Fox News suspends Newt Gingrich while he sorts out presidential ambitions

On Tuesday night, those following Newt Gingrich’s dance toward a presidential race were confronted with two contradictory messages.

The Des Moines Register quoted Gingrich confidante Joe Gaylord as saying that the former U.S. House speaker would announce the formation of an exploratory committee on Thursday in Atlanta. Yet an urgent message from Rick Tyler, the Gingrich spokesman, arrived at 9 p.m., playing down the importance of Thursday’s joint press conference with Gov. Nathan Deal.

One wonders if the Tuesday night decision by Fox News to send letters to both Gingrich and Rick Santorum, suspending their work as contributors for the network, may have played a role as well. From the Los Angeles Times:

Dianne Brandi, the network’s executive vice president of legal and business affairs, said in an interview that the channel made the move because Gingrich aides told Fox News executives that the former House speaker is stepping up his exploration of a presidential bid.

While Gingrich is not expected to announce that he is forming a federal exploratory committee this week, he is expected to say in Georgia on Thursday that he is meeting with advisors to explore seeking the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, a Gingrich aide said….

Brandi said the network acted out of journalistic principle.

“We can’t have Speaker Gingrich on our payroll while he is in the midst of an exploratory committee to see if he’s going to run for office,” she said. “It’s a clear conflict.”

Fox News still has two other potential White House contenders on the payroll: former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.

“As soon as each of them shows some serious intention to form an exploratory committee, we would take the same action,” Brandi said. “Huckabee is on a book tour, so I think his present intention is to sell books.”

- By Jim Galloway, Political Insider

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282 comments Add your comment

Terd Fergesun

March 2nd, 2011
1:56 pm

Alabama Communist

March 2nd, 2011
1:52 pm
lol……Fox News trying to appear as a example of honestly……..That is like Bernie Maddoff blaming Wall Street as his mentors……….

Or like Obama claining he is not far left or not spreading the wealth or he is pro business or well, you get the picture. Then again, maybe not.

Politico Man

March 2nd, 2011
1:57 pm

Atlanta…Imagine if we could buy alcohol on Sunday

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TOM_UuQzc0

JB

March 2nd, 2011
1:57 pm

I love it when Libs talk about ant GOP possibles having the experience and knowledge to be President……As compared to Obama? What a laugh. Mr. 57 state, Marine Corpse himself. The guy is book smart, but common sense wise, he can’t get out of a shower of rain. He was very ill prepared to be President. Smooth talker is all he is….and pretty much lost.

Terd Fergesun

March 2nd, 2011
1:58 pm

commonsenseagitator -

And I bet you really thought the million man march was at least a million? Public educated in the city, right?

Good Grief

March 2nd, 2011
1:58 pm

I could see a ticket of Christie-Jindal doing decently well for the Republicans, but I have to give credit to some of the liberal pundits out there when they say that the Republicans keep running the same candidates time after time. Christie and Jindal are both relatively young, both have butted heads with the administration, and at least in the case of Jindal, you could argue that he gained some sympathy points in his battle with the admin during the oil spill.

Gary Lamb

March 2nd, 2011
1:58 pm

Newt is the man….Leave one wife for another and it cost him his job. That sounds just like what happened to @garylamb. Have faith Newt. Gary married the other woman and got a new job( Just like Newt). Everyone please come to C3 Church in Canton GA this weekend and Gary will share more of his story. Follow him online at @garylamb or @c3churchtv

Jim Pierce

March 2nd, 2011
1:59 pm

Exactly JB. lol Just saw his video on “57 states” lol

Jim Pierce

March 2nd, 2011
2:00 pm

Obama: “Let me be clear”

Wait: where’s my teleprompter? “

Good Grief

March 2nd, 2011
2:00 pm

southerngurl -
Herman Cain at least has private sector experience and I’ve never heard him once refer to his private sector time as being “behind enemy lines.” You know who did say working in the private sector was being behind enemy lines: Barack Obama.

Then again, Obama did once say that he saw dead people.

