Newt Gingrich, former House Speaker, speaking at CPAC blamed the residents of New Orleans' 9th Ward for a "failure of citizenship," by being "so uneducated and so unprepared, they literally couldn't get out of the way of a hurricane."And he called for a "deep investigation" into this "failure of citizenship."
Here's the full quote:
How can you have the mess we have in New Orleans, and not have had deep investigations of the federal government, the state government, the city government, and the failure of citizenship in the Ninth Ward, where 22,000 people were so uneducated and so unprepared, they literally couldn't get out of the way of a hurricane. (emphasis original)
More on Gingrich's Katrina survivor bashing from Jeffrey Feldman
Someone who's apparently as self absorbed as Gingrich wouldn't have believed he would be the focus of "failure of morality" (my quote); and having the White House as a shield for as long as he had it, perhaps Gingrich even felt somewhat invincible. Until now. Newspapers are a-buzz regarding his extramartial affairs. And, old Newt has finally fessed up.
Here's the Story:
Gingrich Admits Affair During Clinton Probe
By BEN EVANS
Associated Press
WASHINGTON (March 9) - Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich acknowledged he 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.
Here's the full quote:
How can you have the mess we have in New Orleans, and not have had deep investigations of the federal government, the state government, the city government, and the failure of citizenship in the Ninth Ward, where 22,000 people were so uneducated and so unprepared, they literally couldn't get out of the way of a hurricane. (emphasis original)
More on Gingrich's Katrina survivor bashing from Jeffrey Feldman
Someone who's apparently as self absorbed as Gingrich wouldn't have believed he would be the focus of "failure of morality" (my quote); and having the White House as a shield for as long as he had it, perhaps Gingrich even felt somewhat invincible. Until now. Newspapers are a-buzz regarding his extramartial affairs. And, old Newt has finally fessed up.
Here's the Story:
Gingrich Admits Affair During Clinton Probe
By BEN EVANS
Associated Press
WASHINGTON (March 9) - Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich acknowledged he 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.
4 comments:
While pointing out the ills and shortcomings of others, we are most often ignoring our own. Newt should not be defensive, but embarassed. He has committed a larger sin than perjury before a sitting judge ... he has dishonored his wife and family. That doesn't excuse Clinton's behavior, but it also doesn't make Gingrich look any better.
And his comment on New Orleans? Total Ignorance.
FROM Millicent:
Mr. Gingrich, if he said this, is not an informed person on the history of New Orleans. I personally believe the levees were bombed. Unfortunately there are a lot of people who support his ideas and opinions about the 9th ward.
Millicent
Atlanta, GA
FROM Chanda:
This just burns me up! Most of those people didn’t even own cars to get out. It was mostly elderly people who didn’t get out and anyways New Orleans would have been ok had it not been for the levees. The city didn’t have very much storm damage, it was all caused from the breaching of the levees. How the heck do you get out of the way of something that you don’t know is coming?
Chanda LaVigne
Mississippi
Let’s not forget about the $1.6 - $1.8 he received from Freddie Mac as a result of two consulting contracts with the mortgage company.
Gingrich’s contact was Freddie Mac’s Freddie chief lobbyist Mitchell Delk. The deal put anywhere from $25,000 to $30,000 every month into his pocket. The payments began in May 1999 and continued until 2002.
Just making sure we all remember.
-Kirby
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