At Thursday night’s CNN GOP debate in South Carolina, Newt Gingrich managed to blame everyone — except Newt Gingrich — for the story that America was engrossed with today, that his second wife, Marianne, told ABC News that when they were married, Newt Gingrich asked her for an “open marriage,” because he was having an affair with the woman, Callista, who ultimately became his third wife.
READ: Tonight’s GOP Debate Proudly Sponsored By… Are You Kidding Me?
Mediaite reports:
Republican hopeful Newt Gingrich excoriated CNN’s John King at Thursday’s South Carolina debate for asking if the former Speaker of the House wanted to respond to the allegations by Gingrich’s ex-wife that he had asked her for an “open marriage.â€
“No, but I will,†a visibly angered Gingrich fumed. “I think the destructive vicious negative nature of much of the news media makes it harder to govern this country, harder to attract decent people to run for public office. I’m appalled you would begin a presidential debate on a topic like that.â€
“Is that all you want to say, sir?†King responded.
“Let me finish,†Gingrich replied. “Every person in here knows personal pain. Every person in here has had someone close to them go through painful things. To take an ex-wife and make it two days before the primary, a significant question in a presidential campaign, is as close to despicable as anything i can imagine. My two daughters, my two daughters wrote the head of ABC and made the point that it was wrong, that they should pull it, and I am, frankly, astounded that CNN would take trash like that and use it to open a presidential debate.â€
“I so deeply distrust the Congressional staff,” Gingrich also said at Thursday night’s debate, perhaps forgetting that Callista Bisek, now Mrs. Newt Gingrich, was in fact a Congressional staffer when he began his extra-marital affair with her.
http://videos.mediaite.com/embed/player/?content=JSXWPL2VKP3F0J41&content_type=content_item&layout=&playlist_cid=&media_type=video&widget_type_cid=svp&read_more=1