docmercer--banned
Banned
- Joined
- Oct 21, 2004
- Messages
- 22,231
- Reaction score
- 0
Gingrich and Family Values
Brian Blomquist tells how Newt Gingrich divorces wives when they get sick.
By BRIAN BLOMQUIST
WASHINGTON - Newt Gingrich won't be winning the Mr. Sensitivity Award any time soon.
The former House Speaker and his ex-wife, Marianne Gingrich, are in a bit of a dispute over whether Newt knew that she might have multiple sclerosis when he told her on Mother's Day 1999 that he wanted a divorce.
For the ham-handed Newtster, breakups are a touchy issue.
He notified his first wife, Jackie Battley, that he was divorcing her in 1981 after she was hospitalized with cancer.
Marianne's lawyer said Newt knew in September 1998 - eight months before he notified her that he was ditching her - that Marianne had been diagnosed with a neurological condition that might be a "forerunner of multiple sclerosis," according to the Atlanta neurosurgeon who treated her.
But Newt's lawyer, Randy Evans, said yesterday Newt didn't know that Marianne might have had MS when he broke the bad news to her.
Evans said he and Newt learned later - sometime during the divorce case that started in May 1999 and ended in April 2000 - about Marianne's condition.
"His nose is growing," responded Marianne's lawyer and friend, Victoria Toensing.
When Evans was told that Marianne's account differed from his, he said, "That's not my recollection."
But then Evans backtracked and said it was possible that Newt and Marianne discussed her medical situation privately before he learned about it during the divorce case.
Multiple sclerosis is a degenerative neurological disease.
Newt, 57, told Marianne, 48, he wanted to end their 19-year marriage while she was visiting his mother on Mother's Day.
Newt, 57, secretly had been having an affair with congressional aide Callista Bisek, 34, whom he plans to marry next month in Alexandria, Va. That would make the blond-haired Bisek wife No. 3 for the onetime Republican revolutionary.
Toensing said there's no doubt that Newt knew all about his wife's condition at the time she went to Emory University Hospital in Atlanta and was diagnosed with possible MS in September 1998, just before Newt announced he was giving up his job as speaker of the House and quitting Congress.
Neurologist Barney Stern said she has responded well to steroid therapy and there's been no further damage to her nervous system.
http://www.mult-sclerosis.org/news/Jul2000/PWMSNewtsEx.html
Timeline
<TABLE><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top noWrap align=right><TT>17 Jun 1943</TT></TD><TD vAlign=top>[size=-1]Newton McPherson born in Pennsylvania.[/size]</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top noWrap align=right><TT>1946</TT></TD><TD vAlign=top>[size=-1]Newt's mother weds Robert Gingrich, who adopts the toddler.[/size]</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top noWrap align=right><TT>19 Jun 1962</TT></TD><TD vAlign=top>[size=-1]Newt marries his former math teacher from high school, Jackie Battley.[/size]</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top noWrap align=right><TT>1966-1970</TT></TD><TD vAlign=top>[size=-1]While earning his PhD in History at Tulane University, Newt experiments with marijuana and receives a draft deferment.[/size]</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top noWrap align=right><TT>1974</TT></TD><TD vAlign=top>[size=-1]Newt runs for a House seat, but narrowly loses during the aftermath of Watergate.[/size]</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top noWrap align=right><TT>1976</TT></TD><TD vAlign=top>[size=-1]Newt again runs for a House seat, again losing narrowly.[/size]</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top noWrap align=right><TT>spring 1977</TT></TD><TD vAlign=top>[size=-1]Newt Gingrich receives an extramarital blowjob from Anne Manning, who was herself married. She explains later: "We had oral sex... He prefers that modus operandi because then he can say, 'I never slept with her.'"[/size]</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top noWrap align=right><TT>1978</TT></TD><TD vAlign=top>[size=-1]A campaign commercial declares: "When elected, Newt will keep his family together."[/size]</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top noWrap align=right><TT>Feb 1981</TT></TD><TD vAlign=top>[size=-1]Newt Gingrich finally divorces Jackie.</I>[/size]</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top noWrap align=right><TT>Aug 1981</TT></TD><TD vAlign=top>[size=-1]Newt Gingrich marries Marianne Ginther.</I>[/size]</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top noWrap align=right><TT>Jul 1983</TT></TD><TD vAlign=top>[size=-1]Newt Gingrich demands that the House expels fellow Congressmen Daniel Crane and Gerry Studds for having affairs with Congressional pages.[/size]</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top noWrap align=right><TT>4 Jan 1985</TT></TD><TD vAlign=top>[size=-1]Newt Gingrich is elected Speaker of the House.