The truth about Newt Gingrich’s first divorce

[Lakhota]

By Cynthia Tucker

I’ve known Newt Gingrich for a long time. I remember when he was first elected to Congress from Georgia, and I remember his swift rise as a pugilistic, bombastic back-bencher. He can be fun in conversation if you enjoy intellectual combat, and I do. He can also be pompous, self-serving, overweening and hypocritical. He uses words as weapons, with little regard for whether what he says is actually true. If he has a moral core, it’s hard to pinpoint.

I have known the Newtster long enough that I remember his very unpleasant divorce from his first wife, Jackie. That’s bound to come up since he’s now holding the anti-Romney chair in the parlor game that passes for a GOP presidential primary. And, over the years, he’s done a reasonably good job of playing defense on that subject, persuading many journalists that their initial reports of that divorce were wrong.

No, Jackie Battley Gingrich was not on her deathbed. Those who said so were wrong since she’s still alive.

Last year, one of his daughters, Jackie Gingrich Cushman, wrote a revisionist history of the infamous hospital visit, in which she even claimed that it was her mother, Jackie, who wanted to end the marriage. Perhaps that’s true. I don’t know since I was not there.

But I do know the younger Jackie’s version of events is quite different from what her mother, Jackie Battley Gingrich, told The Washington Post in 1985. Newt’s first wife told Lois Romano:

“He can say we had been talking about it (a divorce) for tne years, but the truth is that it came as a complete surprise. He’s a great wordsmith. . .He walked out in the spring of 1980 and I retruned to Georgia. By September, I went into the hospital for my third surgery. The two girls came to see me, and said Daddy is downstairs and could he come up? When he got there, he wanted to discuss the terms of the divorce while I was recovering from surgery.”​

Why bring that up when there is so much other Gingrich baggage to discuss? I just wanted to set the record straight since that was a crucial piece of my early understanding of the Newster.

The truth about Newt Gingrich’s first divorce

Sooo, now we know the truth - directly from the mouth of Newt's first wife, Jackie Battley.

How are you righties going to spin this...?

 

[Oddball]

 

[Lakhota]

Thank you, Oddball, for once again drawing attention to your mental illness... I wish you well...

 

[ScienceRocks]

Newt is 10 times better then Cain. Who cares what he did in his personal life.

 

[Zander]

Let's apply the same scrutiny to Newt's personal foibles as we did to Obama's associations with Resko, Ayers, Dorn, Alinsky, Rev Wright, et. al. In other words, let's give him a pass.

 

[The Infidel]

Let's apply the same scrutiny to Newt's personal foibles as we did to Obama's associations with Resko, Ayers, Dorn, Alinsky, Rev Wright, et. al. In other words, let's give him a pass.

 

[Liability]

I skimmed the OP.

I thought, "Oh yeah. I almost forgot. It's Newt's turn to take the liberals' bullshit efforts to decide their opposition's nominee."

Somebody had predicted a monsoon of Newt threads a few days back.

Solid forecasting.

Lickdorka's OP, like Lickdorka itself, is plodding, predictable and pitiably pathetic.

 

[Oddball]

Funny how we have more info about Newt's divorces than we do of Buckwheat's grades at Columbia and Hahvahd, innit?

 

[Liability]

Funny how we have more info about Newt's divorces than we do of Buckwheat's grades at Columbia and Hahvahd, innit?

Why would we want to know how President Obama managed to do in school or how he got in?

 

[whitehall]

"The truth about Gingrich's first divorce" brought to us by the people who ignored the "bimbo eruption" squad. Bill Clinton set the standard for sleaze. Who cares about a regular divorce?

 

[Oddball]

Funny how we have more info about Newt's divorces than we do of Buckwheat's grades at Columbia and Hahvahd, innit?

Why would we want to know how President Obama managed to do in school or how he got in?

Because you're a racist.

 

[Lakhota]

"The truth about Gingrich's first divorce" brought to us by the people who ignored the "bimbo eruption" squad. Bill Clinton set the standard for sleaze. Who cares about a regular divorce?

Duh, Bill Clinton has never been dee-vorced... he's a family man...

 

[hortysir]

I skimmed the OP.

