The Republican National Committee recently conducted an?online straw poll?identifying 32 candidates who could get its nomination in the 2016 presidential race. Each of the 32 has quite a questionable history, though, that contrasts with the GOP’s consistent claim of it being the ?moral? option for voters.
Philander, racism, thievery, bribery, and combinations of these and other?sins?are?found across the slate, in fact.?In this series on the 32 potential candidates (updated every other day), Liberal America will offer a quick rundown on the hypocrisy clouding each one’s ?holier than thou? claims.
Newt Gingrich
Former U.S. Representative from Georgia and 2012 Presidential Candidate
The list of Newt Gingrich’s scandals and ethics violations is long. Standing out most, though, is his?accusations against other congressmen of unethical practices right before he was?fined by the House Ethics Committee for his ethics violations in January 1997. Gingrich’s mistakes? Laundering campaign donations through charitable organizations, use of his office’s funds to cover promotion of his book, and even lying to that same committee, which cost him $300,000 in fines. This was the first and only time a House Speaker was convicted of ethics violations.
His behavior in the U.S. House of Representatives was so low and unprofessional, complete with juvenile addresses, that some congressmen (including other Republicans) called for particular speeches he made to be stricken from the record. For example, he formally stated that his Democratic counterparts plotted for ?the murder of women and children.?
While Speaker of the House, Gingrich arranged two government shutdowns. His second from November 1996 remains historic for two reasons: 1) its 22-day length is the longest of all shutdowns in U.S. history, and 2) Gingrich is reputed to have arranged it only as personal revenge after he thought President Clinton disrespected him aboard Air Force One. (Gingrich complained to Christian Science Monitor that he had to exit the plane from a different door than the president used.)
Gingrich led the fight to impeach Bill Clinton for the Monica Lewinsky affair, but only for political gain, the public later learned. When the impeachment plot didn’t work out as planned, Gingrich was left on the ropes by his House Republican counterparts. Gingrich had pushed the Lewinsky scandal on them, they said, claiming it would get their party to gain as many as 30 seats in the House; instead, the GOP lost two in that 1998 election year. Shortly after the election, Gingrich was forced to step down as Speaker, which he did after calling his party counterparts ?cannibals.?
The impeachment scandal also revealed hypocrisy; Gingrich himself was caught cheating on his second wife at the same time. Newt is well-known for messing around, though. An affair led to his first divorce, for which did Gingrich infamously bring divorce papers to Wife #1 while she was lying in a hospital bed immediately after surgery. Wife #2 told press two years ago that Gingrich had asked for her an ?open marriage? in which could he sleep with whomever he wanted. He’s now married to the woman with whom he cheated on his second wife, which could give Wife #3 quite a title if Gingrich were to actually win a presidential election: she’d become the first third-lady First Lady.
He’d have to overcome the negative name he earned in his last bid for the White House, too. While making campaign promises that he would bring new jobs to the country, Gingrich was called out for paying a foreign company to produce his campaign t-shirts. Federal investigation of a link between Chinese organized crime and his chief campaign donor, casino mogul Sheldon Adelson, began during the ?12 campaign, as well. His Twitter-fan stunt that year ? using 1.1 million fake accounts to create appearance of sizable following ? didn’t leave a great impression, either.
Visit Liberal America for future updates on?the other?GOP 2016 hopefuls.
What’s your take on these?hypocritical Republicans? State your case on?Liberal America’s Facebook?page.
See previous posts on GOP 2016 hopefuls:
Kelly Ayotte??|?Haley Barbour?|??John Bolton?| ?Jeb Bush?|?Hermain Cain? |?Ben Carson?|??Chris Christie??| ?Ted Cruz??| Mitch Daniels??|
