At the beginning of last night’s CNN Republican Presidential candidates’ debate, Moderator John King mentioned that Gingrich’s ex-wife Marianne had claimed that Gingrich — having an affair with his now-wife Calista — asked her for an “open marriage.” ABC leaked excerpts on Thursday, and aired the interview on the same night as the debate.
King asked Gingrich if he wanted to respond to his ex’s comments. This was the response:
“No — but I will,” Gingrich said — to cheers and applause.
“I think — I think the destructive, vicious, negative nature of much of the news media makes it harder to govern this country, harder to attract decent people to run for public office. And I am appalled that you would begin a presidential debate on a topic like that,” Gingrich said, to the obvious delight of the audience.
“Is that all you want to say, sir?” King asked.
“Let me finish,” Gingrich said.
“Please,” King said — (boos)
“Every person in here knows personal pain,” Gingrich said. “Every person in here has had someone close to them go through painful things. To take an ex-wife and make it –two days before the primary — a significant question in a presidential campaign is as close to despicable as anything I can imagine. (Cheers, applause.)
“My — my two daughters, my two daughters wrote the head of ABC, and made the point that it was wrong, that they should pull it. And I am frankly astounded that CNN would take trash like that and use it to open a presidential debate.” (Cheers, applause.)
King responded that the story did not come from CNN, and that it was “a subject of conversation” on the campaign trail.
“John, John, it was repeated by your network, Gingrich said — (more boos from the audience). “You chose to start the debate with it. Don’t try to blame somebody else. You and your staff chose to start this debate with that.” (Cheers, applause.)
Gingrich continued: “Now, let me be quite clear. Let me be quite clear. The story is false. Every personal friend I have who knew us in that period says the story was false. We offered several of them to ABC to prove it was false. They weren’t interested, because they would like to attack any Republican. They’re attacking the governor, they’re attacking me. I’m sure they’ll probably get around to Senator Santorum and Congressman Paul. I am tired of the elite media protecting Barack Obama by attacking Republicans.” (Loud cheers and applause.)
It’s damned well about time that someone stood up to the obvious bias of the mainstream media, and I couldn’t help but join the audience and applaud as I listened to Newt’s dressing down of Mr. King.
I think it’s instructive to note that the good folks of South Carolina responded with strong support for Gingrich, in spite of his well-known record of marital infidelity. In a state which strongly values Christian marriage principles, it’s telling to see such strong and immediate support for Newt. I can only conclude that South Carolina’s Republican voters consider the liberal media’s endless bias and fawning over St. Obama far more distasteful than infidelity.
I don’t recall anyone in the liberal media asking JFK questions about his affair with Marilyn Monroe. Hmmm… I wonder how Hillary Clinton and Jennifer Flowers feel about all this…
Speaking of adultery, wasn’t Marianne schtupping Gingrich while he was still married to Wife Number One? I guess she approved of “open marriage” then, eh?
