Newt Gringrich’s daughter, Jackie Gingrich Cushman, sets the record straight on a rumor about his first divorce, namely that he had served his wife with divorce papers while she was recovering from breast cancer surgery. This is not true:

As for my parents’ divorce, I can remember when they told me.

It was the spring of 1980.

I was 13 years old, and we were about to leave Fairfax, Va., and drive to Carrollton, Ga., for the summer. My parents told my sister and me that they were getting a divorce as our family of four sat around the kitchen table of our ranch home.

Soon afterward, my mom, sister and I got into our light-blue Chevrolet Impala and drove back to Carrollton.

Later that summer, Mom went to Emory University Hospital in Atlanta for surgery to remove a tumor. While she was there, Dad took my sister and me to see her.

It is this visit that has turned into the infamous hospital visit about which many untruths have been told. I won’t repeat them. You can look them up online if you are interested in untruths. But here’s what happened:

My mother and father were already in the process of getting a divorce, which she requested.

Given Gingrich’s history, and generally unlikeable personality (my opinion), I have to admit that I was inclined to believe this story, so I’m glad his daughter has come forward with the truth. Smears are the worst kind of political cowardice, regardless of the victim, and that’s what this story is.