Terd Fergesun

March 2nd, 2011
2:00 pm

Not to mention JB that many of his”supporters voted based on his color and could not tell you a darn thing he stood for except “hope & change”. They got their change now where is the hope? Now most hope we change in 2012.

Ryder

March 2nd, 2011
2:01 pm

Jim, typical angry rightwinger. Sorry buddy, you could always ignore my comments. But it still stands. Newt see’s weakness in the current batch of Repub candidates. As many posters here have stated. Palin and Bachman are definitely not electable in a general election against the current Dem President.

And Newt, like before, won’t get very far. Them the facts, Jim. …and Obama has Newt beat on any “family values” stuff. Not sure why repubs want the Fed to have anything to do with defining our family values.

PS…if you need a politician to define YOUR family values, you have no family values to begin with.

BMDPD

March 2nd, 2011
2:01 pm

Ya’ll are delusional if you think any current Republican candidate can beat Obama. He will be our next president folks.

Greg

March 2nd, 2011
2:01 pm

If memory serves me right, we were in debt far before Obama took office. Someone look up Wes Clark and get him to run again. If you want to fix the debt of this country you must go to the Fair Tax and make all illegals pay there fair share of the tax.

Rupert loves a commie

March 2nd, 2011
2:03 pm

@Jim Pierce:
Get your head out of the dark Fox anal cavity.
Fox lies every time they falsely accuse democrats of being socialists and communists–especially since Fox is already in bed with the Chinese Communists. Literally, lol. Yep, the father of Rupert Murdoch’s wife, Deng Wendi, is a prominent member of the Chinese Communist party. Deng Wendi’s birth name was “Wenge”–literally meaning “Cultural Revolution”, in honor of the most devastating period in China’s Communist history.

And of course Fox News has a long history of propaganda joint ventures with state-run China Central Television and The People’s Daily (the mouthpiece of the Communist Party).

“In meeting with Murdoch, Liu, also member of the Political Bureau and of the Secretariat of CPC Central Committee, appreciated the active work Murdoch has done in advancing cooperation with China’s news media.” –The People’s Daily Online, Nov. 10, 2006

Everything Fox spews about socialists and communists in America is cynical hypocrisy, designed to play their rightwing base for cash money.

Terd Fergesun

March 2nd, 2011
2:03 pm

Newt is head and shoulders above every candiate on either side. The problem is, he carries baggage and is already been labeled long ago. The man is brilliant but, can he win? Without the Independents any party will lose. Cost us in 2008 and cost the dems in 2010. Something to think about.

Captain Midnight

March 2nd, 2011
2:03 pm

I’m with you Jim, I wouldn’t argue with Newt about the color of the sky.
Funny how liberals only have a problem with infidelity when it’s a Republican? Ya’ll excuse me while I enjoy a “cigar”.

Voice of Reason

March 2nd, 2011
2:03 pm

You are stupid. FOX >>> MSNBC

JB

March 2nd, 2011
2:05 pm

BMDPD…………If this guy is elected again, I’m cashing out my business, and the 130 employees I have left can join the 85 already laid off and hope for the best. I’m taxed and regulated to death now and I’ll just sit on the hill and watch Rome burn. This guy is the WORST thing to ever happen to this country.

Terd Fergesun

March 2nd, 2011
2:05 pm

Rupert, look up the word socialist, then compare to actual remarks made by dems and obama. FNC has and played the actual speeches by the afore mentioned. See Rupert, they provide proof where as you provide empty words. Big difference slapnut.

The Real Chef

March 2nd, 2011
2:05 pm

@ Southerngurl:

Ok….

Who is Herman Cain?

Jim Pierce

March 2nd, 2011
2:06 pm

Ryder: any lib like you spouting about ‘family values’ makes me laugh lol

gbal

March 2nd, 2011
2:06 pm

Enter your comments here

Harry Callahan

March 2nd, 2011
2:06 pm

Liberals are so funny. Two pages and counting of Fox News-bashing, yeet never a peep about CNN aka the “Clinton News Network”, CBS aka “Fake but accurate air guard documents”, or MSNBC aka “Rachel Maddow and Keith Olberman take calls on-air from Obama to get the spin right.”

