest". But that's just me.

Well then, the issue is perjury, not screwing around, right?

I love that, I hear all about how horrible Clinton was for getting the BJ, but then when Reps who screwed around are brought up, it's suddenly about the perjury...

Well then, the issue is perjury, not screwing around, right?

I love that, I hear all about how horrible Clinton was for getting the BJ, but then when Reps who screwed around are brought up, it's suddenly about the perjury...

There was no perjury.

Lying under oath about something substantive to the case is perjury.

Lying under oath about something not substantive to the case is not perjury; it is lying.

The case was about Paula Jones who claimed that Bill Clinton tried to use his power as governor of Arkansas to force her (or coerce her) to have sex.

The lying was about a consensual relationship that Bill Clinton had with Monica Lewinsky. A consensual relationship with one person has no bearing on an alleged forceful or coercive attack on another person.

Good points TOM.

I can't believe he could find someone willing to have an affair with him.

Once again, why is it always the zealots who end up being exposed as the true sex addicts/child molesters/drug abusers, etc?

I suspect every person who acts, in public, like Gingrich, Haggart, Bakker, etc. of being a secret freakazoid.

Once again, why is it always the zealots who end up being exposed as the true sex addicts/child molesters/drug abusers, etc?

I suspect every person who acts, in public, like Gingrich, Haggart, Bakker, etc. of being a secret freakazoid.

You missed Mark Foley and Ann Coulter.:rockon:

Once again, why is it always the zealots who end up being exposed as the true sex addicts/child molesters/drug abusers, etc?

I suspect every person who acts, in public, like Gingrich, Haggart, Bakker, etc. of being a secret freakazoid.

Well, let's not forget Charles Rust-Tierney, former head of the ACLU in Virginia, who blocked legislation for putting filters on library computers to keep out child pornography....then was recently arrested in a world-wide sting for having purchased some of the most vile child porno available. When the police searched his computer, he had videos of very young girls being tied up and violently raped while they screamed and cried. Terrible stuff! But you didn't read about it in hardly any newspapers. (Could it be because he is a liberal? I dunno...) And what about Mayor Gavin Newsom, from San Francisco.... his affair with his best friend's wife. And Marrion berry.... his addiction problems have gone on for years.

I understand what you are getting at---that the people who appear to be above reproach do fall sometimes. But I don't believe that no one should speak about moral standards unless they are pure as snow or will never fall, or that no one should try to be better than they are or to encourage others to also reach higher. And don't forget that most of these people never say that they are "better"...they are put on that pedestal by their admirers. At least Newt came "clean" on his own and I admire anyone who can do that. I don't see that it benefitted him at all....

You missed Mark Foley and Ann Coulter.:rockon:

AND Congressman Gerry Studds, who had sexual relations with underage pages, and Bill Mahr, who thinks it is too bad that Cheney didn't get assassinated.... And Howard Dean who made terrible jokes about Charleton Heston's Alzheimer's disease....

Hey, we have 'em on both sides, don't forget!! :heh:

Well, let's not forget Charles Rust-Tierney, former head of the ACLU in Virginia, who blocked legislation for putting filters on library computers to keep out child pornography....then was recently arrested in a world-wide sting for having purchased some of the most vile child porno available. When the police searched his computer, he had videos of very young girls being tied up and violently raped while they screamed and cried. Terrible stuff! But you didn't read about it in hardly any newspapers. (Could it be because he is a liberal? I dunno...) And what about Mayor Gavin Newsom, from San Francisco.... his affair with his best friend's wife. And Marrion Berry.... his addiction problems have gone on for years.

I never heard of Charles Rust-Tierney, but I will take your word that he did what you wrote, but filters on Library PC's are not a solution, because the filtering keeps out much good info and is ineffective at porn.

I understand what you are getting at---that the people who appear to be above reproach do fall sometimes. But I don't believe that no one should speak about moral standards unless they are pure as snow or will never fall, or that no one should try to be better than they are or to encourage others to also reach higher. And don't forget that most of these people never say that they are "better"...they are put on that pedestal by their admirers. At least Newt came "clean" on his own and I admire anyone who can do that. I don't see that it benefitted him at all....

Then we would have no one speaking out to protect the children.

Newt coming clean was a political ploy and nothing more.

He came clean only because everyone knew he was dirty. The Christian Right Political Movement is more political than Christain, more political than right (correct).

AND Congressman Gerry Studds, who had sexual relations with underage pages, and Bill Mahr, who thinks it is too bad that Cheney didn't get assassinated.... And Howard Dean who made terrible jokes about Charleton Heston's Alzheimer's disease....

Hey, we have 'em on both sides, don't forget!! :heh:

Bill Maher did not say he wished Cheney had died, and did not say its too bad Cheney didn't die.

He compared the effects of Cheney dying with Cheney not dying (in his opinion).

If BuSh and Cheney were both to die, tragically tomorrow, God forbid, and Nancy Pelosi became president, does anyone think the war in Iraq would follow the same course as it will take with BuSh as president and Cheney as VP? Unless you answer yes, you are as guilty as Bill Maher.

One note before I get misquoted: I do not want either BuSh or Cheney killed or dead. I want them prosecuted and convicted for war crimes and treason. I don't believe in the death penalty, so life in jail for each of them would be fine with me.

Bill Maher did not say he wished Cheney had died, and did not say its too bad Cheney didn't die.

He compared the effects of Cheney dying with Cheney not dying (in his opinion).

I saw an interview with Bill Maher on TV Wednesday night, and he did say that he can't help but wish that Cheney had died..... and felt that saying it wasn't wrong. I think he has the right to say what he thinks, but I also think that if it is OK for him to be politically incorrect, then no one should be upset when someone from the other side is.