Callista Gingrich’s Guide To Staying On Top Of Newt Gingrich

Newt’s marital high jinx have long fascinated us.  Not the divorces as divorces, marriage is complicated, divorce is common.  Common as well is the way in which Newt went about those divorces via consistent and sneaky infidelity.  His  M.O., though, is uncommon in another way.  He’s uncommonly cruel.  The evidence is strong that he presented his first wife, Jackie Battely, with divorce demands at her hospital bedside almost immediately after her uterine cancer surgery.  His second wife, Marianne Ginther, was put on divorce notice eight months after she revealed she may have a condition that might lead to multiple sclerosis.

Enter Callista Bisek, now the reigning Mrs. Gingrich.  She must have worries.  Like Catherine of Aragon, Henry VIII’s first wife had worries.  At least Gingo doesn’t have the power to execute at a whim or he’d likely be into double figures in the spouse department.

On last night’s Hardball with Chris Matthews show Callista’s name came up, and a short but very interesting discussion emerged about her very hands on role in Gingo’s campaign . . .

Initially, Chris discussed Newt Gingrich and his rise in the polls. How did that happen? Did Gingo plan, as Nixon did, to make his run at exactly the right moment, or was he just the “last man standing”? Well, I say, who knows and who cares.

Somehow or other the conversation with Politico’s Mike Allen got to Callista Gingrich and her allegedly overly influential role in Gingo’s campaign.  Mr. Allen has credibility here: he wrote (with Evan Thomas) an e-book about the early days of the 2012 GOP presidential race, Playbook 2012: The Right Fights Back. 

Here’s the Callista exchange. Have a read. We’ll talk afterward.

Politico’s Mike Allen:  “As you know Chris, one of the reasons that all of those aides left was that they didn’t like working under the thumb of Callista Gingrich. She wouldn’t let him stay overnight in Iowa. Chris, she wouldn’t let him stay on the road for a couple of nights, when you know that’s how you run for President. So they left largely because of that, and what did he do? He empowered her. Callista Gingrich is now much bigger in the campaign. In an interview, Newt Gingrich told us that she is involved in every key email chain from the campaign. Now, Chris, you worked in politics. can you imagine having the candidate’s spouse on every email?”

Chris Matthews: “No, I can’t.”  [Classic Chris, he then quickly moves to the next topic]

There Is Method To Her Sanity

“She wouldn’t let him stay overnight in Iowa. Chris, she wouldn’t let him stay on the road for a couple of nights . . .”

That lack of supervision, Mr. Allen, is precisely how Newt gets into trouble, with his politics, with his wives.

Callista understands this quite well. She was closely, shall we say, “aligned” with Ginggroin from the mid-1990s, through still-married Gingo’s beyond hypocritical impeachment crusade against Bill Clinton, and then, likely exhausted, she emerged in 2000 as the (dubious) “prize winner” following Gingo’s second divorce.

Moreover, she also knows all about the first divorce.

From these other unlucky Mrs. G’s, Callista has surely learned at least three history lessons about how to protect her status as “Mrs. Gingrich”:

1. Do not get sick!

In 1981, Newt told his first wife, Jackie Battley, that he was dumping her, after she had been hospitalized with cancer. ” Originally, “Newt’s A Beaut,” by Mickey Porter, 07/25/2000 [URL unavailable], on AkronBeaconJournal.com, referred to at Conservative New Jersey, Keep Your Mouth Shut Newt.

2. Do not talk about getting sick! Never reveal that you may have a possible progressive health condition, like Multiple Sclerosis, or other serious medical challenges.

“Wife number two,  Marianne Ginther Gingrich reported that Gingo ditched her eight months after finding out she had multiple sclerosis, saying the ex-speaker of the House told her on Mother’s Day 1999 that he wanted a divorce, after learning she had a neurological condition that could lead to MS.

3. Never, ever, allow Newt

(A) To stay overnight in Iowa,

(B) to stay on the road for a couple of nights, or

(C) to spend any time in any place for any purpose without direct spousal supervision.

With that in mind, I think it quite easy to understand Callistas’s closeness to the campaign and to the campaigner. She’s protecting herself. Like the third Mrs. Henry VIII. But for its propinquity to Newt Gingrich, hers is not a bad life, and she’s got a book on the New York Times bestseller list too!

But, recall, Henry had six wives. Be vigilant, Callista!

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