Hotcorner Posted March 12, 2007 Share Posted March 12, 2007 CNN ? Former speaker led charge against Clinton over Monica Lewinsky affair ? Potential '08 candidate discusses issue with conservative Christian group ? Republican may enter 2008 presidential race ? Leading Republican candidate, Rudy Giuliani, also had an affair WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Former House speaker and potential presidential candidate Newt Gingrich has confessed, telling conservative Christian leader James Dobson that he was cheating on his wife at around the same time the House was impeaching President Bill Clinton over his White House affair with Monica Lewinsky. But Gingrich said that didn't make him a hypocrite, because Clinton was impeached not for the affair, but for lying about it. "The president of the United States got in trouble for committing a felony in front of a sitting federal judge," the Georgia Republican told Dobson in an interview posted Friday on Dobson's Focus on the Family Web site. (Listen to Gingrich admit he had an affair Video) The House impeached Clinton in December 1998, and he was acquitted by the Senate the following year. Still, Gingrich's confession could be damage control for his possible presidential race. He has said he will decide about a run for the White House this fall, after he surveys the Republican field. If he runs, he can treat the affair as an issue he has already dealt with. Gingrich isn't the only candidate or potential candidate with some messy marriage and divorce issues. Like Gingrich, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani has been married three times. He's currently the Republican front-runner in the presidential derby. Richard Land, head of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, condemned Giuliani's behavior, calling his break-up with his second wife "divorce on steroids." "I'm a human being," Giuliani told CNN's Admin King in an interview. "I make mistakes. I'm not perfect." But Gingrich, who just published a book called "Rediscovering God in America," tapped a religious leader for his confession and expressed repentance. "There are things in my own life that I have turned to God and have gotten on my knees and prayed about and sought God's forgiveness," he told Dobson. Gingrich's first marriage ended after he discussed the details of the divorce with his wife while she was recovering from cancer surgery. He married again in 1981 and was divorced in 2000, when he married the young congressional aide with whom he had the affair. So, will religious voters forgive Gingrich? Dobson seemed inclined to think so. "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 someplace, and I really appreciate your willingness to do so," Dobson told Gingrich. Critics are likely to call the lot of them hypocrites, however, noting that religious conservatives make allowances for people they agree with politically, like Gingrich, but not for Giuliani or Clinton. Turning out to be a very odd year for Republicans. Who are the social conservatives going to get behind? & what about the evangelical vote? There would seem to be some personal issues with all the frontrunners. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flying_Mollusk Posted March 12, 2007 Share Posted March 12, 2007 Fred Thompson could be a dark horse to come in. He has the credentials and the charisma. Not sure where he is on the spectrum but I think he is more conservative than Rudy and others. He is also a TV/movie star and you know how the last one of those did as a Republican. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Dalton_Thompson Guliani is running away with it now. The Republicans tend to nominate the early favorite. Dems tend to come up with the surprise. But I still just don't see how a guy who dressed in drag can win the Republican nomination. Next president of the US? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimmy42Jack0 Posted March 12, 2007 Share Posted March 12, 2007 newt why run if like 10 people (all family) are the only ones to vote for you...save your money and do something useful with it...like investigate illegal wars Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FutureGM Posted March 12, 2007 Share Posted March 12, 2007 newt why run if like 10 people (all family) are the only ones to vote for you...save your money and do something useful with it...like investigate illegal wars He is showing up in 3rd place among Presidential Republican candidates, with Rudy 1st, and McCain 2nd. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarlinFan10 Posted March 12, 2007 Share Posted March 12, 2007 This should help Rudy get more votes from crazy moral issue voters than Newt. If Rudy gets the nomination, I see him being hard to stop in the election. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hotcorner Posted March 12, 2007 Author Share Posted March 12, 2007 Yeah I saw the Fred Thompson news today, he'd be an interesting option. I think he's got a very solid conservative record. I hear Chuck Hegel's considering running also, and have even heard whispers that a run as an Independent could be an option. Rudy is high at the moment but I will be curious to see if it will last. People outside of New York don't know him that well, they associate him with the 9/11 recovery. Guiliani is estranged from his own kids, the republican contenders are going to hammer away at his personal life. