So-called elder statesman and “self-professed historian” Newt Gingrich is having another bad week much like he did when I wrote the post(after the jump) back in May. This time it’s come out that he was on the teet of Freddie Mac and was paid between $1.6 million and $1.8 million in consulting fees. For what? He couldn’t even be bothered to tell them about the impending housing bubble. Ironically(read crazily)he’s surging in the polls but his past indiscretions will always, always bring him down. Couldn’t happen to a nicer person in my opinion.
Posted by Libergirl
May 23, 2011
Newt Gingrich had a tough week last week. It all started with an appearance last Sunday’s Meet The Press and it’s been downhill ever since. Gingrich kicked off his 35th appearance on the show with a sweeping indictment of both Obamacare as well as Rep. Paul Ryan’s(R-WI) plan to overhaul Medicare as a part of his deficit reducing budget. He rejected the Republican proposal to turn Medicare into a voucher program saying, “I don’t think right-wing social engineering is any more desirable than left-wing social engineering.” By Monday he was walking back his statement his spokesman saying that Gingrich and Ryan were darn near BFFs on the voucher plan. It was that pushy old David Gregory who was misrepresenting Newt’s direct quote. By Tuesday he was in full retreat mode and he was not reloading but rather calling up Ryan and apologizing. Not one Republican came to his rescue, they instead piled on with House Majority Leader Eric Cantor saying more or less that Newt’s quest for the White House was toast. Visits to Iowa and Minneapolis brought more drama with a supporter of gay rights in the “minny apple” pouring glitter over Newt’s head at book signing with his wife. And you thought you had a bad week ?
Let me get back to Newt and the values conundrum he faces, in particular his hypocrisy. Everyone knows about both the two ex-wives and that he left both of them during serious illnesses but who can forget how he railed against Bill Clinton’s values during the Lewinsky scandal all the while he was having an affair with soon-to-be third wife Callista Bisek. They were regularly seen having breakfast together in the Supreme Court Cafeteria throughout the 90s though the affair didn’t come out publicly until much later. The affair was apparently common knowledge on the Hill so much so that many felt sorry for second wife Marianne. She would later reveal in an interview that he asked her to tolerate the affair.
On the day he announced he would seek the Republican nomination he told Hannity that Obama is going to raise a boatload of money(oh yes he will) because, well, he can’t run on his values or his record. Did Newt use the word values? He should never be able to condemn anyone on their values ever in life. He is a liar and a cheat. He’s often thought of as this brilliant man but at the same time destructive in his behavior. Look at what he said last week after the MTP debacle… “So let me say on the record, any ad which quotes what I said on Sunday is a falsehood. Because I have said publicly those words were inaccurate and unfortunate and I’m prepared to stand up.
In 1997 when he was speaker of the house he was penalized for ethics violations making him the first speaker at that time to be disciplined for ethical wrong doing and his role in the two partial government shutdowns made him seem reckless.
Although he says he running to make the country better he really could care less. It’s really more about his huge, outsized ego. He would be as reckless with the country as he was with his first two marriages. His second wife summed it up best, “He was impressed easily by position, status, money,” she says. “He grew up poor and always wanted to be somebody, to make a difference, to prove himself, you know. I couldn’t agree more.
Posted by Libergirl
TheConfirmationFiles 