Newt Gingrich--what a swell guy! (revisited)
Back in December 2006, I wrote a series of posts showing in detail that Newt Gingrich is anything but a swell guy. I should really be more direct...Newt Gingrich is a hypocritical jackass--among other things. Don't believe me? Go to the index for this blog, scroll down to "Gingrich, Newt," click on the links, and read for yourself.
So why revisit this subject now? Well, Newt seems to be once again contemplating a White House run, so anything discussing his utter lack of character and integrity is relevant. Also, some new information became public this week in the form of a profile in the September issue of Esquire magazine. That profile includes information I did not have when I wrote my series, a fact that prompted me to go back and review my previous research, and all of that convinced me an update is warranted.
Family man revisited
Before we get to the updated material, let's do a quick review. If you want more details, then read this post. In the meantime, here is the Readers Digest version:
I was wrong.
And before any Newt apologists get cranked up, I will point out that a good deal of this new information comes from inside sources, most notably Jackie and Marianne. In addition to the Esquire profile (written by John H. Richardson), I will include some info from sources I previously used, especially a 1995 Vanity Fair article by Gail Sheehy.
Here's a timeline for the end of Newt's first marriage and the start of his second:
It is true that Newt told Marianne he wanted a divorce over the phone, and I previously cited that as pretty much a douchebag move, but in the Esquire profile, Marianne reveals that when Newt called he asked that they talk in person, but Marianne insisted on talking over the phone right then. I did not know that previously. I also did not know that not long before that phone call, Marianne was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. So I have to apologize to Newt for implying that he was a douchebag for the phone thing, but I get to call him a douchebag for telling his first two wives he wanted a divorce after they started fighting major illnesses.
And I get to call him a douchebag for asking Bisek to marry him before he had even told Marianne he wanted a divorce (just like he did in his first marriage).
And I get to call him an even bigger douchebag because of something else he did after he revealed his affair with Bisek. Newt Gingrich actually asked Marianne to tolerate the affair. Not only that, but he made that request when he returned from giving a speech praising compassion and family values! What a douchebag!
As described in Esquire,
And Newt did some screwy things during the divorce proceedings. Here's the description from Esquire:
Now, I know what some of you are thinking...All of that bad behavior was in the past. There's no evidence that Newt has been engaging in such douchebaggery since he married Wife #3. I have to admit that. However, that does not mean Newt has left behind all of his past behavior. Part of what Newt's past shows is a callous disregard for women. The Esquire profile shows an example of this in the present day.
In the interview with Newt done for the profile, he twice mentioned being like a four-year old child:
Ego and personality revisited
And that brings us to the last section of this post. Part 5 of my previous series on Newt was about his ego and personality, and judging from the Esquire profile, nothing has changed. Part 5 shows that Newt has an enormous ego and ambition and yet utterly lacks the skills to be a leader.
As for his ego, I said back in December 2006 that Newt felt he was on a mission from God, and he still believes that. The Esquire profile closes with the question of whether Newt will run 2012.
The only thing Newt really wants to figure out is how to get what he wants. That is his priority. That was the case when I wrote Part 5 in December 2006, and it is still true today. Mickey Edwards was in the House from 1977 to 1993. He rose to be one of the Republican leaders in the House during his tenure (chairman of the Republican Policy Committee, a member of both the House Appropriations and Budget committees, and ranking member of the House Subcommittee on Foreign Operations). That means he knows Gingrich. Here's what Edwards said about Newt in the Esquire profile:
I noted in Part 5 that Gingrich has been described as "a psychodrama living out a fantasy." And the person who provided that description was...wait for it...Newt.
As for the rest of his personality, read the Sheehy Vanity Fair article and you will see that I went easy on Newt in Part 5. Then read the Esquire profile and ask yourself if you think Newt has the emotional and psychological makeup to be President. I am not going to discuss any of those specifics here. You can read them for yourself.