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FutureGM Posted March 13, 2007 Share Posted March 13, 2007 I'm telling you, Rudy can't win the Republican nomination. They are going to kill him on his multiple divorces, and the restraining order taken out against him by an ex-wife. Plus, his position on gay rights and abortions is going to make things even worse. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buckeye Posted March 13, 2007 Share Posted March 13, 2007 I expected to open this and see: "I work(ed) for Satan. That is all." With a big grin and red cheeks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hotcorner Posted March 13, 2007 Author Share Posted March 13, 2007 :lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
legacyofCangelosi Posted March 13, 2007 Share Posted March 13, 2007 The truth is if Rudy doesnt get the nomination, it probably will be Gingrich. Hes the only Goldwater conservative running. It definitely wont be Romney b/c of his convenient ideological changes, and McCain had fallen off b/c of his support of sending in more troops. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimmy42Jack0 Posted March 13, 2007 Share Posted March 13, 2007 The truth is if Rudy doesnt get the nomination, it probably will be Gingrich. Hes the only Goldwater conservative running. It definitely wont be Romney b/c of his convenient ideological changes, and McCain had fallen off b/c of his support of sending in more troops. if what you are saying is true...then the republicans stand zero chance of winning in 08 unless they pull out their wallets(for once) and start buying the vote...which as bad as it sounds...isnt completely rediculous either Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Juanky Posted March 14, 2007 Share Posted March 14, 2007 zero chance of winning in 08 unless they pull out their wallets(for once) and start buying the vote...which as bad as it sounds...isnt completely rediculous either :| Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fish Tank Frenzy Posted March 14, 2007 Share Posted March 14, 2007 zero chance of winning in 08 unless they pull out their wallets(for once) and start buying the vote...which as bad as it sounds...isnt completely rediculous either :| Stop quoting him....PLEASE. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
legacyofCangelosi Posted March 16, 2007 Share Posted March 16, 2007 The truth is if Rudy doesnt get the nomination, it probably will be Gingrich. Hes the only Goldwater conservative running. It definitely wont be Romney b/c of his convenient ideological changes, and McCain had fallen off b/c of his support of sending in more troops. if what you are saying is true...then the republicans stand zero chance of winning in 08 unless they pull out their wallets(for once) and start buying the vote...which as bad as it sounds...isnt completely rediculous either You'd be amazed at how good of a chance Gingrich would have in 08. A lot of people, and I believe this includes you, although correct me if my assumption is incorrect, feel that Gingrich wont win b/c hes very conservative and that Bush has made conservatives look bad. The problem with that reasoning is that Bush's biggest challengers are the conservatives within the Republican party. Bush is a Nixon republican, started the admin. by trying to be bipartisan, but then when things got rough and he needed party support, he found little relief within his own party. Bush increased the size of government, expanded the bureaucracy, supports healthcare and immigration reform that is not traditionally conservative. So the truth is the conservatives would love to rally around someone like Gingrich, and he would have a good chance in 08. In fact for the GOP, if it isnt giuiliani, it will be gingrich. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimmy42Jack0 Posted March 16, 2007 Share Posted March 16, 2007 im sorry...i guess my point is that i would think it would be a tough pill for anyone to swallow to vote for someone as sleazy as newt... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flying_Mollusk Posted March 16, 2007 Share Posted March 16, 2007 Good. Replace the guy who married his sister, had sex with his mistress while his second wife was in the house and knew about it, and is estranged from his own son WITH the guy who had an affair with a women 20 years his younger and served divorce papers on his wife while she was recovering from cancer. MORAL MAJORITY!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
legacyofCangelosi Posted March 16, 2007 Share Posted March 16, 2007 Good. Replace the guy who married his sister, had sex with his mistress while his second wife was in the house and knew about it, and is estranged from his own son WITH the guy who had an affair with a women 20 years his younger and served divorce papers on his wife while she was recovering from cancer. MORAL MAJORITY!! Giuliani is not a social conservative so that he did all those things is in the same realm as clinton with lewinski, except giuliani hasnt lied under oath about any of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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