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People and Politics by Patrick Roberts

Will Newt Gingrich be the next Irish Catholic president?---New Republican frontrunner heads Romney, Obama in poll match ups

Posted on Thursday, December 01, 2011 at 04:47 PM

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Newt Gingrich

Newt Gingrich has Irish roots and has visited the ancestral land looking for his Daugherty roots.

Now that he is suddenly the front runner for the Republican nomination, Gingrich will come under fierce scrutiny, but his Irish roots will surely be an advantage.

A Rasmussen Poll on Thursday had Gingrich easily leading Mitt Romney nationwide. It also showed he would beat President Obama in a match-up.

The fact that he is a converted Catholic would make him the second Irish Catholic in the White House , the other being JFK of course, if he won.

In 1998 Gingrich undertook a four day visit to Ireland North and South and visited the Inishowen section of Donegal where the Daugherty's came from. The name has various spellings there and is most commonly spelt as Doherty.
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The name means 'The destroyer' a description that might prove all to apt for Mitt Romney and the other Republicans who are suddenly finding themselves in his slipstream.

Gingrich reveled in the name when he on his Irish visit.

"I've got Scottish MacPherson's in the family tree and they were the last of the Highland clans to concede to the English" said at the time. "my rebelliousness has deep roots."

As Speaker Gingrich always stressed his Irish roots and was an ever present at the St.Patrick's Day celebrations as well as hosting a speaker's lunch for the Irish Prime Minister at the time.

The Daughertys came to America from Donegal and settled in Pennsylvania.

Gingrich was born Lutheran, became a Southern Baptist but has recently converted to Catholicism because of the influence of his wife Callista who is active in her church choir in Washington DC.

He is also a huge fan of Pope Benedict.

"The moment that finally convinced me [to convert] was when Benedict XVI came here [to the United States] and Callista in the church choir sang for him at the vespers service and all the bishops in the country were there. As a spouse, I got to sit in the upper church and I very briefly saw [Benedict] and I was just struck with how happy he was and how fundamentally different he was from the news media's portrait of him. This guy's not a Rottweiler. He's a very loving, engaged, happy person." he told US News and World report

Like Obama, Gingrich came from very poor beginnings. His mother was just 16 and his father 19 and they broke up soon after he was born.

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AlunPalmer | Dec 02, 2011, 06:54 PM EST

Gingrich would be my last choice for president. However, Rasmussen polls are an outlier on the right. There are 7 or 8 other polls that predict O'Bama would trounce him, and none that agree with Rasmussen. As for the nomination, he may be ahead now, but I doubt he will stay that way once all his dirty laundry is fully aired.

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adrienrain | Dec 02, 2011, 06:24 PM EST

If he can't be president, let's have him sainted - the patron saint of hypocrisy, adultery, and hatred for the poor (especially children). We could rewrite the beatitudes to reflect his inhuman attitudes. Jesus has been put to uses just as silly of late. Imagine him calling for the reestablishment of child labor, and refusing to heal those unable to afford insurance.

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seanomelbourne | Dec 02, 2011, 04:46 PM EST

rasmussen will always slant their questions to get the conservative result they want.Gingrich the christian who served divorce papers on his dying wife,a serial husband annointed by the christian right what hypocrisy.

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mcbreen | Dec 02, 2011, 03:52 PM EST

Now GINGERICH is Irish? You guys have now lost any credibility.

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awoken32 | Dec 02, 2011, 01:47 PM EST

This man is the perfect candidate for the zionist elites,he is so corrupted its unbeleivable he is in the lead,the whole thing is rigged and has always been rigged,the only true candidate that speaks for the peole is RON PAUL,an like usual the good guy gets demonised by the corrupet media presstitutes,GINGRICH IS EVIL PERSONIFIED AN THE PERFECT PRESIDENT FOR THE PUPPETMASTERS AN NOT THE PEOPLE, RON PAUL THE ONLY MAN FOR THE PEOPLE

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JBRAFTREE | Dec 02, 2011, 01:33 PM EST

I'm glad to see there is a front-runner on the Rebublican side. He couldn't be worse than the guy that's in there now.

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NoelleP | Dec 02, 2011, 01:07 PM EST

The reason that it bothers me a lot that the GOP will more than likely nominate him as Presidential candidate is because, NEWT GINGRICH is the founder of and affiliated with an organization that supports putting drugs in public water supplies, which would, in effect, enable our governments to control their respective citizens, while telling said citizens that "It's good for you." Have you seen the movie, "Steppford Wives?" Didn't PG&E out in California tell the local residents that the hexavalent chromium PG&E allowed to pollute the local water supply was, "good for you?"

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tocon1941 | Dec 02, 2011, 01:06 PM EST

I have know a lot of Irishmen just like him. Full of himself and born with a flannel mouth. About 2:00 in the morning someone usually punches them in the head and the barman closes up.

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EphraimKibbey | Dec 02, 2011, 12:57 PM EST

I'm not so sure Newt has much staying power. The GOP electorate are very unforgiving once they see something that they dislike in a candidate. The Newtster is just as much a political wind vane as Mittens is. If you don't like what they are saying, just just wait a bit. One minute Newt is calling The Ryan budget "right wing social engineering" and the next minute he is Ryan's best supporter. When he can make a buck off Fannie Mae he is for it now he says they should all go to jail. Flip - Flop. Just because he has become a catholic in his SECOND religious conversion does not mean that he REALLY believes in its doctrines. When he became born again did he really believe or was it just a politically expedient move to make him more marketable? Remember why he was fined and removed as speaker. He spent money on himself that was to go to poor children. HE STOLE FROM THE POOR. If he is elected, I hope someone counts the White House silver before he leaves. Lets review - the GOP has run through Trump, Bachman, Perry, Cain, and Romney - they have Santorum, Huntsman and a bunch of politically less well known folks waiting for their 15 minutes on top. The right wing has plenty of fresh meat for its grinder, no reason to stick with Newt.

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Ratslayer | Dec 02, 2011, 12:48 PM EST

This evil, conservative, Fannie Mae-lobbying creep is a women-hating psycho -- but please dumbarse Repugs, pick this monster as ye nominee. Please!

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CitizenWhy | Dec 02, 2011, 12:40 PM EST

Oooh, he's likes sitting among the scarlet bishops. Reason enough to dismiss him.

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CitizenWhy | Dec 02, 2011, 12:39 PM EST

Will we really have to listen to this 100 words are better than 1 yapper?

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peterson | Dec 02, 2011, 12:05 PM EST

Any one of the possible ten candidates would make a major improvement over obumma. Gingrich and Romney would make a good team to clean up the mess that obumma and his henchmen have made. The GOP needs some house cleaning also.

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cillowen | Dec 02, 2011, 11:56 AM EST

no way jose - obama is a lot more irish than tubby know-it-all fatso. Romney acts like miss america as he shyly enters to debate.

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bcoc1124 | Dec 02, 2011, 11:51 AM EST

What a stellar example of an "Irish American Catholic" - liar, cheater, hypocrite, but he supports "the right to life"! Does this extend to gun control and the death penalty? I think not. Does this mean he is willing to "feed the hungry & clothe the naked"? No, it means he wants poor kids to clean toilets. Such a charitable man - oops, not! Never will I vote for this creep!

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