LMAO

Voice of reason????

March 2nd, 2011
2:07 pm

Voice of reason, your comments retch of conflict. Your screen name is “Voice of Reason” yet your comments lack any sign of intelligent thought or reason. Hmmmmph!! Go figure.

Typical Lib

JB

March 2nd, 2011
2:07 pm

Rupert loves a commie………………And can you tell me MSNBC,NBC,CBS etc is the Gospel….and fair….and where we all ought to get our news?

I Know You Are But What Am I

March 2nd, 2011
2:07 pm

FOX JOURNALISTIC ADVENTURES INTO THE ABSURD – January 2010

(I’ve got 3 a month for the entire year…you want them all?)

Fox Campaigns For Scott Brown. In the run-up to the January 19 special Senate election in Massachusetts, Fox News hosted Republican candidate Scott Brown several times for softball interviews and provided a forum for Brown to raise funds. Fox News personalities like Dick Morris made explicit appeals on Brown’s behalf, telling viewers to “please, please help” Brown. Stuart Varney claimed that “your 401(k) could do well” in response to a Brown victory, and Bret Baier compared Brown’s candidacy to the “Miracle on Ice.”

gbal

March 2nd, 2011
2:08 pm

Voice of reason??? Your a nut. Fox news is the only channel that will speak up with a different view than our or government officials. the only one and our country is being run into the ground. Someone should speak up!

wdm

March 2nd, 2011
2:08 pm

I don’t know who he is but Gary Lamb better have one heck of a sermon ready come Sunday.

Jim Pierce

March 2nd, 2011
2:08 pm

Harry Reed comment: “Taxes are voluntary”. lol

find that one on Youtube… great interview: **Yetch

Terd Fergesun

March 2nd, 2011
2:09 pm

Harry, libs don’t argue on facts. They argue based on their beliefs. Facts just get in the way of expressing what you should believe.

Jim Pierce

March 2nd, 2011
2:10 pm

I Know You Are But What Am I: You mean the same Dick Morris that left the Democratic party to expose them? that one? lol

BMDPD

March 2nd, 2011
2:10 pm

JB Not one current candidate can beat him.

DollarDawg43

March 2nd, 2011
2:10 pm

The problem we really face is the finger pointing I see going on here. I vote Republican but the truth is Republican and Democratic administrations have been ruuning up massive foreign debts for years while blaming the other party for it.

Until we as voters put our own partisan agendas aside and hold both parties accountable they simply won’t change. The Tea Party was a good idea but their voice is too shrill to take them seriously for the long term. For example, Sarah Palin can preach to the choir with the best of them but she will NEVER win a national election. I disagree with very little of what she says but I am also realistic.

When in control, both parties have borrowed obscene amounts of money from foreign governments to cover budget shortfalls. While we argue with each other they laugh all the way to their next re-election (and the bank) while our children and grandchildren will be forced to repay loans that absolutely will not be forgiven.

Wake up folks, its way past time to quit the constant bickering and get to work. If we don’t do it together no politician ever will.

DHD

March 2nd, 2011
2:10 pm

A non-story with a headline designed to be negative towards Newt. Nice, AJC.

FOX LIES

March 2nd, 2011
2:11 pm

Do The Google like The Moron said:

“February 14, 2003, Florida Second District Court of Appeals – During their appeal, FOX asserted that there are no written rules against distorting news in the media. They argued that, under the First Amendment, broadcasters have the right to lie or deliberately distort news reports on public airwaves.”

gbal

March 2nd, 2011
2:11 pm

Rupert, your nuts too. He is steering us towards socialism and we are actually there!

RIGHTISWRONG

March 2nd, 2011
2:12 pm

Jim, Obama is a Liar? OK, what is his agenda? I bet you don’t believe he was born in the US either do you? And you guys wonder why folks think you are racist when make comments about a man who truly cares about this country and ALL of the people in it.

Let me educate you since you seem not to pay attention to anything other than FAUX NEWZ and the band of political thugs they have on their payroll.

