The Moon over Mihammi, Florida that is...

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For someone who spent his entire lifetime as a Reagan Republican Newt Gingrich has some views of the world, or is it universe, that don't seem to follow the Reagan doctrine.  During the Florida primary campaign he has spent a good deal of time talking about his promise of the day, what used to be called pork barrel, in which you promise something to the voters of every place you go.

In the last campaign Barack Obama made about 546 such promises, most of which have now been deferred until a second term.  Newt has a habit of doing the same whether it is new shipping ports, highways, cleaning up the Florida Everglades, or whatever.  In fact during the last debate Mitt Romney rattled Newt by asking him how he could be making all  these promises when he knows the nation must cut spending radically.

But in recent days and during the debate Newt hit a new pinnacle of promises in an effort to win over the NASA Space community, which has a huge presence in Florida.  Since our current president has virtually abandoned the space program and we now have to hitch a ride with the Russians to the International Space station, NASA is in trouble.

Newt's promise is totally John F. Kennedyish and beyond.  For those of you not familiar with modern history when Kennedy was sworn in he promised to land a man on the moon before the end of the decade.  Since we had barely got a man into Earth orbit at the time it was a bold promise but fulfilled when Neil Armstrong landed on the moon in 1969.

Never one to miss a chance to one up history, Gingrich promised Florida he would build a space colony on the moon and 13,000 people would live there.  And he promised to have it built by the end of his second term.  Now Kennedy promised one man in a decade, Newt 13,000 in eight years.

Of course there are a few problems like we don't even have a way to get one person to the moon since the Space shuttle program was scrapped by Obama.  It would take years just to have a new shuttle, let alone the vast fleet of shuttles to move a city and 13,000 people to the moon.  Not to mention the trillions and trillions of dollars involved when we are nearing $16 trillion in debt today.

Newt has grandiose visions, but this one might be, well, out of this world.  Still, you have to acknowledge that Newt has done his best to give us all something to think about, and that is sharing a colony on the moon with the other aliens of the universe.

Jon Stewart, on The Daily Show immediately after the debate had the crowd rolling with the image of Newt Moon Face you see in this story and his proposal to make Ron Paul a cabinet member moon minister.

Ron Paul might have had the best answer to Newt's dream.  His response, I don't know about a moon colony but I know a lot of politicians I'd like to send there.  Add Mr. Moon and his moon colony to the entertainment we have experienced in this political season.

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