[/size]</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top noWrap align=right><TT>1995</TT></TD><TD vAlign=top>[size=-1]Addressing the Conference of Mayors, Newt Gingrich lauds Victorian England for "reestablishing values, by moral leadership and by being willing to look at people in the face and say, 'You should be ashamed.'"[/size]</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top noWrap align=right><TT>17 Jan 1997</TT></TD><TD vAlign=top>[size=-1]The House ethics committee fines Newt $300,000 for financial misdeeds.[/size]</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top noWrap align=right><TT>27 Apr 1998</TT></TD><TD vAlign=top>[size=-1]Regarding the Lewinsky Affair, Newt Gingrich tells the Atlanta Rotary Club: "What you have lived through for 2 1/2 years is the most systematic, deliberate obstruction of justice, coverup and effort to avoid the truth we have ever seen in American history."[/size]</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top noWrap align=right><TT>22 May 1998</TT></TD><TD vAlign=top>[size=-1]Regarding the Lewinsky Affair, Newt Gingrich writes in the conservative weekly Human Events: "Around the world today, the institution of the presidency has been degraded to the point that it is viewed as the rough equivalent of the Jerry Springer show -- a level of disrespect and decadence that should appall every American."[/size]</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top noWrap align=right><TT>23 Jul 1998</TT></TD><TD vAlign=top>[size=-1]On Rush Limbaugh's radio show, Newt Gingrich predicts that in November the Republicans will gain 3-5 seats in the Senate, 10-40 in the House seats, 3 governors, and 500 state legislators. A month later, Gingrich revises his predictions upward.[/size]</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top noWrap align=right><TT>16 Sep 1998</TT></TD><TD vAlign=top>[size=-1]Newt Gingrich tells fellow Republicans that Bill Clinton's version of events in the Lewinsky Affair betrays the President as a "misogynist."[/size]</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top noWrap align=right><TT>4 Nov 1998</TT></TD><TD vAlign=top>[size=-1]Newt Gingrich blames the disappointing election results on the media's fascination with the Lewinsky Affair: "I mean, I totally underestimated the degree to which people would just get sick of 24-hour-a-day talk television and talk radio and then the degree to which this whole scandal became just sort of disgusting by sheer repetition."[/size]</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top noWrap align=right><TT>6 Nov 1998</TT></TD><TD vAlign=top>[size=-1]Newt Gingrich announces that he intends to resign by the end of the year.[/size]</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top noWrap align=right><TT>Jan 1999</TT></TD><TD vAlign=top>[size=-1]Newt Gingrich resigns.</I>[/size]</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top noWrap align=right><TT>Aug 2000</TT></TD><TD vAlign=top>[size=-1]Newt Gingrich marries Calista Bisek.</I>[/size]</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
Brian Blomquist tells how Newt Gingrich divorces wives when they get sick.
By BRIAN BLOMQUIST
WASHINGTON - Newt Gingrich won't be winning the Mr. Sensitivity Award any time soon.
The former House Speaker and his ex-wife, Marianne Gingrich, are in a bit of a dispute over whether Newt knew that she might have multiple sclerosis when he told her on Mother's Day 1999 that he wanted a divorce.
For the ham-handed Newtster, breakups are a touchy issue.
He notified his first wife, Jackie Battley, that he was divorcing her in 1981 after she was hospitalized with cancer.
Marianne's lawyer said Newt knew in September 1998 - eight months before he notified her that he was ditching her - that Marianne had been diagnosed with a neurological condition that might be a "forerunner of multiple sclerosis," according to the Atlanta neurosurgeon who treated her.
But Newt's lawyer, Randy Evans, said yesterday Newt didn't know that Marianne might have had MS when he broke the bad news to her.
Evans said he and Newt learned later - sometime during the divorce case that started in May 1999 and ended in April 2000 - about Marianne's condition.
"His nose is growing," responded Marianne's lawyer and friend, Victoria Toensing.
When Evans was told that Marianne's account differed from his, he said, "That's not my recollection."
But then Evans backtracked and said it was possible that Newt and Marianne discussed her medical situation privately before he learned about it during the divorce case.
Multiple sclerosis is a degenerative neurological disease.
Newt, 57, told Marianne, 48, he wanted to end their 19-year marriage while she was visiting his mother on Mother's Day.
Newt, 57, secretly had been having an affair with congressional aide Callista Bisek, 34, whom he plans to marry next month in Alexandria, Va. That would make the blond-haired Bisek wife No. 3 for the onetime Republican revolutionary.
Toensing said there's no doubt that Newt knew all about his wife's condition at the time she went to Emory University Hospital in Atlanta and was diagnosed with possible MS in September 1998, just before Newt announced he was giving up his job as speaker of the House and quitting Congress.