Instead, I will close with by discussing Newt's answer to Marianne's question about the speech he gave on family values after he revealed his 6-year affair with Bisek. The question was "How do you give that speech and do what you're doing?" Here was Newt's response:
And there are clues that he still feels this way today. Go back and look at what he said in Esquire about being a "citizen leader." Go back and look at what he has said about his "draft Newt" idea. Newt always talks about his ideas. According to him, his ideas are so great that they must be implemented. He also seems to think that since they are his ideas he is the only person for that job. As far as I am concerned, that shows that he doesn't think that his own character is relevant to the equation. He's been chosen by God, you see, so anything he does is justified. Newt thinks he does not have to answer to anybody. Basically, he thinks that everybody should do what he says, but he is not required to practice what he preaches. Someone who thinks that way is hypocritical. When that hypocrisy is then combined with a self-created divine appointment and a desire for power, that someone becomes dangerous.
And there is Newt Gingrich in a nutshell.
Family man revisited
Before we get to the updated material, let's do a quick review. If you want more details, then read this post. In the meantime, here is the Readers Digest version:
- Wife #1, Jackie, was married to Newt for about 18.5 years. He had numerous affairs while married to Jackie. He walked out on her in the spring of 1980. Then, as she was in the hospital recovering from cancer surgery, Newt went into her room and insisted on discussing the terms of their pending divorce (for which he filed).
- One of the affairs was with the woman who became Wife #2, Marianne. They got married six months after Newt's divorce from Jackie was final. This marriage lasted 18 years, but during the last 6, Newt was having an affair with the woman who would become Wife #3. Newt told Marianne he wanted a divorce via telephone while she was visiting her mother.
I was wrong.
And before any Newt apologists get cranked up, I will point out that a good deal of this new information comes from inside sources, most notably Jackie and Marianne. In addition to the Esquire profile (written by John H. Richardson), I will include some info from sources I previously used, especially a 1995 Vanity Fair article by Gail Sheehy.
Here's a timeline for the end of Newt's first marriage and the start of his second:
- Newt met Marianne in January 1980.
- Newt walked out on Jackie (and their two daughters) in April 1980.
- Newt asked Marianne to marry him within weeks of meeting her.
- Do the math--Newt proposed to Marianne while still married to Jackie.
- Jackie, who was battling uterine cancer, had her third surgery in September 1980. The day after her surgery Newt went into her hospital room and insisted on discussing the terms of divorce.
- By October, Newt was refusing to pay alimony or child support. Jackie had to get a court order to get Newt to pay an electric bill.
- The divorce from Jackie was finalized in February 1981.
- Newt and Marianne got married six months later.
It is true that Newt told Marianne he wanted a divorce over the phone, and I previously cited that as pretty much a douchebag move, but in the Esquire profile, Marianne reveals that when Newt called he asked that they talk in person, but Marianne insisted on talking over the phone right then. I did not know that previously. I also did not know that not long before that phone call, Marianne was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. So I have to apologize to Newt for implying that he was a douchebag for the phone thing, but I get to call him a douchebag for telling his first two wives he wanted a divorce after they started fighting major illnesses.
And I get to call him a douchebag for asking Bisek to marry him before he had even told Marianne he wanted a divorce (just like he did in his first marriage).
And I get to call him an even bigger douchebag because of something else he did after he revealed his affair with Bisek. Newt Gingrich actually asked Marianne to tolerate the affair. Not only that, but he made that request when he returned from giving a speech praising compassion and family values! What a douchebag!
As described in Esquire,
The next night, they sat talking out on their back patio in Georgia. She said, "How do you give that speech and do what you're doing?"I will discuss Newt's response later, but for now I will say Marianne's question highlights one of my biggest problems with Newt, namely that he is a huge hypocrite.
And Newt did some screwy things during the divorce proceedings. Here's the description from Esquire:
When they got to court, Gingrich refused to cooperate with basic discovery. Marianne and her lawyer knew from a Washington Post gossip column that Gingrich had bought Bisek a $450 bottle of wine, for example, but he refused to provide receipts or answer any other questions about their relationship.In his first divorce, he refused to pay child support and had to be ordered by the court to pay the electric bill for his wife and children. In his second divorce, he refused to answer any questions about his six-year affair. So why would he depose her, then have a press conference to admit the 6-year affair? The reason was related to his request for Marianne's "tolerance." Since Marianne was not going to tolerate the affair, Newt was going to try to make it look like that's what she actually did. It turns out that Newt "had also told the press that he and Marianne had an understanding." Marianne flatly denied that to Esquire.
