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Newt Gingrich Admits He Did ‘Things That Were Wrong’ Because He Loves America

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Potential Presidential candidate Newt Gingrich recently gave an interview with CBN’s David Brody. In the conversation, posted online yesterday, Gingrich was asked about the things in his past (for example, his multiple marriages) that might give pause to deeply religious voters. Gingrich responded with a passionate speech about the forgiveness of the Lord. However, something at the beginning of his response has caused a few raised eyebrows as it appears he partially blames his past indiscretions on the fact he loves America so gosh darn much.

The question from Brody was how God’s forgiveness relates to the “personal issues” from Gingrich’s past. This was what Gingrich said:

There’s no question at times of my life, partially driven by how passionately I felt about this country, that I worked far too hard and things happened in my life that were not appropriate. And what I can tell you is that when I did things that were wrong, I wasn’t trapped in situation ethics, I was doing things that were wrong, and yet, I was doing them. I found that I felt compelled to seek God’s forgiveness. Not God’s understanding, but God’s forgiveness. I do believe in a forgiving God. And I think most people, deep down in their hearts hope there’s a forgiving God. Somebody once said that when we’re young, we seek justice, but as we get older, we seek mercy. There’s something to that, I think. I feel that I’m now 67 I’m a grandfather. I have two wonderful grandchildren. I have two wonderful daughters and two great sons in law. Callista and I have a great marriage. I think that I’ve learned an immense amount. And I do feel, in that sense, that God has given me, has blessed me with an opportunity as a person. Forget about all this political stuff. As a person, I’ve had the opportunity to have a wonderful life, to find myself now, truly enjoying the depths of my life in ways that I never dreamed it was possible to have a life that was that nice.”

I’m not going to get into a theological discussion about whether or not I believe in God. I do, however, believe in women. And, out of all the ladies I’ve met, I have never met a single one that would accept “I love America” as an excuse for me doing anything “inappropriate.” I don’t know. Maybe if I set off too many fireworks on the Fourth of July that reasoning would fly, but that’s about it.

Clearly I need to date more patriotic girls.

(h/t Outside the Beltway)

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  • Atticus Draco


    “Newt Gingrich Admits He Did ‘Things That Were Wrong,’ But Only Because He Really, Really Loves America”

    LMAO!
    that’s a funny headline!

  • skyfet

    Yeah Newt, Only because you love America:
    You act like a big baby, because you were left in the plane.
    You divorced your first wife while you she was in a hospital bed
    You banged your worker while hypocritically impeached Clinton for getting a BJ
    Make shit up as you go.

    That is the definition of loving America.

  • Atticus Draco

    Atticus Draco said:

    “Newt Gingrich Admits He Did ‘Things That Were Wrong,’ But Only Because He Really, Really Loves America”

    LMAO!
    that’s a funny headline!

    That pleases Gawd by the way
    Allah,, not so much

  • http://politicallyincorrectlibertarian.wordpress.com PoliticallyIncorrectLibertarian

    Show me a Democrat that ever admits being wrong or having done the wrong thing. Remember Bill Clinton? “I smoked but didn’t inhale.”?

    Michelle Obama’s Food Police.
    http://libertarians4freedom.blogspot.com/2011/03/michelle-obamas-food-police.html

  • Atticus Draco

    skyfet said:
    Yeah Newt, Only because you love America:
    You act like a big baby, because you were left in the plane.
    You divorced your first wife while you she was in a hospital bed
    You banged your worker while hypocritically impeached Clinton for getting a BJ
    Make shit up as you go.

    That is the definition of loving America.

    Well yeah,, that’s the American way isnt it?
    I MEAN FOR REAL?!?
    I MEAN,, If you aint screwing somebody,,,THAT AINT AMERICAN!!!!!

  • justanotherconservative

    but let’s defend billy’s blowjobs in the oval office. you lefties are too much.

  • Paul G

    You might be a smart guy Newt…..BUT GIVE IT A REST!

  • jooce81

    LOL!!!

  • Latin2

    Unlike Obama…who really, really HATES America.

  • BatBoy

    Newt…

    Stick to being a strategist…it is what you are good at.

    Please don’t run and muddy the waters!

  • BadGenome

    Charlie Sheen must REALLY love America.

  • wube

    PoliticallyIncorrectLibertarian said:
    Show me a Democrat that ever admits being wrong or having done the wrong thing. Remember Bill Clinton? “I smoked but didn’t inhale.”?rel=”nofollow”>http://libertarians4freedom.blogspot.com/2011/03/michelle-obamas-food-police.html

    Mr. Libertarian,it is not that democrats do not admit doing wrong. Of course they do. However, none of them say I f**d someone other than my wife because I love America. Does your Ayn Randite mind get it?

