Rebutting the “Gingrich abandons cancer-stricken wife” canard

Why, oh, why, oh, why do we believe anything the media says about conservatives?  I wrote yesterday that Gingrich is a principled conservative with an unprincipled private life (thinking mostly about his abandoning his cancer-stricken wife), while Romney is an unprincipled conservative with a principled private life.

Not only does it turn out that Romney is an even less principled conservative than we thought, it also turns out that much of what you thought you knew about Gingrich’s private life is a lie.  His daughter is now setting the record straight:

For years, I have thought about trying to correct the untrue accounts of this hospital visit. After all, I was at the hospital with them, and saw and heard what happened. But I have always hesitated, as it was a private family matter and my mother is a very private person. In addition, for the four people involved, it was one of a million interactions and was not considered a defining event by any of us.

My mother and I have both recently run into quite a few people who hold an inaccurate understanding of this hospital visit. Many think my mother is dead.

So, to correct the record, here is what happened: My mother, Jackie Battley Gingrich, is very much alive, and often spends time with my family. I am lucky to have such a “Miracle Mom,” as I titled her in a column this week.

As for my parents’ divorce, I can remember when they told me.

It was the spring of 1980.

I was 13 years old, and we were about to leave Fairfax, Va., and drive to Carrollton, Ga., for the summer. My parents told my sister and me that they were getting a divorce as our family of four sat around the kitchen table of our ranch home.

Soon afterward, my mom, sister and I got into our light-blue Chevrolet Impala and drove back to Carrollton.

Later that summer, Mom went to Emory University Hospital in Atlanta for surgery to remove a tumor. While she was there, Dad took my sister and me to see her.

It is this visit that has turned into the infamous hospital visit about which many untruths have been told. I won’t repeat them. You can look them up online if you are interested in untruths. But here’s what happened:

My mother and father were already in the process of getting a divorce, which she requested.

Dad took my sister and me to the hospital to see our mother.

She had undergone surgery the day before to remove a tumor.

The tumor was benign.

Please read the rest here.  (Hat tip:  Earl Aagaard)

I am leaning more and more to Gingrich, the tortoise in this race, if for no other reason than the pleasure I would get seeing him eviscerate the “articulate” Obama during head-on debates.

Even if you’re not a Gingrich fan, I urge you to pass on this post (or the original Jackie Gingrich Cushman post), so that Newt can fight his political battle on true, not false, grounds.