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Subscribe to RSSRepublican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich said on Florida's space coast that if he is elected president he will create a moon colony by 2020.
COCOA, Fla. -- Newt Gingrich promised Wednesday on Florida’s space coast to create a moon colony by 2020 if elected president.
"By the end of my second term, we will have the first permanent base on the moon. And it will be American," Gingrich told the crowd of roughly 700, taking them to their feet in applause.
The former House speaker said the current space program in the country is a "tragedy" and believes his "grandiose" ideas can help fix it.
"I am sick of being told we have to be timid and I'm sick of being told we have to be limited to technologies that are 50 years old," he said, noting that by 2020 he wants to be capable to go to Mars.
Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney seemed to question Gingrich’s desire to put lunar mining colonies on the moon during a debate last month but the speaker says these are bold ideas the governor doesn’t understand.
"I was attacked the other night for being grandiose. I would just want you to note: Lincoln standing at Council Bluffs was grandiose. The Wright Brothers standing at Kitty Hawk were grandiose. John F. Kennedy was grandiose. I accept the charge that I am grandiose and that Americans are instinctively grandiose," Gingrich said.
Stan Honda / AFP - Getty Images
Republican presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich, center, speaks at a Space Coast-Space Industry roundtable Wednesday at Brevard Commnunity College in Cocoa, Fla.
Speaking about space is not new for Gingrich. In stump speeches, he often references his ideas to change the struggling American program, but this was the first event he completely dedicated to the topic, hoping this is "the second great launch of the adventure John F. Kennedy started."
"At one point early in my career I introduced the northwest ordinance for space and I said when we got -- I think the number is 13,000 -- when we have 13,000 Americans living on the moon they can petition to become a state," Gingrich said, telling the crowd this was the "weirdest" thing he has ever done. "And I will as president encourage the introduction of the northwest ordinance for space to put a marker down that we want Americans to think boldly about the future…"
Gingrich finished off his public schedule for the day with a Space Industry Roundtable at Brevard Community College.
More about space, politics ... and the moon:
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I promise everyone a Moon Pie by 10PM. Okay, I promise ME a Moon Pie by 10PM. What a joke.
You probably don't need a Moon pie I will bet...
Ha Ha a moon pie to the face
I have no idea what either one of these comments means.
Obama promised everything and gave nothing.
speak for yourself. i like what i've gotten.
Bush promised the Iraq war would only last a few months and cost a few hundred billion, to be paid off by Iraq oil profits.
I want a refund of all the lives, jobs, and retirement funds lost under Bush. Oh, and the illegal Patriot Act and imprisoning people out of the country. So much for GOP promises...legacy of Nixon.
koo koo bird!
Sh*t head!
Lets see, we were promised $2 a gallon gas, we were promised 2 million jobs in the first year if elected, we were basically promised a war with Iran, we were promised more tax cuts for the wealthy, we were promised cuts in every program that is important to the American people, and now we get a moon colony by 2020. Where did the GOP exactly find all of these people? Morons R US? I do take that back. We would be the morons, if we voted for one of these guys.
Gin-g-rich is an idiot talking about moon!!!!!!! ARE YOU SERIOUS!!! republican dummies!!!!
Newt = Freak Show!
Obama promised the moon and Newt will take us to the moon. I'd put my money on Newt since Obama has broken his promise.
Have fun at moon Bri!
Ha Ha will be able to do the moon walk
brian, seen today's econony polling data? how long will you cling to a negative take?
4 1/2 words ...
1-way ticket for him.
If we're going to send Newt, we'll need a heavy-lift rocket.
And one more thing, in order to save money on expensive stuff like a capsule, let's strap his pompous ass to the outside of the ship.
Leave it to Newt to promise the moon. I``m very thankful he didn`t promise TO moon!
I'm stuck on two questions. One is by 2020?! The other is why?
Yep, there goes the Blowhard Gingrich telling us were all too stupid to understand anything he says! The Professor has spoken take your "F" in class and like it! This pompuss, cheating, lier who is and was a Lobbyist, influence peddling Washington DC insider has spoken down to us, down and out children who need him to save us! Whether the talk is about the moon, economics, religion etc... Gingrich is an expert but only in his mind! The Bomb thrower is ready willing and able to destroy the Republican party all the while espousing his rabid bigotry!Some choice!
