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Wednesday, March 07, 2007

Thrice-Married Newt Gingrich: I've Asked God's Forgiveness

CINCINNATI (TDB) --Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich may not be running for the Republican presidential nomination right now, but he's been hanging with Focus on the Family's Dr. James Dobson and told him he's been doing some serious praying.

Gingrich will be on Dobson's radio show twice later this week and told the Christian right leader he's "gotten on my knees and sought God's forgiveness." Colorado Springs-based Focus on the Family said the Gingrich prayers were over his personal moral failings.

Dobson and Gingrich also chat up the ex-speaker's new book, Rediscovering God in America and discuss Islamic extremists. Focus on the Family said that Gingrich agreed with Dodson's assessment that Muslim radicals are like 1930s Nazis, and that many Democratic and Republican leaders don't grasp the threat. "It's a warrior culture, that has been true historically for 6,000 or 7,000 years," Gingrich told Dobson.

Gingrich is often mentioned as a possible GOP candidate in 2008. A sit-down with Dobson for a radio interview doesn't hurt. Although conservative, Gingrich is not a traditional family values standard-bearer. He fooled around on his first wife, Jackie Battley, with another woman who told Vanity Fair Magazine they had oral sex but not intercourse.

He served Battley with divorce papers while she was in the hospital after cancer surgery, then married Marianne Ginther. They went splitsville in 1999 and Newt married Callista Bisek, 23 years younger and a House aide. Gingrich said recently the early start of the 2008 presidential campaign could open the door to someone who jumps in later. He said the public would become bored. He said it would not be too late for him to enter after Labor Day if there was no clear favorite on the GOP side.

5 comments:

  1. If he's sorry, etc., that's just hunky-dory, but that doesn't make him acceptable as a presidential candidate. Maybe 8-12 years from now when it's been shown that he has gotten through the raising a family thing -- albeit on the third try.

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  2. Bizzyblog/Tom --

    Well, we don't exactly know everything he's sorry for yet. Anyway, Tom, how do you handicap the field right now? I'd love to hear. Especially on the GOP side. I know you think Obama is No. 1 in the Dem race -- at least I think I remember that. Give us a rundown on the Repubs.

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  3. Newt is 63, he dosen't have any family to raise. Newt is a great idea guy and is trying to change the way we pick our next president. Google his talk at Cooper Union. Bi-partisian with former Gov mario Cuomo. Great stuff. Newt calls for an end to consultant driven talking point mickey mouse babble that hurts the countries ability to address serious problems our country faces.

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  4. Newt is an intelligent guy who can add to the national discourse. However, with a population of over 300 million people we should be able to find someone with good ideas and good character. A divorce is not automatically disqualifying, but . . . . . how one has lead their life says a lot about their character. Can people change. The presidency is not a job to give someone hoping they've changed.

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  5. I'm pretty sure Newt has at least one child by wife 3.

    In the horse race, I still think Obama will have the upper hand on the Dem side, and that Rudy will be seen as in the driver's seat in not too long on the GOP side, perhaps even unbeatable. As to who I think is best, I'm still evaluating.

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