Newt Gingrich sought an "open marriage," his former wife, Marianne, told ABC News in an interview airing tonight.
Marianne Gingrich told ABC's Nightline that the former House speaker asked her if he could remain married to her while also seeing another woman, Callista Bisek, his current wife.
Marianne Gingrich added that she doesn't believe Gingrich has the moral character to be president.
Gingrich declined to comment about the specifics of the interview -- airing two days before the South Carolina primary -- when talking to reporters in Beaufort, S.C. He said the interview is "tawdry and inappropriate."
Gingrich's three marriages have been an issue for some social conservatives in as he seeks the GOP presidential nomination. He has acknowledged he has made mistakes in his life and has sought God's forgiveness .
Do you think this news will affect Gingrich's position in the polls? Do you think this story should be disregarded, since Gingrich claims the affair occurred 15-20 years ago? Do you believe Gingrich is handling the the situation well?
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/onpolitics/post/2012/01/newt-gingrich-ex-wife-interview-/1
9 comments:
I think this news will definitely have an impact on voters. We just learned how crucial image is to a candidate's campaign, one important factor of which was integrity. I think people will hear about Gingrich's past and it will definitely plant a seed of doubt in their minds regarding his ability to represent the nation. In addition, the fact that the woman who is supposed to know him better than anyone, his wife Marianne Gingrich, doesn't think he has the moral character to be president will only heighten people's concerns about his qualifications.
I think that if Gingrich wants to comeback from this news, he must prove that such incidents are completely in the past and that he has grown since and from then. In addition, it will be crucial to his campaign for him to prevent any further negative news about such affairs to find its way to the media. Finally, I think it will be especially important for him to stress the difference between his past personal life and his political policies and what makes him a suitable candidate.
I agree with Karryn that this will have a huge impact of voters and their support for Gingrich. Just reading this article made me cringe, and this is the only article I’ve read about this. While I understand that mistakes happen, the fact that this affair may have happened 15-20 years ago affects in about that same way as it would if it were currently happening. Like Gingrich has handled other attacks, like those of the other Republican candidates, he isn’t really doing much to defend himself and his integrity. He continues to take the attacks head-on and simply states that they should stop or that they are "tawdry and inappropriate". Like Karryn said, in order to comeback, Gingrich will have to prove that he’s changed.
I’m not fond of Gingrich. His behavior, especially now, is shady. He wants an open marriage? That’s a wonderful example that the President of the United States should set. No it’s not. The second former Mrs. Gingrich even said it herself; he is not morally fit to be President. I refuse to accept that this country is going to evolve into one that focuses just on wit, brain power, or skill and discards character because character does and always will count. And unfortunately, Gingrich is lacking in it which does not bode well for his journey to becoming future President. To be fair, we haven’t heard from Mr. Wonderful himself letting us know if Marianne’s accusations are warranted or true. However, it can be assumed that there’s some truth to it because he has admitted to making other mistakes in the past. I think this is going to reflect very poorly on himself and his campaign; just look at what happened with Cain. His shady behavior was exposed and he dropped out before the allegations could be proved true or inaccurate. If his race isn’t negatively affected by this news because he handles it well, then I’ll commend his endurance. However, for now it’s day by day, story by story.
This recent scandal will have an extreme impact on voters. People do care about the character and morality of a candidate, and lately Gingrich's character has been tested, and has not faired well. I think that his problems with his ex-wife are polarized because of all the other candidates squeaky clean life. Paul, Santorum, and Romney have fairly normal and stable marriages, Gingrich simply has a lot of baggage.
Personally, I do not believe that this should just be disregarded. These claims are fairly harsh, and very strong, I think people should take into account Gingrich's morals (or lack thereof).
I also believe that Gingrich is not handling this scandal to well. The first question asked in tonight sGOP debate was about his ex-wives claims and he was extremely offended, and attacked John King for even asking the question. Gingrich needs to understand that he shouldn't get upset when people ask him questions about his personal life, if you are running to be the leader of essentially the free world you better believe people are going to be concerned that you asked your wife for an open marriage. He should answer questions about this scandal, not attempt to act like these questions don't matter and don't have an effect on voters.