Then Gingrich made a baffling move. Because Bisek had refused to be deposed by Marianne's attorney, Newt had his own attorney depose her, after which the attorney held a press conference and announced that she had confessed to a six-year affair with Gingrich.
Now, I know what some of you are thinking...All of that bad behavior was in the past. There's no evidence that Newt has been engaging in such douchebaggery since he married Wife #3. I have to admit that. However, that does not mean Newt has left behind all of his past behavior. Part of what Newt's past shows is a callous disregard for women. The Esquire profile shows an example of this in the present day.
In the interview with Newt done for the profile, he twice mentioned being like a four-year old child:
"There's a large part of me that's four years old," he tells you. "I wake up in the morning and I know that somewhere there's a cookie. I don't know where it is but I know it's mine and I have to go find it. That's how I live my life.*******"Callista and I kid that I'm four and she's five and therefore she gets to be in charge, because the difference between four and five is a lot."
Here's what happened when Richardson told Marianne about these comments:
Hypocrisy is his SOP.
Part 6 of my previous series showed that as of December 2006, hypocrisy was Newt's SOP (standard operating procedure). One of the examples I focused on was financing and fund raising. Part 6 was based to a degree on Part 2. Together those two posts discussed how Gingrich built his early career and success on attacking corruption caused by money and special interests and then engaged in the same conduct he was attacking. In an interview, Fred Wertheimer explained what Newt did before and after he became Speaker.
Newt is basically doing the same thing now. The Esquire profile explains in detail how Gingrich is raising money. A primary way is through his "political advocacy group," American Solutions, which is a "527" organization. In the past, individual politicians have raised money through political action committees, or PACs. However, PACs are limited in terms of how much money they can accept from donors and they cannot take contributions from corporations. One objective of such restrictions is the prevention of special interests from unduly influencing a politician. 527 organizations face none of those restrictions. 527s can accept unlimited contributions from anywhere as long as the 527 does not promote a specific candidate.
Basically, Newt is able to raise unlimited amounts of cash through American Solutions and use that cash to advance his own interests. As Esquire put it, "American Solutions [is] the biggest political-advocacy group in America today, with an expansive issues agenda that just happens to advance the political fortunes of Newt Gingrich." See, Newt has not been an elected official for 12 years, and he is not currently running for any office, so raising money and spending it on himself does not violate the letter of the law.
That's clever, but it presents a big problem and still shows that Newt is a huge hypocrite. I will explain this after discussing another group run by Newt.
Another organization Newt uses to raise money is the Center for Health Transformation, which "is a for-profit outfit that charges big health insurers like Blue Cross and Blue Shield up to $200,000 a year for access to the mind of Newt Gingrich." Here's a list of the companies that have paid for such access. And since CHT is not even a political advocacy group, it faces no restrictions on fund raising and spending. Thus, it pretty much exists as another tool to advance Newt's personal agenda and interests.
And apparently part of Newt's agenda is taking credit for things he has not done, particularly when it comes to CHT. As Richardson reveals in the Esquire profile:
Do you want a President who has been financed by special interests? Do you want a President who is potentially beholden to those special interests? Do you want a President who has been and still is a habitual hypocrite? If so, then Newt's your man.
Her eyes go wide when she hears his line about being four to Callista's five. "You know where that line came from? Me. That's my line. That's what I told him."That's one way to describe it. "Pathetic" is another way. Being unfaithful to Marianne for at least six years wasn't enough. Asking her to tolerate the affair wasn't enough. Lying to the media that she knew about and was OK with the affair wasn't enough. Newt felt it was necessary to describe himself and his current wife with comments that came from Marianne to describe her marriage to Newt. What a douchebag.
She pauses for a moment, turning it over in her mind. Then she shakes her head in wonder. "I'm sorry, that's so freaky."
Hypocrisy is his SOP.
