EASTON, Md., January 19, 2012 — No sooner than Newt Gingrich steps off the debate stage tonight in South Carolina, his former wife will step before the TV cameras on Nightline, swearing she will give us the low down on the man himself. It doesn’t promise to be pretty. Stories from ex-spouses never are.
So if you love juicy tidbits about the candidates or revel in tabloid tales of the rich and famous, then you are like a lot of Americans and you will probably still be in front of the TV at 11:35 pm, watching ABC reporter Brian Ross’ interview with Marianne Gingrich, wife number two. Will it be the bombshell that could derail Newt’s presidential ambition?
The interview will undoubtedly contain much of the same history of Newt, including his personal failings, personal peccadilloes, and serial infidelities that she revealed in her August 10, 2010 interview with Esquire magazine. Most people already are aware that Gingrich proposed to Marianne before finalizing his divorce from his first wife and former high school geometry teacher, Jackie, in 1981.
They also probably know their marriage ended in divorce 18 years later in 2000 after Gingrich had already started a relationship with Callista Bisek, who became his third wife. And they now know he was involved with Callista, all the while pillorying President Clinton for his entanglement with Monica Lewinsky.
However, the Drudge Report which first broke the story says: “Marianne Gingrich has said she could end her ex-husband’s career with a single interview…and her explosive revelations are set to rock the [campaign] trail.”
Marianne and Newt in happier times? Photo: AP
Will this be the bombshell that ends Newt’s campaign just as his poll numbers soar in the Palmetto State, two days away from the South Carolina primary?
Damage control is already underway with Gingrich telling NBC’s Today Show that ABC News’ decision to run an interview with one of his ex-wives would be “wrong,” blaming the “liberal media” for trying to move voters off the failures of President Obama and his administration. His daughters have just released a letter to ABC as well as a press release saying:
“The failure of a marriage is a terrible and emotional experience for everyone involved. Anyone who has had that experience understands it is a personal tragedy filled with regrets, and sometimes-differing memories of events.
“We will not say anything negative about our father’s ex-wife. He has said before, privately and publicly, that he regrets any pain he may have caused in the past to people he loves.
“ABC News or other campaigns may want to talk about the past, just days before an important primary election. But Newt is going to talk to the people of South Carolina about the future- about job creation, lower taxes, and about who can defeat Barack Obama by providing the sharpest contrast to his damaging, extreme liberalism. We are confident this is the conversation the people of South Carolina are interested in having.
“Our father is running for President because of his grandchildren — so they can inherit the America he loves. To do that, President Obama must be defeated. And as the only candidate in the race, including Obama, who has actually helped balance the national budget, create jobs, reform welfare, and cut taxes and spending, Newt felt compelled to run — to serve his country and safeguard his grandchildren’s future.”
So is Marianne Gingrich a WMD, a Wife of Mass Destruction? We will know tonight. Don’t touch that dial.
To contact Catherine Poe, see above. Her work appears in Ad Lib in the Communities at the Washington Times. She can also be heard on the Democrats for America’s Future. She is also a contributor to broadcast, print and online media.
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