Byron York via Instapundit: What Really Happened With The Gingrich Ethics Case?
“The Gingrich case was extraordinarily complex, intensely partisan, and driven in no small way by a personal vendetta on the part of one of Gingrich’s former political opponents. It received saturation coverage in the press; a database search of major media outlets revealed more than 10,000 references to Gingrich’s ethics problems during the six months leading to his reprimand. It ended with a special counsel hired by the House Ethics Committee holding Gingrich to an astonishingly strict standard of behavior, after which Gingrich in essence pled guilty to two minor offenses. Afterwards, the case was referred to the Internal Revenue Service, which conducted an exhaustive investigation into the matter. And then, after it was all over and Gingrich was out of office, the IRS concluded that Gingrich did nothing wrong. After all the struggle, Gingrich was exonerated.” - Posted at 11:30 pm by Glenn Reynolds
The idea that in the 1990's career politicians in Congress held their fellow career politician to "an astonishingly strict standard of behavior" is laughable - and as believable as the notion that Gingrich was hired by the chief lobbyist of Freddie Mac to consult on history.
There's not a citizen alive today who - if he was an adult during that era, as I was - doesn't know who and what Newt was all about and who he is today.
The man who GOP Congressmen as ideologically diverse as Santorum and Molinari call an erratic, undisciplined and awful leader back then is the same amoral egomaniac who recently trashed Paul Ryan and made a TV commercial with Pelosi.
Trying to re-cast him as a wronged saint who saved the GOP and conservatism is an exercise in mendacity.
All the Contract With America really did was provide a basis for local candidates in historically local races in a non-presidential to "nationalize" their campaigns.
It was dissatisfaction with Clinton's first 2 years - in which he governed well to the left of where he had campaigned - and anger over Hillarycare - that fueled the GOP take-over, and not Newt.
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