Sean Hannity was so eager to defend his pal Newt Gingrich on last night’s Hannity, you’d think Gingrich was in trouble for saying something racist rather than because his ex-wife dropped a bombshell on ABC News - that Gingrich had wanted an “open marriage” while he was married to her and having an affair with the woman who is his current wife.
Hannity began by openly admitting to doing Gingrich’s bidding. “(Gingrich) asked voters to turn to people who know him best to discuss his character. And now I am joined by two of those people.”
What Hannity didn’t mention? Those daughters are from Gingrich’s first marriage. The ABC News, "open marriage" wife is the second wife – the one he began dating while still married to Wife #1. So it’s not all that surprising that the daughters would be standing up for their father – even though neither of them would seem to have been there with Wife #2 when he supposedly said he wanted that open marriage.
The segment was more like a pep rally than an interview. Hannity began by noting Gingrich’s standing ovation during the debate earlier that night. “This was an extended standing ovation excoriating the media for their tawdry – you know, desire to go after this… and to do this on the eve of this debate.”
As if Hannity and everyone on Fox News would not be talking about it 24/7 had it been a Democratic candidate for president.
Jackie Gingrich Cushman said, “We all know that terrible things happen in terms of divorce. Divorce is very painful always, for everybody. He tried very hard in that marriage.” She went on to say that Gingrich is running on his professional record, not his personal record.
The problem with that stance is that Gingrich’s “professional record” includes attacking Bill Clinton over his conduct in the Monica Lewinsky affair and Democrats for their lack of family values – while he was conducting his own affair.
Not that you’d ever know that from watching the Hannity show. Hannity immediately brought up how Gingrich “wrote a book about God in America, he’s done a DVD on the Pope, he’s talked a lot about his (newly acquired) religious faith.” Hannity went on to play a clip of Gingrich talking about how he’s changed. “I’ve asked him also on radio. He says he’s 68, he’s more mature, he’s found his faith, he’s a very different person than he was 14 years ago. You guys are his daughters. Did you see the change in him?”
You can probably guess what they answered.