In the wake of Newt Gingrich’s campaign implosion, some GOP insiders are blaming his wife, Callista Gingrich, for the meltdown. They claim she was too controlling and dictated his schedule.
Strange that these unnamed critics don’t point out Gingrich’s emphasis on turning this campaign, much like his past pursuits as leader of an “ideas” organization, into a money-making machine. Reportedly, the former House speaker wanted to time his campaign appearances around events where he would sell his books or promote his documentary films.
According to MSNBC, Gingrich’s pre-campaign political group was infamous for haphazardly handing out awards – top 10 entrepreneurs of the year, top medical doctors of the year – but there was a catch. The winner was to be honored at a banquet/fundraiser for his organization and the recipient was required to pay $5,000 to attend.
This phony attempt at honoring special Americans reached absurd levels when one of the businesses arbitrarily selected for honors was a Nevada whorehouse.
At The Daily Beast, Matt Latimer writes that Callista Gingrich is nothing more than a political scapegoat (perhaps with Newt’s blessing, given the way he treated his past wives).
Here’s what Latimer had to say:
“So Callista Gingrich forced Newt’s campaign implosion by dragging him on an Aegean cruise? Hardly — she’s just joined Marsha Barbour and Cheri Daniels as the latest victim of the GOP’s ugly new fad: Blame the wife.
“The … latest ugly fad in GOP circles is to blame everything on the Mrs. “The problem was the wife,” is the headline of a gossipy piece by Fred Barnes on Newt Gingrich’s political collapse. No one in the article is courageous enough to say this on the record, by the way, but we all know — wink, wink — what’s really going on.
“The former speaker of the United States House of Representatives, college professor, nemesis of presidents, author of umpteen books, relentless Amazon book reviewer, outspoken commentator on Fox News and every Sunday show in America, is unable to walk from here to there without Callista holding his hand while tripping the blind and stealing money from church collection plates to fund her countless Tiffany rings and Greek cruises.
“It was Callista, officer, who forced her husband to make his inelegant comments on Medicare that infuriated the conservative base. It was Callista who used witchcraft or voodoo to make it impossible for well-paid, experienced campaign aides — all of them adults — to earn the trust and respect of a veteran political operator. It was Callista who was behind Newt’s embarrassing glitter-bombing by a gay activist. And it was Callista who placed a gag and handcuffs on her husband and forced him to take a vacation away from the oppressive Washington heat.
“Well I, for one, am not buying it. And I have to say I’m a little ticked off that Newt Gingrich’s campaign collapse is suddenly all Callista’s fault.”
