Gingrich promises 'moon colony' if he gets elected (twice)

[Sizzle Montyjing]

At least he has freakin' goals...
I mean, ones that could further humanities advancement.
Slightly.

But i'm still going with Vermin Supreme [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4d_FvgQ1csE&feature=related]

 

[uzo]

Next time I try to be President of a country I'm not a citizen of, I'm gonna promise that within 8 years we will have mastered FTL travel, cancer would be cured, and Lucifer himself will be captured and brought to justice. Mission accomplished!

 

[Gypsybob]

Yeah it would be cool to have a moon base but at the end of the day there's bugger all on the moon so it would be a waste of billions of dollars.

 

[Vivi22]

You know, as much as I'd like to think this would happen, I'm a little too used to scum bag politicians blowing smoke up people's asses to really believe grandiose claims like this anymore. The fact that it comes from Gingrich makes me doubly skeptical.

 

[Robert Ewing]

It begs the question, why?

A moonbase would be a cool spectacle, and will just solidify America has a advanced technological race, but that's it... What purpose will the moon base have? Just seems a bit of a hollow promise to the 'science fanatics' in America, of which there are plenty.

 

[TheDooD]

INB4 the moon wars causes the whole thing to split in two.

OT

Where is this old fart gonna get the funding for something like that. 8 years to establish a full self sustaining moon colony that can protect itself from meteorites, radiation, contamination, confrontation and other harsh conditions you'll find up there.

snip

America could be the first to monopolize all the resources that are found on the moon. Pretty much creating a 2nd "Gold Rush". Massive amounts of people will travel to the moon wanting to get a piece of that pie. Good o' US of A is gonna have a strangehold on it until ppl find a way to make coilguns work practically then refer to my first point....

 

[Zen Toombs]

Gingrich goes for the Hail Mary pass!

And if Gingrich wins the election the moon colony will totally happen, because every campaign promise always happens! Especially the impossible ones. /rolls eyes

 

[Shoggoth2588]

I really want to believe the guy to be honest. For fucks sake, it's 2012 and all we have is the ISS and you can't even live on the fucking thing! Getting a Lunar colony going (or rather, a Civilian Lunar Colony since what good does a military base do anybody?) probably would take more than 8 years (or 4 if he waits until his second term to get started) and the U.S. probably couldn't afford it anyway unless Newt's first four years include a violent take-over of a country that has a lot of wealth.

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

It took 5% of the US budget in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s for a day trip that took over a decade and a half to plan.

And this madman wants it done in 8 years on a shoestring?

It's a pretty easy guess that his "plan" involves shoveling scads of taxpayer money to his corporate buddies with no-bid contracts, then if nothing happens by the end of his second term, he'll just shrug before he laughs his way to a cozy "advisor" job given to him by one of aforementioned corporate buddies.

There's just one thing Newt Gingrich loves more than money, and that's himself.

 

[emeraldrafael]

Im pretty sure he's also said hes gonna fix the economy and I dont think thats happening either.

EDIT: Although I do question how a moon colony can be a state since the world has that treaty about no country can own something in space that isnt manmade and you'd have to own the land where the colony is.

 

[Suicida1 Midget]

I think its fair to point out that gingrich is kinda the composition of everything thats wrong with politics. Sure hes gonna give a moon base(i dont doubt it), before he nukes the hell outta everyone else. WHOOOOOOO fallout and bioshock.

 

[Surpheal]

It is almost comical how easy so many people can be won over by a man that might as well be reading from a science fiction novel. This makes me wonder if I could be elected as PoTUS if I were to promise colonies on Mars, or by just quoting Martian Chronicles.

 

[Sunrider]

Promises of expansion into space?! Where do I sign up?!

Seriously though, I have no idea who this guy is, nor his stances on the topics relevant to my personal interests (not to mention how it doesn't affect me at all, being from a different part of the world), this is something I am fully supportive of! SPAAAAAAACE!

 

[Popeman]

dear god if this is even half true you americans had better vote for him!

It's not.

 

[MASTACHIEFPWN]

He's been playing way to much Moonbase Alpha on steam.

In all reality, WHY?

 

[NinjaDeathSlap]

Yeah, cool. Moon Base, let's do it! Oh, while we're at it can we get an end to all human conflict, a working economy, and a free Kelly Brook for everybody... with muffins?

 

[Wintermoot]

why do I get the feeling this is going to result in some countries getting Death Star'd?
also a moon base is cool and all but aren't there more important problems?

 

[Monkeyman O'Brien]

Apart from Moviebob I don't see anyone being desperate enough to buy this.
Seriously, fuck the moon. We have more than enough resources right here. We just need to stop being useless and use them well instead of blowing a shitload of time, money and manpower trying to what? Set up a few shacks on another planet so we can act like the same sort of assholes just on another rock.

 

[iblis666]

[link]http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/election-2012/post/gingrich-pledges-moon-colony-during-presidency/2012/01/25/gIQAmQxiRQ_blog.html[/link]

As it says in the story, Republican Presidential candidate Newt Gingrich has promised that by the end of his second term in office he will have established a permanent colony on dear 'ol Luna. He goes even further and promises to engineer a spaceship capable of reaching Mars.

Thoughts on this? It sounds like something a cartoon supervillain would promise to sway naive followers (or closer to "I got some yummy candy in mah van...").

That's because, in an effort to improve his image, he's trying to be more like a cartoon supervillain.


Honestly, if people go for this it just proves how dumb some of those voters are. Even if you had this moon base fully designed and funded TODAY (which we don't!), it wouldn't be operational in 9 years.

problem is 2 fold 1 he didnt promise a giant laser for the moon base and 2 he didnt propose that we start shipping old people to mars