I think that this situation will most definitely have an impact on voters and Gingrich's campaign. Personally think that it's bad enough that he was cheating, but for him to go out of his way and try and get his wife to join in helping hide his affair is ridiculous. Voters aren't going to want to see a man who's disrespectful and deceitful as their president. These stories leaking are only making Gingrich look worse especially when his wife says he is not fit to be the president. Clearly these stories will put doubts in the minds of the voters. And despite the fact that these affairs may have occurred a while ago, it is likely that those doubts will become very costly.
Gingrich does not seem to be handling these issues well and his anger towards John King for asking him about his wife will only cause more turmoil. Americans will wonder how he's supposed to be handling out countries biggest issues respectively when he can't seem to handle his own. Overall, I believe in order for Gingrich to redeem himself he must be respectful and, like Karryn originally said, show the voters that he has changed.
I am certain that this news will have an affect on Gingrich’s campaign. In class we have discussed how important a candidate’s image is. If the media portrays a politician in a negative light, it is likely that he or she struggle to maintain support. Today we put so much emphasis on a candidate’s personal life that it is likely Gingrich’s campaign and how voters perceive him will be negatively impacted. The fact that this occurred 15 to 20 years ago does not change the severity of the matter. If it did occur that long ago, he was still somewhere around 40 to 50 years old. He was a grown adult who knew exactly what he was doing. If this happened when he was somewhat younger than it would be slightly more understandable, but just barely. His former wife probably knows him better than most people do, and if she’s saying that Gingrich does not have the proper moral character to lead our country, I do believe her. Gingrich’s actions were inappropriate and I believe they will hurt him in the long run.
I definitely agree with Karryn, especially because Gingrich hasn't been pulling ahead or been the consistent front-runner for the GOP, so at this point he needs all the momentum and positive media attention he can get. Unfortunately for him, this news will mean neither. Instead of focusing on his platform, voters will be attracted to stories about scandals and pay attention to Marianne's story, getting a kick out of the whole affair. Also, I agree with Janey in saying that character does play a role - at least, in the eyes of the American public at large. People want to know that their President is a leader in every sense, not just in terms of leading the country, but also in setting an example. Personally, I don't expect politicians to be spotless, but I do want them to uphold some kind of morality. If a man (or woman) hurts those closest to him or her, what's to say that the candidate will have inhibitions about hurting the American public? Or, to phrase it better, how can any citizens feel that their leader cares about them if (s)he doesn't even care about his or her own family and "loved ones"? It's just a little bit shady. I don't think that Gingrich ultimately had a fighting chance in the long run, but with Marianne speaking out, his ship will sink just a little bit faster. As of right now, it looks as though Romney will ultimately win the nomination... but with the GOP as disorganized as it is right now, who can really tell?
I think it will definitely create an issue for Gingrich, especially because as a social conservative he has many times acted as a moral authority, and he also spoke out against Clinton for his affair. Gingrich's personal life is his personal life, but he has to be willing to face the consequences of his personal life, and it seems a little ridiculous to have asked his wife for an open marriage.. who would even think of that? That's why I'm inclined to believe her. Many people won't be willing to overlook that, including women voters if they perceive Gingrich as sexist as well as supporters of "traditional marriage" and especially because he seems to have more conservative supporters than Romney does. I don't think he's handling the situation well; he came across as really stand-offish when asked the question in the debate and as if it isn't even a valid question. I think his best chance of making a comeback is if he doesn't try to deny it but instead proves he has changed. I still don't think he has a chance of getting elected either way though, he just doesn't come across as presidential.
I also think that this revelation will have a major impact on voters opinions of Newt Gingrich, as it should. How a candidate presents himself not only in his politics, but also in his private life is a great indicator of how effective they be in office.
Newt Gingrich's attempt to conduct an "open relationship" with his former life will be see as an indicator that he waffles and can't make decisions, instead of choosing one woman, he tried to have both. This reveals that Gingrich is an indecisive man in his own life, and therefore will carry these habits forward into office if elected.
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