Glass House Resident of the Day

In a recent interview, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich admitted to having an extramarital affair during the time period when he was leading the impeachment battle against President Bill Clinton regarding Clinton's affair with Monica Lewinsky. However, Gingrich argued he should not be viewed as a hypocrite for his actions towards President Clinton because "the President of the United States got in trouble for committing a felony in front of a sitting federal judge".

How convenient for Gingrich to view things this way! With that being said, let's break the situation down. First and foremost, President Clinton has been married to the same woman for 32 years. On the other hand, Gingrich, who is 63 years old, has only been married to his current wife Callista for 6 years. Why only 6 years? After being married to his second wife for 18 years, Gingrich had an extramarital affair with Callista, a then-33 year old member of his Congressional staff. By the way, Gingrich's second wife Marianne is a product of an extramarital affair after he was married to his first wife Jackie for 18 years. Don't worry, it get's better! Marianne has stated that Gingrich informed her of his desire to end their marriage over the telephone. In May 1999, she was visiting her mother on her 84th birthday and, after wishing happy birthday to his mother-in-law, Gingrich communicated his intentions to get a divorce. This telephone call was made eight months after Marianne had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Want more? When he was 19 years old, Gingrich married his first wife Jackie, his former high school geometry teacher. Although you might think that this scenario would be the perfect recipe for "happily ever after", Gingrich served divorce papers to Jackie in 1980 while she was in the hospital recuperating from ovarian cancer surgery. Still not enough? Since Gingrich did not pay alimony or child support, Jackie and her two children depended on donations from her church. After taking all of this into account, I can definitely see why (1) Gingrich is not a hypocrite and (2) the citizens of the United States would be fortunate to have him as President.