[quote]Newt Gingrich asked for an "open marriage," his ex-wife says in a new interview being aired just 48 hours before South Carolina voters head to the polls (see video below).
Speaking with ABC News, Marianne Gingrich says that her then-husband made the request as he disclosed his six-year affair with a congressional staffer.
"I said to him, 'We've been married a long time.' And he said, 'Yes, but you want me all to yourself,' " Marianne Gingrich told the network.
She said her husband responded that the other woman "doesn't care what I do."
"He was asking to have an open marriage and I refused," she said. "That is not a marriage."
The other woman was Callista Bisek, who is now married to the GOP presidential hopeful.
According to excerpts released by ABC News, Marianne Gingrich describes the "shock" of learning of her husband's infidelity, which came at the same time he was condemning then-President Bill Clinton for his affair with a White House intern.
Gingrich moved to divorce her, she said, just after she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.
"He also was advised by the doctor when I was sitting there that I was not to be under stress. He knew," she said.
The full interview is set to air on ABC's "Nightline" on Thursday night, hours after another Republican candidates debate. South Carolina Republicans will vote in a presidential preference primary Saturday.
New polls show Gingrich has either substantially narrowed what had been a Mitt Romney lead, or taken an outright lead of his own.
The Gingrich campaign had no immediate reaction to the interview excerpts. Gingrich's daughters wrote a memo to ABC News executives Wednesday.
"We will not say anything negative about our father's ex-wife. He has said before, privately and publicly, that he regrets any pain he may have caused in the past to people he loves," Kathy Lubbers and Jackie Cushman wrote. "ABC News or other campaigns may want to talk about the past, just days before an important primary election. But Newt is going to talk to the people of South Carolina about the future .... We are confident this is the conversation the people of South Carolina are interested in having."
In an interview on NBC's "Today" show Thursday morning, Gingrich declined to comment.
"I'm not going to say anything negative about Marianne," he said. "I realize that some of the elite media would like to do almost anything other than cover [President Obama's] failures, but the fact is ... we have a lot we can talk about today about real problems."[/quote]
[url]http://www.wtkr.com/news/nationworld/la-pn-gingrich-ex-wife-interview-abc-20120119,0,117255.story[/url]
Ohmygosh the personal life of a politician.
How completely irrelevant to what I think of him as a politician.
[QUOTE=JohnnyMo1;34302062]Ohmygosh the personal life of a politician.
How completely irrelevant to what I think of him as a politician.[/QUOTE]
It kind of matters though. Newt has a complete lack of character and is just a scumbag.
Newt Gingrich Shithead 2012
[QUOTE=Nikota;34302077]It kind of matters though. [/QUOTE]
To you, maybe.
[QUOTE=Nikota;34302077]Newt has a complete lack of character and is just a scumbag.[/QUOTE]
I don't think an open marriage shows lack of character.
[QUOTE=Nikota;34302077]It kind of matters though. Newt has a complete lack of character and is just a scumbag.[/QUOTE]
No, it hardly matters at all really. Considering Newt has come forward about trying to live as a changed man, this happened like a decade ago. The relevance to his campaign? Nothing really.
Obama wasn't voted into office because he was "cool" and liked to drink beers at a basketball game you know.
[QUOTE=JohnnyMo1;34302062]Ohmygosh the personal life of a politician.
How completely irrelevant to what I think of him as a politician.[/QUOTE]
He focuses on family issues, therefore his actions in terms of family are relevant to his politics.
but given the above, y'know, less relevant than others, I guess.
[QUOTE]"I realize that some of the elite media would like to do almost [B]anything other than cover [President Obama's] failures[/B], but the fact is ... we have a lot we can talk about today about [B]real problems[/B]."[/QUOTE]
Am I the only one who found this funny?
[QUOTE=Jim_Riley;34302108]
Obama wasn't voted into office because he was "cool" and liked to drink beers at a basketball game you know.[/QUOTE]
But if Obama was a prohibitionist candidate, then it would be relevant.
[QUOTE='[Seed Eater];34302111']He focuses on family issues, therefore his actions in terms of family are relevant to his politics.[/QUOTE]
Not really. His politics are his politics and what he does at home doesn't change anything.
