Question about Jimmy Gator character (SPOILERS)

He didn't just spurt it out. He only answered (partially) because he was directly asked. Had the wife never asked he never would have said a word about it. He had no intention of confessing, and the conversation was taking a turn he wasn't prepared for. But now that it was going down that road he was willing to partially admit to some things...but only partially.

So he wasn't "trying to make a confession" at all. His hand was being forced, and he could no longer deny. He knew his wife already knew, and the fact that Claudia refused to see him already proved it.

He's a coward and morally bankrupt. He is unwilling and incapable of taking responsibility for his actions.

It's what Dani119 said. Have you ever been in a situation where you're asked a question and don't want to tell the truth but neither lie? Actually, that happened with OFFICER JIM and MARCY at the beginning. Anyway, we know is that he just had the worst day of his life and is now being asked about the worst thing he's ever done right after confessing another bad thing (infidelity).

@somesunnyday ...when pressed further by his wife he can't claim he has or he hasn't?
He doesn't want to admit it, and he doesn't want to be caught out lying. So he does the old "I don't know/don't remember" move - a non-denial denial. Like the non-apology apology, it's a way of weaseling out of a jam.

http://articles.latimes.com/1987-07-24/news/mn-3686_1_contra-hearings
THE IRAN-CONTRA HEARINGS : Admiral Didn't Recall 184 Times
July 24, 1987|United Press International

WASHINGTON — Rear Adm. John M. Poindexter's fuzzy memory struck 184 times during his five days of questioning at the Iran- contra hearings.

A review of Poindexter's testimony by United Press International shows that the former national security adviser answered frequently along the lines of "I can't recall" and "I don't remember" when pressed by congressional questioners on points both large and small in relation to President Reagan's worst crisis. Poindexter testified under a limited grant of immunity.

...

The 50-year-old rear admiral, whose Navy fitness reports praised "spectacular mental capacity" and even a "photographic memory," explained himself by saying that, before he assumed his White House post in December, 1985, he had "never been hit with so many issues in such a short period of time."

Poindexter's 184 memory lapses exceeded those of H. R. Haldeman, President Richard M. Nixon's chief of staff, whose memory failed him on about 150 occasions in his testimony before the Senate Watergate Committee 14 years ago.

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Who was he banging at the beginning of the movie?

Any answer you get will be short-sighted, bias, bitter, angry, immature answers. Anytime a person is accused of sexual crimes, everyone lines up to burn them in effigy. They are not innocent until proven guilty. It's more like "GUILTY! GUILTY! GUILTY!" They don't even treat murderers with such hate, prejudice and ignorance.