Gingrich Ties Seniors Policies to Bipolar Mother
A couple of weeks ago, I discussed the way in which Newt Gingrich’s mother’s bipolar disorder and the possibility that she had passed the illness onto her son had become a political issue in the Republican primaries. On December 30th, Gingrich raised the issue himself when speaking to the website CafeMom. Gingrich said that his policies on the health of seniors, especially with respect to Alzheimer’s disease, came from his own experience of having his mother, Kit Gingrich, stay in a long-term care facility as a result of her bipolar disorder. CafeMom discusses their (at that point upcoming) interview here, and the interview itself can be seen below:
Commentary
It’s a bit of a strange interview. When Gingrich starts to lose his composure, the interviewer starts asking even more personal questions. However, this is a part of the style of CafeMom, a website for mothers that deals with relationships, and they ask personal questions of just about everyone.
It’s hard to tell whether or not Gingrich is actually losing his composure here, if he has rehearsed this to look more humane or if it is somewhere in between (a kind of method acting, perhaps). Whatever the case, he is doing something worthwhile here. Since his mother’s mental health has already become an election issue, Gingrich is attempting to steer the issue away from the, “Newt’s mother was crazy and he might be, too” question, and towards mental illness as a serious problem that affects families. Whatever one thinks of Gingrich, this is a much more positive portrayal of bipolar disorder than the one that has dominated the discussion so far.
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