Gingrich had affair while blasting President Clinton March 9th, 2007
[SOURCE: LOU DOBBS TONIGHT @ Aired March 9, 2007 - 18:00 ET]
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DOBBS: Former House speaker Newt Gingrich is bearing his soul. Gingrich admitting to having an extramarital affair at the same time that he was among those blasting President Clinton for his sexual encounters with Monica Lewinsky.
Bill Schneider now tells us whether this confession is political damage control or contrition.
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WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST (voice-over): Newt Gingrich confesses in a radio interview with Dr. James Dobson, founder of Focus On the Family.
JAMES DOBSON, FOCUS ON THE FAMILY: I asked you if the rumors were true that you were in an affair with a woman, obviously, who wasn’t your wife at the same time that Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky were having their escapade?
NEWT GINGRICH (R), FORMER HOUSE SPEAKER: Well, the fact is the honest answer is yes.
SCHNEIDER: The confession makes Gingrich sound like a hypocrite, passing judgment on President Clinton while all the while he himself was engaging in adultery.
Gingrich says he was not passing judgment on Clinton’s personal behavior.
GINGRICH: The president of the United States got in trouble for committing a felony in front of a sitting federal judge.
SCHNEIDER: Gingrich’s confession could be damage control. He says he will decide whether to run for president this fall, after he surveys the Republican field. If he runs, he can treat his affair as an issue he has already dealt with.
Rudy Giuliani has also been married three times and he’s the Republican frontrunner. A Southern Baptist leader condemned Giuliani’s behavior, calling his break-up with his second wife “divorce on steroids.”
RUDI GIULIANI (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I’m a human being. You know, I made mistakes. I’m not perfect.
SCHNEIDER: Gingrich, who just published a book called “Rediscovering God In America,” confessed to a religious leader and he expressed repentance.
GINGRICH: There are things in my own life that I have turned to god and gotten on my knees and prayed about and sought god’s forgiveness.
SCHNEIDER: Will religious voters forgive Gingrich?
Dobson seemed inclined to.
DOBSON: I think it’s really important and will be for many of our listeners to know your responses to that point of disappointment back there some place and I really appreciate your willingness to do so.
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SCHNEIDER: Critics may say they’re all hypocrites. Religious conservatives make allowances for people they agree with politically, like Newt Gingrich, but not for Rudy Giuliani or Bill Clinton — Lou.
DOBBS: Politics, a little ugly, isn’t it?
SCHNEIDER: It is indeed that.
DOBBS: All right. Thank you very much, Bill Schneider.
SCHNEIDER: OK.
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