[QUOTE=JohnnyMo1;34302101]To you, maybe.
I don't think an open marriage shows lack of character.[/QUOTE]
When he only asks for an open marriage because he's already been cheating on his wife it kind of does.
[QUOTE=Groat;34302136]When he only asks for an open marriage because he's already been cheating on his wife it kind of does.[/QUOTE]
I don't really care that he cheated on his wife either.
Is Gringrich in favour of "traditional marriage"? If so, I detect hypocrisy.
I agree with JohnnyMo1 on the personal life issue though, except where such examples impact directly upon the ability of a politician to perform his functions as such.
[QUOTE=JohnnyMo1;34302130]Not really. His politics are his politics and what he does at home doesn't change anything.[/QUOTE]
"I'm running on a platform centered in part around the support of the traditional family, and wish to make legislation enforcing that model."
"Oh, but I don't follow that model at all" (hypothetical quotes)
He's running for president. In part, his character needs to be questioned. Normally you are right, his personal life is just that, but when a candidate focuses on an issue then they shouldn't be exempt from being called out as hypocrites or liars, if that's the case.
But if it was something like he din't love his kid or accidentally ran over his neighbor's dog or something, which has no relevance to anything he promotes or opposes, then absolutely irrelevant and should be left alone.
why does this thread seem familiar.
personal lives of politicians shouldn't change people's opinion of said politician
unless he does something highly criminal it's really none of your business anyway
[QUOTE=JohnnyMo1;34302101]To you, maybe.
I don't think an open marriage shows lack of character.[/QUOTE]
Has a lot to do with morality. Fucking a woman behind your wife, who's just been diagnosed with a critical disease, is a show of character. It also highlights a hypocritical strain.
[QUOTE='[Seed Eater];34302180']"I'm running on a platform centered in part around the support of the traditional family, and wish to make legislation enforcing that model."
"Oh, but I don't follow that model at all" (hypothetical quotes)
He's running for president. In part, his character needs to be questioned. Normally you are right, his personal life is just that, but when a candidate focuses on an issue then they shouldn't be exempt from being called out as hypocrites or liars, if that's the case.
But if it was something like he din't love his kid or accidentally ran over his neighbor's dog or something, which has no relevance to anything he promotes or opposes, then absolutely irrelevant and should be left alone.[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=dranei;34302210]Has a lot to do with morality. Fucking a woman behind your wife, who's just been diagnosed with a critical disease, is a show of character. It also highlights a hypocritical strain.[/QUOTE]
It might make him a twat but I'll take a competent twat over a kind idiot running my country any day. Not that I think Gingrich is competent, but that's its own issue. That's my point.
[QUOTE=Itachi_Crow;34302208]personal lives of politicians shouldn't change people's opinion of said politician
unless he does something highly criminal it's really none of your business anyway[/QUOTE]
Except it is at times.
Like I said, if they're a prohibitionist and running on that platform, but they drink regularly in their personal life, then I think that's something we should know when considering them for public office, as a representative of the people, or dictating policy over them.
[QUOTE=JohnnyMo1;34302101]I don't think an open marriage shows lack of character.[/QUOTE]
Funny.
Gingrich cheated on his first wife when she was diagnosed with cancer and pushed divorce papers on her while she was recovering from surgery.
He married the woman he was cheating with, but divorced her just to remarry (again, the woman he was cheating with) when she was diagnosed with MS. Now he's on wife number 3.
[url]http://www.realchange.org/gingrich.htm[/url]
[url]http://marriage.about.com/od/politics/a/gingrichn.htm[/url]
[url]http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/exclusive-gingrich-lacks-moral-character-president-wife/story?id=15392899#.TxjpMNVCyDU[/url]
His reason? He loved his country so much that he worked so hard that he cheated on his wives and divorced them as they were diagnosed with serious illness.
[url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newt_Gingrich#Marriages_and_children[/url]
Cheating on your wife isn't a problem with the presidency, right? (Oh wait... Bill Clinton...)
Sure, that was in his office.
But I think that when you cheat on your wife twice (once per ex-wife) and divorce them when they are literally in the hospital with cancer or diagnosed with MS...? That shows your character. I don't want a man who will do that leading my country.