  • nutsofast

    wube said:
    Mr. Libertarian,it is not that democrats do not admit doing wrong. Of course they do. However, none of them say I f**d someone other than my wife because I love America. Does your Ayn Randite mind get it?

    Or lets spend millions of taxpayer dollars to shame someone doing what I’m doing

  • TeaPartyPatriot

    After Mr. ETHANOL gingrich counted the MILLIONS and MILLIONS of dollars he got from the ETHANOL LOBBY for supporting this waste of taxpayer money, he decided he has a shot at buying the election to become the “president of corn”.

    Americans, conservatives and Republicans: DO NOT ALLOW THE NO-CHARACTER, AMNESTY-JOHN mccain disaster to be repeated. You, and America, can do better — a LOT better — than Mr. ETHANOL (aka, “Monica-Stain-Bill Lite”).

    Replacing a president who’s is a PUPPET of the union bo$$e$ with one that’s a PUPPET of the ETHANIOL LOBBY really isn’t much of an improvement.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Dronetek-Bulk-Vanderhuge/100000918732763 Dronetek

    Why is it always Republicans and conservatives who have to admit what they did that was wrong? Why arent Democrats EVER held to this standard? Look at all the Bush policies Obama has continued. Where is the media to ask him and the Democrats to admit they were wrong? It doesn’t happen!

  • Color Me Badd

    Wow I wonder what kind of sick stuff is going on behind the scenes of a lot of teabaggers private lives, given they love America as much as Newt. I knew you were a bunch of sickee perverts. Gross!

  • nutsofast

    Color Me Badd said:
    Wow I wonder what kind of sick stuff is going on behind the scenes of a lot of teabaggers private lives, given they love America as much as Newt. I knew you were a bunch of sickee perverts. Gross!

    giggle

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Jenny-Jay/722424106 Jenny Jay

    You’re right, Newt. Nothing says “I LOVE MY COUNTRY” like divorcing your first wife for your mistress and then divorce your mistress for your second mistress!

  • Yoda002

    BatBoy said:
    Newt…

    Stick to being a strategist…it is what you are good at.

    Please don’t run and muddy the waters!

    He is not even good at that.

  • Mexican2

    Latin2 said:
    Unlike Obama…who really, really HATES America.

    Or you who hates anyone brown.

  • Tricky

    So if I understand this correctly, the more passion he feels for this country, the more apt he is to do something that he will have to seek forgiveness for later? Okay, well that settles that. You got my vote Newt.

  • Yoda002

    Dronetek said:
    Why is it always Republicans and conservatives who have to admit what they did that was wrong? Why arent Democrats EVER held to this standard? Look at all the Bush policies Obama has continued. Where is the media to ask him and the Democrats to admit they were wrong? It doesn’t happen!

    Republicans like preaching family values but as it turns out they’re not very good at upholding those values.

  • cjd ohio 1

    sorry newt, but not a big fan of you,everyone sins but you have yet to come to grips with it

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Dronetek-Bulk-Vanderhuge/100000918732763 Dronetek

    Yoda002 said:
    Republicans like preaching family values but as it turns out they’re not very good at upholding those values.

    Yeeeeah, because liberals and Democrats don’t preach!

  • wube

    Dronetek said:
    Yeeeeah, because liberals and Democrats don’t preach!

    Yeah, liberals and Democrats don’t preach; they just practice it in their private life, and they go on other real issues, ….no big deal. They don’t preach “family values” as a political weapon, only to fail in practicing it by themselves, as do those big mouthed republican cheaters–Ensign, Ginch, ….oh the list is so, so, so, long!

  • jjay7381

    Dronetek said:
    Yeeeeah, because liberals and Democrats don’t preach!

    I don’t think I’ve ever heard a dem on the national stage blame their cheating ways on their love of country…

  • The_Reasonable_Lib

    jjay7381 said:
    I don’t think I’ve ever heard a dem on the national stage blame their cheating ways on their love of country…

    Probably because it’s a fucking stupid ass lie. Loving America doesn’t make you cheat on your wife.

  • Kat

    jjay7381 said:
    I don’t think I’ve ever heard a dem on the national stage blame their cheating ways on their love of country…

    Exactly. Talk about your lame excuses. According to Newt, Clinton must have surpassed everyone in love of this country, as he did his in the Oval Office. LOL

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Joseph-Glackin/100000892011713 Joseph Glackin

    All right, already! The Newt hath sinned, and repented. Except I missed the penance. AS he thinks of himself in grand dimensions, he should do his penance in a grand manner. Retirement to a Trappist Monastery would be in the grand tradition of royal sinners.
    It would also give us the side benefit of that vow of silence the Trappists take.
    Silence, from Newt, would truly be heavenly.