Part 6 of my previous series showed that as of December 2006, hypocrisy was Newt's SOP (standard operating procedure). One of the examples I focused on was financing and fund raising. Part 6 was based to a degree on Part 2. Together those two posts discussed how Gingrich built his early career and success on attacking corruption caused by money and special interests and then engaged in the same conduct he was attacking. In an interview, Fred Wertheimer explained what Newt did before and after he became Speaker.
He attacked the House as a corrupt institution. He brought ethics charges. He constantly attacked the legitimacy of the institution. At the same time, he built a financial empire based on special interest and private influence money. He did everything he could to block the reforms, the serious reforms of the system that were undertaken. And now of course he's the king of this corrupt system.As shown in Parts 2 and 6, Wertheimer showed that 1) before he became Speaker, Gingrich tried to shut down the "soft money" and PACs; 2) during this time Gingrich was building a political machine fueled by soft money and PACs; and 3) once he became Speaker, he took steps to preserve the very system he had publicly condemned as corrupt.*******Somehow the same issue that had been central to Newt Gingrich's argument throughout his career in the minority--that this was a corrupt system, that PACs were a grotesque feature in the system, that money politics was driving out and defeating citizen politicians--somehow not a word about this was included in the Contract With America.
Newt is basically doing the same thing now. The Esquire profile explains in detail how Gingrich is raising money. A primary way is through his "political advocacy group," American Solutions, which is a "527" organization. In the past, individual politicians have raised money through political action committees, or PACs. However, PACs are limited in terms of how much money they can accept from donors and they cannot take contributions from corporations. One objective of such restrictions is the prevention of special interests from unduly influencing a politician. 527 organizations face none of those restrictions. 527s can accept unlimited contributions from anywhere as long as the 527 does not promote a specific candidate.
Basically, Newt is able to raise unlimited amounts of cash through American Solutions and use that cash to advance his own interests. As Esquire put it, "American Solutions [is] the biggest political-advocacy group in America today, with an expansive issues agenda that just happens to advance the political fortunes of Newt Gingrich." See, Newt has not been an elected official for 12 years, and he is not currently running for any office, so raising money and spending it on himself does not violate the letter of the law.
That's clever, but it presents a big problem and still shows that Newt is a huge hypocrite. I will explain this after discussing another group run by Newt.
Another organization Newt uses to raise money is the Center for Health Transformation, which "is a for-profit outfit that charges big health insurers like Blue Cross and Blue Shield up to $200,000 a year for access to the mind of Newt Gingrich." Here's a list of the companies that have paid for such access. And since CHT is not even a political advocacy group, it faces no restrictions on fund raising and spending. Thus, it pretty much exists as another tool to advance Newt's personal agenda and interests.
And apparently part of Newt's agenda is taking credit for things he has not done, particularly when it comes to CHT. As Richardson reveals in the Esquire profile:
On its Web site, it describes its work in Georgia as a model for all its efforts and says the "cornerstone" of its work is a group called Bridges to Excellence. But CHT "had zero role in creating Bridges to Excellence," says François de Brantes, the group's CEO. CHT helped with organization for one year and hasn't been associated with them since 2008. The CHT Web site also singles out the "Healthy Georgia Diabetes and Obesity Project" as its major diabetes effort, but that was news to the American Diabetes Association. "We were not able to find any information about this," says the ADA's communications director, Colleen Fogarty. "The person that was in contact with them is no longer here."Now, back to why all this is a big problem and shows Newt's never-ending hypocrisy. This Esquire excerpt frames the issue nicely:
[CHT] is not a registered lobby. Neither is American Solutions. So if Gingrich talks to a politician about energy policy while energy legislation is pending, he's just an intellectual exploring ideas. And he can go on TV and/or write articles without declaring his financial interest in pending legislation. One of Gingrich's former advisors told The Washington Post that he's "making more money than he ever thought possible, and doesn't have to tell everybody where it's coming from."So, when Newt speaks (publicly or behind closed doors) about a given issue and proposed course of action, there is the real possibility that his views have been bought and paid for by some corporation or special interest. In other words, although he is no longer technically breaking any laws or rules, he is nonetheless engaging in the same kind of corruption he attacked in his political career.
Do you want a President who has been financed by special interests? Do you want a President who is potentially beholden to those special interests? Do you want a President who has been and still is a habitual hypocrite? If so, then Newt's your man.
