It was twenty years ago this month that the nation watched as a Republican-controlled Congress, led in part by Georgia’s Newt Gingrich, impeached Democratic President Bill Clinton, the former governor of Arkansas. Though the conflict had national import, it had a Deep Southern tenor. Though we didn’t know it yet in 1998, Gingrich represented the future of Southern politics: ruby-red Republican with a near-total disdain for all things Democratic. Clinton, on the other hand, represented the waning past: a white New South Democrat who sought moderate, accommodationist compromises on divisive issues.
I knew Newt Gingrich when he was still in college. I was in 7th grade, and my dad was running for Congress in the 9th district of GA. Newt was my dad’s campaign manager, and I couldn’t stand him. He gave me the creeps, and my feelings about him have been repeatedly confirmed through the years. Although my dad (now 90 years old) still is a moderate Republican, I am a Democrat and obviously still can’t stand Newt Gingrich. Just had to say that…
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