  • same2u

    Conservaties use either their love for Jesus or their love for America as an excuse for behaving like assholes. Tell the to FO!

  • Nachi

    Ahh yes, Newt. Another nifty Godster, using religion & patriotism to mask massive personal failures. Folowing in the “Footsteps Of The Master,” are you, Newt? A valuable crutch for the hatred you forever foment & spred? A Neo-Fascist disguised as a Christian Republican. It’s worked for decades. Putting a tourniquet on a marshmallow. Little Lord Insideous. But hey – all listen to Newt! Turn off your brains, enter into the destruction of thought & reason that Newt’s brand of religion wreaks upon this nation. Enjoy the mangled misinterpretation of The Bible as it is used for a breeding ground for pestilence & hatred. Join the uneducated, terrified, right-wing Bible Set, as it is shackled to that mammoth cruise ship of…ignorance. Refusing to let (you) evolve. Reason w the juicy beliefs of the Evangelical Set, & observe the Demonic Forces that are all around you. Be one of the people who live in order to be told what to do – and what not to do. Realize that religion is the only thing that keeps the poor from killing the rich. It’s not your flimsy morals, Newt – it’s your…mind. You & yours need to spend more time w Joseph Smith. But where is Jesus’ birth certificate?? ummm.

  • Stratdude

    Another example of how rich right-wing white dudes who populate the fox sewer and haven’t done an honest day’s work in their lives mock the very rubes that listen to them and vote for them.

  • BruinAlum77

    Come on people, it’s easy to squash a Newt. But look at the wisdom of his other words:

    “I found that I felt compelled to seek God’s forgiveness. Not God’s understanding, but God’s forgiveness. [Hell, I need it] I do believe in a forgiving God. And I think most people, deep down in their hearts hope there’s a forgiving God. [At least everyone on the Beltway, considering the skeletons they've got in their closets]”

    Shouldn’t we follow that example? (Not Newt, the part about God being forgiving)? Can’t we stop all the hate talk that rolls off people tongues so readily? [-------irony alert----------]

    Instead of “lunatic liberal socialist anti-Americans” or “libtard commie jihadists” or “left wing progo terrorist appeasers” can’t we just use the simple descriptors like “anti-Americans,” “jihadists,” or “terrorist appeasers”

    And instead of “knuckle dragging right wing extremists,” “reactionary corporate lapdog traitors,” or “evangelical neocon facsists”, how about getting rid of those hurtful expressions of political affiliation and just say “extremists,” “traitors,” and “facsists”? [------- this concludes our test----------]

    Seriously, shouldn’t we all embrace the quote “when we’re young, we seek justice, but as we get older, we seek mercy”? It sounds like almost every poster here is far removed from being young. And seeking mercy really goes both ways – it’s kind of tough to ask for God’s (or the majority party’s) mercy when we attack without pause, regardless of the insignificance of the perceived wrong.

  • sarakillselmo

    Newt Gingrich Admits He Did ‘Things That Were Wrong’ Because He Loves America

    TeeHeeHee
    TeeHeeHee
    TeeHeeHee
    TeeHeeHee
    TeeHeeHee
    TeeHeeHee
    TeeHeeHee
    TeeHeeHee

  • THE REAL ROYAL KING

    Chris Christie gained 385 pounds because he loves America.

    Rush Limbaugh got a boil on his derriere because he loves America.

    David Vitter sits in poo-filled diapers in New Orleans and Washington because he loves America.

    Newt Gingrich was a dead beat dad because he loves America.

    Sarah Palin is a self-absorbed twit because she loves America.

    Gle(n)n O’Beckerhead is an anti-Semite because he loves America.

    Mark Sanford deserted his wife and children because he loves America.

    Rudy! is a philanderer because he loves America.

    Larry Craig has a wide stance because he loves America.

    We’d be better off if Republicans loved America less.

  • THE REAL ROYAL KING

    same2u said:
    Conservaties use either their love for Jesus or their love for America as an excuse for behaving like assholes. Tell the to FO!

    Yes, but it seems to me the love Jesus most when they are doing something really mean and nasty.

  • hgarner2000

    The Kingdom of God and the United States have very different criteria for their citizens. In the past, one might have thought that a known, past adulterer would be an inappropriate candidate for President. However, thanks to the trail blazing of President Clinton…

  • THE REAL ROYAL KING

    Actually, we have had a number of adulters as president, from the inception of the office, through Eisenhower, Kennedy, Clinton, Poppy. Nixon might well have been adulterer, he was amoral enough. He was also asexual, however. To my knowledge, Raygun’s been the only divorcee, and Newt is twice that.