[QUOTE=JohnnyMo1;34302241]It might make him a twat but I'll take a competent twat over a kind idiot running my country any day. Not that I think Gingrich is competent, but that's its own issue. That's my point.[/QUOTE]
I guess I see what you're saying here, and I'm not trying to jump on a bandwagon of hate against you, I just really don't like Gingrich. He's not a classy man and I can't see much moral character coming out of that, or a picture of leadership...
[QUOTE=JohnnyMo1;34302062]Ohmygosh the personal life of a politician.
How completely irrelevant to what I think of him as a politician.[/QUOTE]
oh please
it definitely fucking matters
if you find out that your politician has spent most of their life as a Chinese spy, you might think twice about voting for them
there's no real difference between public and private life
[QUOTE=Archonos 2;34302277]Funny.
Gingrich cheated on his first wife when she was diagnosed with cancer and pushed divorce papers on her while she was recovering from surgery.
He married the woman he was cheating with, but divorced her just to remarry (again, the woman he was cheating with) when she was diagnosed with MS. Now he's on wife number 3.
[url]http://www.realchange.org/gingrich.htm[/url]
[url]http://marriage.about.com/od/politics/a/gingrichn.htm[/url]
[url]http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/exclusive-gingrich-lacks-moral-character-president-wife/story?id=15392899#.TxjpMNVCyDU[/url]
His reason? He loved his country so much that he worked so hard that he cheated on his wives and divorced them as they were diagnosed with serious illness.
[url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newt_Gingrich#Marriages_and_children[/url]
Cheating on your wife isn't a problem with the presidency, right? (Oh wait... Bill Clinton...)
Sure, that was in his office.
But I think that when you cheat on your wife twice (once per ex-wife) and divorce them when they are literally in the hospital with cancer or diagnosed with MS...? That shows your character. I don't want a man who will do that leading my country.
I guess I see what you're saying here, and I'm not trying to jump on a bandwagon of hate against you, I just really don't like Gingrich. He's not a classy man and I can't see much moral character coming out of that, or a picture of leadership...[/QUOTE]
What if he would lead it better than everyone else running
[editline]19th January 2012[/editline]
[QUOTE=Contag;34302309]oh please
it definitely fucking matters
if you find out that your politician has spent most of their life as a Chinese spy, you might think twice about voting for them
there's no real difference between public and private life[/QUOTE]
uh there's a difference between marital infidelity and treason fyi
[QUOTE=Contag;34302309]oh please
it definitely fucking matters
if you find out that your politician has spent most of their life as a Chinese spy, you might think twice about voting for them
there's no real difference between public and private life[/QUOTE]
Just saying. When you run for a position of power over millions of people, kind of matters what the fuck happens in your life and what kind of person you are.
It doesn't matter as much because the president doesn't possess nearly as much as power as people think, and it's not like presidents can really push their own views too much
[QUOTE=JohnnyMo1;34302311]What if he would lead it better than everyone else running
[editline]19th January 2012[/editline]
uh there's a difference between marital infidelity and treason fyi[/QUOTE]
He might as well have committed treason to be honest. He shut down the fucking government.
[QUOTE=JohnnyMo1;34302062]Ohmygosh the personal life of a politician.
How completely irrelevant to what I think of him as a politician.[/QUOTE]
Well, if his proposed policy is against gay marriage, then I think this wouldn't give him a lot of credibility.
[QUOTE=JohnnyMo1;34302311]
uh there's a difference between marital infidelity and treason fyi[/QUOTE]
don't be a stupid dickhead
you said 'personal life of a politician' not 'trivial matters of the personal life of a politician'
[QUOTE=Contag;34302337]don't be a stupid dickhead[/QUOTE]
um
wanna revise that post buddy
[QUOTE=JohnnyMo1;34302311]What if he would lead it better than everyone else running[/QUOTE]
What do you consider leading though? I won't elect a leader if I don't see good morals or character in the man, and I guess that's where we differ.
[QUOTE=JohnnyMo1;34302311]What if he would lead it better than everyone else running
[editline]19th January 2012[/editline]
uh there's a difference between marital infidelity and treason fyi[/QUOTE]
It wouldn't be a problem if he didn't go on a moral crusade against Clinton the very same time he was having these issues. That shows he is extremely hypocritical.
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