Neurologist Barney Stern said she has responded well to steroid therapy and there's been no further damage to her nervous system.
http://www.mult-sclerosis.org/news/Jul2000/PWMSNewtsEx.html
Timeline
<TABLE><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top noWrap align=right><TT>17 Jun 1943</TT></TD><TD vAlign=top>[size=-1]Newton McPherson born in Pennsylvania.[/size]</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top noWrap align=right><TT>1946</TT></TD><TD vAlign=top>[size=-1]Newt's mother weds Robert Gingrich, who adopts the toddler.[/size]</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top noWrap align=right><TT>19 Jun 1962</TT></TD><TD vAlign=top>[size=-1]Newt marries his former math teacher from high school, Jackie Battley.[/size]</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top noWrap align=right><TT>1966-1970</TT></TD><TD vAlign=top>[size=-1]While earning his PhD in History at Tulane University, Newt experiments with marijuana and receives a draft deferment.[/size]</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top noWrap align=right><TT>1974</TT></TD><TD vAlign=top>[size=-1]Newt runs for a House seat, but narrowly loses during the aftermath of Watergate.[/size]</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top noWrap align=right><TT>1976</TT></TD><TD vAlign=top>[size=-1]Newt again runs for a House seat, again losing narrowly.[/size]</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top noWrap align=right><TT>spring 1977</TT></TD><TD vAlign=top>[size=-1]Newt Gingrich receives an extramarital blowjob from Anne Manning, who was herself married. She explains later: "We had oral sex... He prefers that modus operandi because then he can say, 'I never slept with her.'"[/size]</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top noWrap align=right><TT>1978</TT></TD><TD vAlign=top>[size=-1]A campaign commercial declares: "When elected, Newt will keep his family together."[/size]</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top noWrap align=right><TT>Feb 1981</TT></TD><TD vAlign=top>[size=-1]Newt Gingrich finally divorces Jackie.</I>[/size]</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top noWrap align=right><TT>Aug 1981</TT></TD><TD vAlign=top>[size=-1]Newt Gingrich marries Marianne Ginther.</I>[/size]</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top noWrap align=right><TT>Jul 1983</TT></TD><TD vAlign=top>[size=-1]Newt Gingrich demands that the House expels fellow Congressmen Daniel Crane and Gerry Studds for having affairs with Congressional pages.[/size]</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top noWrap align=right><TT>4 Jan 1985</TT></TD><TD vAlign=top>[size=-1]Newt Gingrich is elected Speaker of the House.[/size]</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top noWrap align=right><TT>1995</TT></TD><TD vAlign=top>[size=-1]Addressing the Conference of Mayors, Newt Gingrich lauds Victorian England for "reestablishing values, by moral leadership and by being willing to look at people in the face and say, 'You should be ashamed.'"[/size]</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top noWrap align=right><TT>17 Jan 1997</TT></TD><TD vAlign=top>[size=-1]The House ethics committee fines Newt $300,000 for financial misdeeds.[/size]</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top noWrap align=right><TT>27 Apr 1998</TT></TD><TD vAlign=top>[size=-1]Regarding the Lewinsky Affair, Newt Gingrich tells the Atlanta Rotary Club: "What you have lived through for 2 1/2 years is the most systematic, deliberate obstruction of justice, coverup and effort to avoid the truth we have ever seen in American history."[/size]</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top noWrap align=right><TT>22 May 1998</TT></TD><TD vAlign=top>[size=-1]Regarding the Lewinsky Affair, Newt Gingrich writes in the conservative weekly Human Events: "Around the world today, the institution of the presidency has been degraded to the point that it is viewed as the rough equivalent of the Jerry Springer show -- a level of disrespect and decadence that should appall every American."[/size]</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top noWrap align=right><TT>23 Jul 1998</TT></TD><TD vAlign=top>[size=-1]On Rush Limbaugh's radio show, Newt Gingrich predicts that in November the Republicans will gain 3-5 seats in the Senate, 10-40 in the House seats, 3 governors, and 500 state legislators. A month later, Gingrich revises his predictions upward.[/size]</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top noWrap align=right><TT>16 Sep 1998</TT></TD><TD vAlign=top>[size=-1]Newt Gingrich tells fellow Republicans that Bill Clinton's version of events in the Lewinsky Affair betrays the President as a "misogynist."[/size]</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top noWrap align=right><TT>4 Nov 1998</TT></TD><TD vAlign=top>[size=-1]Newt Gingrich blames the disappointing election results on the media's fascination with the Lewinsky Affair: "I mean, I totally underestimated the degree to which people would just get sick of 24-hour-a-day talk television and talk radio and then the degree to which this whole scandal became just sort of disgusting by sheer repetition."[/size]</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top noWrap align=right><TT>6 Nov 1998</TT></TD><TD vAlign=top>[size=-1]Newt Gingrich announces that he intends to resign by the end of the year.[/size]</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top noWrap align=right><TT>Jan 1999</TT></TD><TD vAlign=top>[size=-1]Newt Gingrich resigns.</I>[/size]</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top noWrap align=right><TT>Aug 2000</TT></TD><TD vAlign=top>[size=-1]Newt Gingrich marries Calista Bisek.</I>[/size]</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