And that brings us to the last section of this post. Part 5 of my previous series on Newt was about his ego and personality, and judging from the Esquire profile, nothing has changed. Part 5 shows that Newt has an enormous ego and ambition and yet utterly lacks the skills to be a leader.
As for his ego, I said back in December 2006 that Newt felt he was on a mission from God, and he still believes that. The Esquire profile closes with the question of whether Newt will run 2012.
One thing is certain — Newt Gingrich loves the question. "That's up to God and the American people," he tells you, in the serene tone of a man who already knows what God thinks.You see, Newt is still trying to show that it is not that he wants to be President, but rather that he has to be President because God and the American people have ordained it. In Part 5, I explained how Newt was trying to start his own "draft Newt" movement. As he told Fortune magazine for a November 21, 2006, article: "I am not 'running' for president. I am seeking to create a movement to win the future by offering a series of solutions so compelling that if the American people say I have to be president, it will happen." And he is still spouting this bullshit today. As he told Richardson for Esquire,
I see myself as a citizen leader trying to understand three things:Newt is now trying to say that he is simply trying to figure what needs to be done for the good of the country, but then he goes and shows that he feels he already knows what is good for the country--and that is for him to be President. I contend that Newt feels he has already figured out what the country should be doing. Check out his various websites and his books and anything he has written or said for evidence of my contention. And now he is simply trying to get the American people to insist that he be our leader. Anyone who thinks otherwise should feel free to explain why I am wrong, but choose your words carefully.
• What the country has to do to be successful.
• How you would communicate that to the American people so they would let you do it.
• And then how you'd actually implement it if they gave you permission to do it.
The only thing Newt really wants to figure out is how to get what he wants. That is his priority. That was the case when I wrote Part 5 in December 2006, and it is still true today. Mickey Edwards was in the House from 1977 to 1993. He rose to be one of the Republican leaders in the House during his tenure (chairman of the Republican Policy Committee, a member of both the House Appropriations and Budget committees, and ranking member of the House Subcommittee on Foreign Operations). That means he knows Gingrich. Here's what Edwards said about Newt in the Esquire profile:
"I've known Newt now for thirty years almost," says former congressman Mickey Edwards. "But I wouldn't be able to describe what his real principles are. I never felt that he had any sort of a real compass about what he believed except for the pursuit of power."So, Newt still thinks that God His ownself wants Newt to be President, and he is still determined to start his own draft movement so that his divine destiny will be fulfilled. What a douchebag.
I noted in Part 5 that Gingrich has been described as "a psychodrama living out a fantasy." And the person who provided that description was...wait for it...Newt.
As for the rest of his personality, read the Sheehy Vanity Fair article and you will see that I went easy on Newt in Part 5. Then read the Esquire profile and ask yourself if you think Newt has the emotional and psychological makeup to be President. I am not going to discuss any of those specifics here. You can read them for yourself.
Instead, I will close with by discussing Newt's answer to Marianne's question about the speech he gave on family values after he revealed his 6-year affair with Bisek. The question was "How do you give that speech and do what you're doing?" Here was Newt's response:
"It doesn't matter what I do," he answered. "People need to hear what I have to say. There's no one else who can say what I can say. It doesn't matter what I live."Anyone who might want to claim that Newt is not a hypocrite should really--really--rethink that.
And there are clues that he still feels this way today. Go back and look at what he said in Esquire about being a "citizen leader." Go back and look at what he has said about his "draft Newt" idea. Newt always talks about his ideas. According to him, his ideas are so great that they must be implemented. He also seems to think that since they are his ideas he is the only person for that job. As far as I am concerned, that shows that he doesn't think that his own character is relevant to the equation. He's been chosen by God, you see, so anything he does is justified. Newt thinks he does not have to answer to anybody. Basically, he thinks that everybody should do what he says, but he is not required to practice what he preaches. Someone who thinks that way is hypocritical. When that hypocrisy is then combined with a self-created divine appointment and a desire for power, that someone becomes dangerous.
And there is Newt Gingrich in a nutshell.
posted by WCharles @ 8/17/2010 01:34:00 PM
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