I thought, "Oh yeah. I almost forgot. It's Newt's turn to take the liberals' bullshit efforts to decide their opposition's nominee."

Somebody had predicted a monsoon of Newt threads a few days back.

Solid forecasting.

Lickdorka's OP, like Lickdorka itself, is plodding, predictable and pitiably pathetic.

Prezactly!


Whoever is at the top of the polls gets the top of the New Post Page...





It is okay to admit fear, democrats.
Really it is.

I'm afraid of spiders.
I can admit it.

Go ahead.....it's okay, I'm here for ya

 

[Amelia]

"The truth about Gingrich's first divorce" brought to us by the people who ignored the "bimbo eruption" squad. Bill Clinton set the standard for sleaze. Who cares about a regular divorce?

Duh, Bill Clinton has never been dee-vorced... he's a family man...

 

[Lakhota]

It is okay to admit fear, democrats.
Really it is.

Is "fear" why you rightie clowns bash Obama...?

 

[Oddball]

Is this what a cyber-backfire sounds like?

 

[Amelia]

It is okay to admit fear, democrats.
Really it is.

Is "fear" why you rightie clowns bash Obama...?

Actually yes, in a way - fear of what the implications are about a nation which would elect Obama, and especially the implications of the media which would do everything in their power to facilitate it.


When people like Tom Brokaw and Charlie Rose are talking like this days before the election, you know due diligence wasn't done. And it is terrifying that we as an American people let that happen.

Charlie Rose - A conversation with Tom Brokaw


So, we're loud, and maybe louder than we need to be, because we still can't tell whether people are listening and thinking or not. So maybe we're a little strident in our desperate attempts to wake people up, but the fact that Obama got to be president with as little experience/exposure as he had justifies our alarm.

 

[Si modo]

By Cynthia Tucker

I’ve known Newt Gingrich for a long time. I remember when he was first elected to Congress from Georgia, and I remember his swift rise as a pugilistic, bombastic back-bencher. He can be fun in conversation if you enjoy intellectual combat, and I do. He can also be pompous, self-serving, overweening and hypocritical. He uses words as weapons, with little regard for whether what he says is actually true. If he has a moral core, it’s hard to pinpoint.

I have known the Newtster long enough that I remember his very unpleasant divorce from his first wife, Jackie. That’s bound to come up since he’s now holding the anti-Romney chair in the parlor game that passes for a GOP presidential primary. And, over the years, he’s done a reasonably good job of playing defense on that subject, persuading many journalists that their initial reports of that divorce were wrong.

No, Jackie Battley Gingrich was not on her deathbed. Those who said so were wrong since she’s still alive.

Last year, one of his daughters, Jackie Gingrich Cushman, wrote a revisionist history of the infamous hospital visit, in which she even claimed that it was her mother, Jackie, who wanted to end the marriage. Perhaps that’s true. I don’t know since I was not there.

But I do know the younger Jackie’s version of events is quite different from what her mother, Jackie Battley Gingrich, told The Washington Post in 1985. Newt’s first wife told Lois Romano:

“He can say we had been talking about it (a divorce) for tne years, but the truth is that it came as a complete surprise. He’s a great wordsmith. . .He walked out in the spring of 1980 and I retruned to Georgia. By September, I went into the hospital for my third surgery. The two girls came to see me, and said Daddy is downstairs and could he come up? When he got there, he wanted to discuss the terms of the divorce while I was recovering from surgery.”​

Why bring that up when there is so much other Gingrich baggage to discuss? I just wanted to set the record straight since that was a crucial piece of my early understanding of the Newster.

The truth about Newt Gingrich’s first divorce

Sooo, now we know the truth - directly from the mouth of Newt's first wife, Jackie Battley.

How are you righties going to spin this...?

I'm trying hard to care, but I really can't. I was never much of a fan of soap operas anyway.

But, soaps obviously are popular with many, like you.

 

[Oddball]

I'm trying hard to care, but I really can't. I was never much of a fan of soap operas anyway.

But, soaps obviously are popular with many, like you.

Mebby the care factory needs some stimulus bux!

 

[Lakhota]

Sooo, it's a "soap opera" when a leftie tries to correct the record... Cool, Marsha...