  • WillP

    Please win the Republican nomination. An adulterous man who has had three marriages is a joke as a presidential candidate.

  • WillP

    hgarner2000 said:
    The Kingdom of God and the United States have very different criteria for their citizens. In the past, one might have thought that a known, past adulterer would be an inappropriate candidate for President. However, thanks to the trail blazing of President Clinton…

    If political candidates truly believed in God they would not say or do half of what they say or do. God is a whipping post against which they whip around a whole lot of nonsense seeking to manipulate voters.

  • X-3

    OK, I’ll be up front and tell you I don’t think Mr. Gingrich should be the president because he’s got some baggage. The standards I demand of a president are higher than most. e.g. I don’t think I could vote for a man or woman who’d admitted they’d used cocaine. But make NO mistake about it, Newt Gingrich is a superbly brilliant man. If it were not for his previous dalliances, I would support him in a heartbeat, but as it is, his history would only serve as a distraction to his presidency. That’s tough, but that’s the way it is; Democrats get a pass on every bit of malfeasance and moral decay in which they may be involved but Republicans don’t. In the final analysis, which is the better party?

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Joseph-Glackin/100000892011713 Joseph Glackin

    X-3 Little bit of amnesia, eh?
    Sen. “Poopy-Pants” Vitter got reelected after buying whores in DC and NOLA..
    Sen. “Shag your staffer’s wife” Ensign has finally decided not to run for re-election, in hopes of avoiding felony bribery charges for him and his parents.
    Gov. “Client # 9″ Spitzer resigned his position in disgrace.
    YOUR question, sir. Which party got the pass?

  • X-3

    Joseph Glackin said:
    Which party got the pass?

    Barney Frank running a homosexual house of prostitution from his apartment. Ted Kennedy with a history of perverse behavior, Patrick Kennedy with a drug problem for years, William Jefferson caught with $90K in bribe money in his freezer, Chris Dodd cutting sweetheart realestate deals with Countrywide, Harry Reid cutting realestate deals in Nevada, Clinton–what can I say?, Ben Nelson selling out his vote for a sweetheart deal in Nebraska, Marie Moreal doing the same thing in Louisiana, Bill Nelson of Florida promoting $2 billion earmarks for a turtle tunnel construction job through a company in which he’s a partner. Want me to go on?

    Of course you don’t.

    What I’m saying here is that Repbublicans do not get a pass and Democrats do. Oh, and by the way, Ensign is not running again.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Joseph-Glackin/100000892011713 Joseph Glackin

    X-3 said:

    What I’m saying here is that Repbublicans do not get a pass and Democrats do. Oh, and by the way, Ensign is not running again.

    I wiped all your petty complaints. Retype them if you want to inflict them on the public again. Don’t tell me Vitter didn’t get a pass. If he’d been a (D), your gang would’ve shown off the diaper and demanded DNA tests on the crap.
    Deals? The “king of pork” is now in charge of cutting pork. The Speaker used to hand out checks on the House floor. Yeah, Ensign isn’t running–except away from charges he put his mistress on the payroll, gave her son a job with the RNC, and found her cuckolded husband a job as a lobbyist, in direct violation of the law. And, beside that, his mommy and Daddy tried to bail him out by giving the mistress and the cuckold $96K to STFU. For Ensign, daddy’s still bailing him out.

  • X-3

    Joseph Glackin said:
    X-3 Little bit of amnesia, eh?Sen. “Poopy-Pants” Vitter got reelected after buying whores in DC and NOLA..Sen. “Shag your staffer’s wife” Ensign has finally decided not to run for re-election, in hopes of avoiding felony bribery charges for him and his parents.Gov. “Client # 9″ Spitzer resigned his position in disgrace.YOUR question, sir. Which party got the pass?

    The ones who have committed egregious offenses over decades and have remained in office–the overwhelming majority of whom are Democrats. I neglected to mention Sharpton, McKinney, Rangel, and several others earlier.

    WHAT IS CRUCIAL FOR YOU TO UNDERSTAND IS: I am just as eager to turn out Republicans who have demonstrated errant behavior as I am to turn out Democrats. The real point is WE THE PEOPLE deserve better representation than we’ve been getting, and when we give a pass (that would be our vote and other forms of support) to ANY of these crooks and miscreants, we insult not only ourselves but those representatives who have demonstrated exemplary behavior. Certainly you must agree that ANY errant behavior must not be tolerated, regardless of from whom it may emanate.

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