Newt Gingrich and Daughter Spill Secrets to Success in New Book
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}This is a RUSH transcript from "The O'Reilly Factor," May 21, 2009. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
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LAURA INGRAHAM, GUEST HOST: In the "Back of the Book" segment tonight: some secrets to success. Earlier this week, Bill talked to Newt Gingrich and his daughter, Jackie, who spell it all out in their new book, "5 Principles for a Successful Life: From our Family to Yours."
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O'REILLY: Ms. Cushman, let's begin with you, because you're far better looking than your dad and, of course, demographics mean a lot to us here on "The Factor." What — when I read this book, and I'm in the book, and I'm flattered that you guys asked me to be in the book. But when I'm reading the book, I'm thinking to myself, what's the relationship between Newt Gingrich and his daughter? And, therefore, a question popped up in my mind, Ms. Cushman, what is the most important thing your father ever taught you?
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}JACKIE GINGRICH CUSHMAN, CO-AUTHOR, "5 PRINCIPLES": Persistence through failure. He began running for Congress when I was 6 years old. And the first two times he ran, he lost. But the next morning, we were across at the Ford factory shaking hands, thanking people that had supported him, and asking for their votes again in two years.
O'REILLY: All right. So he didn't wallow in defeat. He got up. And you, as a little child, absorbed that lesson?
CUSHMAN: This was a huge deal in my family, because we worked very hard as a family. So to go through those losses and to not complain, to not, you know, to not wallow in his failure, but to get up and to move forward and to go out and thank those people was an incredibly important lesson.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}O'REILLY: All right. Now, Mr. Speaker, what is the most important lesson that your daughter taught you?
GINGRICH: I think the passion she puts into raising her two children. I have been amazed, impressed and delighted with how totally committed she is to being a good mother and to bringing those two kids up and to being part of their lives. That has really been something I admire really deeply and the way she's done it. It's been remarkable.
O'REILLY: You know, guys like you, and to some extent me, we are in high-powered careers. We have spent a lot of time in our career. Do you ever feel guilty that you didn't spend enough time with Jackie?
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}NEWT GINGRICH, CO-AUTHOR, "5 PRINCIPLES": Yes, and I sometimes feel guilty that I don't spend enough time with Maggie and Robert, as my grandchildren, because you get to doing so many things. But what I've always tried to do is be very intense about what mattered to her.
O'REILLY: Look, family dynamics in America are breaking down a little bit from what they used to be, the traditional family, and it's fracturing. And I think everybody — not obviously for all Americans, but in our society in general. I fight wars every day. The speaker fights wars every day. But I try to keep that away from my family. I don't want to take that home. Did your father, Ms. Cushman, ever, you know, take home the pressures and the intensity from his job that you noticed?
CUSHMAN: I didn't see the pressure and intensity from him. What I found, what I learned are a few really good lessons. One is that I learned when I was very young that papers would print things that weren't true, especially about my father.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}O'REILLY: Sure.
CUSHMAN: And that I had to really get a couple of different perspectives about what was going on. So I learned to really listen to myself, more than to listen to others. He's a — he's a great dad. He's very intense in terms of — I mean, he took us camping at Okefenokee. We went rafting on the Flint River. I drug (sic) him to ballets. We spent numerous hours in libraries and book stores, because I love to read as much as he does. He's a great dad. And I think he has done a very great job. He is very intense. He's very intense everywhere he goes, but that's part of who he is.
O'REILLY: Now, Mr. Speaker, did you ever take it home and say, "I should have been more disciplined and not drop that on my family"?
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}GINGRICH: Oh, I think I did. I think it was harder for her mother, and I think it's always been harder with your spouse, because — first, because that's the person you relate to and you try to protect the children. And second, because I think the spouse always has a harder time, because they can't fight back.
O'REILLY: The book is "5 Principles for a Successful Life." We appreciate you guys helping us out.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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