This is how he plans to cut government spending???
Oh, wait, I know! This is where he is going to send all the unemployed and those without medical insurance so that they won't bother him!!
they'll need janitors on the moon you know. that will employ hundreds of children.
Newt will just borrow the money from the Chinese. It's what republicans do so they won't have to tax the wealthy.
he let his alligator mouth over load his humming bird ass. stupid stupid
Would you expect anything more from Newt Get-Rich, America's #1 space cadet????????? Captain Video has outdone himself this time. Let's put on hold, all conversation about the economy and taxes and instead focus our attention on the MOON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
newt, you are a generous man in providing me with the opening to suggest that you be a pioneering colonist. can you start out tomorrow?
Wow ... President Newt is setting up a moon station! The possibilities abound ... Mitt can outsource jobs to the moon; Santorum can set up his theocracy there since he'll be in the heavens; Herman can open a string of Pizza Parlors; Bachman can open $2/gallon gas stations; Perry can track down real aliens; Paul can be away from the Feds; and of course Palin would feel right at home - in outer space.
LMAO...Very good....
LMAO very good, very good indeed...
let's find more repug colonists for the moon colonies!
the french have a phrase for not paying attention and being in lala-land it fits Newt perfectly: Sur la Lune (On the Moon)
What about Huntsman?? What would he do on the moon?
In space, no one can hear Huntsman scream....just like on the campaign trail...:)
Hey Nit, good idea, because thats the only place you will ever be president.. You are nuttier than a fruit cake. Just where are you going to get the money for this bizarre project???? I just got an idea...you can call the potentially new state BIZARRE. Take Ron Paul with you, he can be your vp!!! Oh wait, I got a better idea, you can call that new state SCREWBALL....
How is this consistent with the GOP platform of smaller government? What he is talking about is building the NASA budget exponentially. What are his plans for cutting programs to offset this increase? It is one thing to be grandiose, but another to be outright irresponsible. Is this colony for all the immigrant children Newt wants to support?
Newtie heard that even if he's elected president, he won't get his face on Mt. Rushmore.
So............Mr Grandiose wants to get 13000 laborers to the moon so they can carve his likeness there and we can all see his smiling face as the real "Man in the Moon".
Seriously though, we can't sent Newt, Mitt or any politician into space. We're trying to REDUCE the trash in space, not increase it.
Let's replace congress with a coin toss. At least we'd have a 50% chance of getting something right.
Atomic Daddy-
If Newt wants the whole world to look up to him, all he has to do is go to the Moon, and then there's another GOP/T entry "Mission Accomplished" column.
Not so sure about the coin-toss idea. If even a stopped clock is right twice a day, it would seem the same for a stopped Congress, and that hasn't happened yet.
Woe is the contradiction. Tea Baggers want to kill NASA. Now you're telling me Newt can get them to pay for a moon base.
How stupid do I look? Now you are going to start to hear any bull puckie this guys thinks you want to hear to elect him.
700 Republicans rise to their feet in applause as NASA's budget is cut every year. The lies and the hood winking...all I can say is if Newt gets nominated, Obama is going to win in a landslide.
Someone should send him to the MOON.
Health care system will still be broken, but we'll spend trillions in space!
Better take care of America first!
Of course Newt won't care because he won't have to pay for his insurance, let the tax payers do that for him!
Knotthaid
Don't forget the hunting dogs....
Now Harold Camping, the evangelical king will have a place to send the right wing evangelical radical cracked teanuts on the next Rapture Day. The Children of the Corn that back these repuke dunces will all be gone to meet and stay with the man in the moon. Groper Nutquist and his boys will have their own colony to teach everyone Creationism.
Hopefully, they take the party centralists with them also-the abortion doctor killers, abortion clinic bombers, federal building bombers, The Baptists that protest at dead soldiers funerals that they deserved to die and the radical right wing southern anthrax spreaders.