Obama took the helm of a country in the midst of a SEVERE RECESSION that YOUR party (the conservative retards) created! Not him. He put out the fire that is still simmering because it was so hot from that idiot Bush spending billions on defense (Iraq, middle east, etc.), steering billions to his friends in no bid contracts, lowering the top 2%’s tax burdens, TAKING OUR COUNTRY FROM A SURPLUS TO TRILLIONS IN DEBT WITH OUR DEFICIT, all while cutting education, shipping jobs out of the country, and not giving a damn if folks don’t have affordable healthcare or not! Are you kidding me? You should thank him for not turning his back on ungrateful folk like you.

On top of that I think that it is “Hilarious” that the RIGHT is so racist that Herman Cain is attacked by his own party! Herman, you are in a group that doesn’t want you, just like Mike Steele (we saw how you guys treated him). Although Steele was a complete bafoon. The top 2% is running the Right and manipulating you guys via social issues: gays, blacks, hispanics, abortion, etc. While you guys are sooo focused on those issues, they (the Right) are steering funds away from schools, services, healthcare, and other areas to their corporations and no-bid contracts. The rich get richer and they are all laughing at you behind closed doors right before they hook up with their mistresses or gay or underaged lovers. Do you hear me Minn and SC?

The RIGHT is just “turrible”………lol

Who is he??

March 2nd, 2011
2:12 pm

Southerngurl

March 2nd, 2011
2:12 pm

The Real Chef

Trust me I have listened to his radio show on more than one occasion. I have not heard anything that has impressed me. He sold Pizzas!!!

Bee

March 2nd, 2011
2:12 pm

One term Hussein—-Goooo Newt

JB

March 2nd, 2011
2:12 pm

14 Senate Dems hiding from Wisconsin……………………….I’ll take my ball and go home…..This is hurting Dems bad…………Put the shoe on the other foot…..It would lead every night at 7……..

BMDPD

March 2nd, 2011
2:15 pm

RIGHTISWRONG likes the Ganja, mon!

I Know You Are But What Am I

March 2nd, 2011
2:15 pm

Dick Morris Invents, And Then Retracts, Clinton-Reno-Waco Story. On the April 19 edition of Hannity, Dick Morris claimed that Bill Clinton had told him that he had retained Janet Reno as attorney general because she threatened to “tell the truth about Waco.” Morris explained that this story “had never been said before.” The next day, Rush Limbaugh picked up Morris’ story, claiming that “Reno’s appointment to a second term as attorney general was to keep her quiet about the Waco invasion.” One day later, Morris appeared on Fox & Friends to walk back the false story, claiming to separate “the facts” from his “conjecture based on the facts.”

Yeah, that Dick Morris, Jimbo. Realized that his lies and embellishments were more appropriate for the GOP.

JB

March 2nd, 2011
2:16 pm

RIGHTIS WRONG……………….Please tell me what Bill Clinton and Barney Franks roll in “Anyone that can put a breath on a mirror can have a house”…… Mortgages for losers, the Dem way, is,was a big problem.

Southerngurl

March 2nd, 2011
2:17 pm

Bee, you really beleive that don’t you? Yeah Gooo Newt. I support your family values if nothing else.

BMDPD

March 2nd, 2011
2:17 pm

RIGHTISWRONG, the rich may get richer, but at least they pay income taxes.

RetiredSoldier

March 2nd, 2011
2:19 pm

Southerngurl-

Cain was the CEO of a large business. What did Obama do before politics? He was a community organizer. Now which do you think better prepares someone for the White House.

Please don’t bring up being a U.S. senator. Obama spent four of his six years running for the White House.

DannyX

March 2nd, 2011
2:19 pm

FOX SUSPENDS REALITY!

JB

March 2nd, 2011
2:20 pm

The right is Racist? I’m white and I’d vote for Allen West or Herman Cain tomorrow. It’s not his color, It’s his nightmare views from the Book ” Dreams if my Father”…. Read it……He is on a mission to do what his father wanted…………They got it, go get it….To hell with who earned it or who it belongs to………Read the book…..

JB

March 2nd, 2011
2:22 pm

Dreams OF my father…………….If works also..LOL