Romney tells Gingrich: I'd fire you for your moon proposal

In a Republican presidential debate Thursday night, Mitt Romney mocked his GOP rival Newt Gingrich for his proposal to create a lunar colony and accused the former House speaker of pandering to Florida's Space Coast.

"I spent 25 years in business. If I had a business executive come to me and say they wanted to spend a few hundred billion dollars to put a colony on the moon, I'd say, 'You're fired,'" Romney said in the debate, hosted by CNN, the Republican Party of Florida and the Hispanic Leadership Network in Jacksonville, Florida. "The idea that corporate America wants to go off to the moon and build a colony there, it may be a big idea, but it's not a good idea."

Gingrich on Wednesday laid out an extensive plan to have a permanent U.S. base on the moon by the end of his second term as president. He said that once 13,000 Americans were living on the moon, the colony could apply for statehood. The promise could appeal to Florida's space industry, which has struggled since NASA ended the U.S. shuttle program in 2011.

Romney said that Gingrich goes "from state to state and promise[s] exactly what that state wants to hear."

In Florida, he said, Gingrich promises to spend "untold amounts of money" on a moon colony, while he promises a new Veterans Health Administration hospital in New Hampshire and a new interstate highway in South Carolina.

"This idea of going state to state and promising what people want to hear, promising billions, hundreds of billions of dollars to make people happy, that's what got us into the trouble we're in now," Romney said. "We've got to say no to this kind of spending."

Developing a lunar colony would cost "hundreds of billions, if not trillions, Romney said, adding, "I'd rather be rebuilding housing here in the U.S."

In response to the criticism that his plan would be too expensive, Gingrich pointed out that he helped pass the 1997 Balanced Budget Act to balance the federal budget while doubling the size of the National Institutes of Health -- "because we set priorities."

"It is possible to do the right things in the right order to make this a bigger, richer, more exciting country," he said.

Gingrich also said the program would be a source of inspiration and national pride.

"It is really important to go back and look at what John F. Kennedy said in May of 1961 when he said, 'We will go to the moon in this decade,'" he said. "No American had orbited the Earth. The technology didn't exist. And a generation of young people went into science and engineering and technology, and they were tremendously excited."

Former Sen. Rick Santorum concurred with the sentiment that the space program inspires young people to study math and science. However, he added, "Let's just be honest, we run a $1.2 trillion deficit right now... And to go out there and promise new programs and big ideas, that's a great thing to maybe get votes, but it's not a responsible thing when you have to go out and say that we have to start cutting programs, not talking about how to -- how to -- how to grow them."

Both Gingrich and Romney said that the private sector should be more involved in space exploration. Romney talked about building a coalition between government entities and the private sector to build a manned space program.

Rep. Ron Paul, by contrast, said he doesn't like the idea of government-business partnerships.

"I just think that we don't need a bigger, a newer program," he said. "I mean, health care or something else deserves a lot more priority than going to the moon. So, I would be very reluctant, but space technology should be followed up to some degree for national defense purposes."

More from the debate:

Florida Republican debate: Winners and Losers
Gingrich, Romney at each other's throats over immigration
Gingrich, Romney blame the Palestinians, Obama for lack of progress in the peace process
Gingrich hints at making Marco Rubio VP
Gingrich, Romney hit each other over involvement in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac

[genygeriatric]

Two things.

1. If that executive then told me the return would be 17 trillion, I'd hear him out. Otherwise, I'd fire him too-and it didn't take me 25 years as an executive to know that. Rash, idiotic decision making. (I know I know. He'll be "smarter" when he's not trying to cater to the idiots that vote in the primary.)

2. Romney doesn't seem to realize he won't be running a business, he'll be running our country. There are no shareholders or quarterly earnings reports.

I want my President to have a vision that I can relate to. I want America to do amazing. It makes me wonder how Romney's little brain works and what else he'd cut because of dollars and cents. What if the base only cost $32 billion? What if it was the actual $32 billion budget for the NIH?

[genygeriatric]

Two things.

1. If that executive then told me the return would be 17 trillion, I'd hear him out. Otherwise, I'd fire him too-and it didn't take me 25 years as an executive to know that. Rash, idiotic decision making. (I know I know. He'll be "smarter" when he's not trying to cater to the idiots that vote in the primary.)

2. Romney doesn't seem to realize he won't be running a business, he'll be running our country. There are no shareholders or quarterly earnings reports.

I want my President to have a vision that I can relate to. I want America to do amazing. It makes me wonder how Romney's little brain works and what else he'd cut because of dollars and cents. What if the base only cost $32 billion? What if it was $32 billion in funding for the NIH? (That's 2012 NIH funding.)

http://genygeriatric.wordpress.com/

[kevin_hunt]

I would never vote for Newt, but I like this moon base idea. Popular Science Magazine promised us back in the 50's that we would have moon bases by the 70's. It looks like the Chinese are going to return to the moon before we do because they don't waste all of their time and money on Middle East wars. Newt also had another wacky idea back in 1981: he wanted to legalize marijuana for medical use. Source: The Journal of the American Medical Association, March 19, 1982;247

[70John76]

Romney....I'd fire him if he brought up the idea about spending money to put a colony on the Moon!............. I'd never work for this tyrant! Come up with an idea and you get FIRED because he disagrees with it. Rich 1% tyrant! He is what he is!! Republicans have NO alternative other than Santorum! At least his father came from a working class setting. Two are tied with what we don't like with DC and the other is just OUT THERE....or NUTS! Obama in 2012 get used to it and WORK with it or.......will hit the fan!

[Lindag10]

Gee, Romney is such a kill joy. If the Newt and "helmet head" promised to live on the moon colony I'd support building it.

[boatdocster]

Agree. Then we could send "King Neutered" and Calista "Mars Attacks" Gingrich off to be rulers of their frozen dead world.

What a bonus for 350 million normal Americans - almost worth the price!!

[nancy_naive]

So Newt wants to build a "Moon Base".

Wow! Piece of cake for the Republicans.

Take the usual Republican base, and simply remove the "r" from the middle.

Voila, "moon base"!

[Jhihmoac]

Newt's Moon Colony: "That's one small stoop of a man...One giant leap in insanity..."

[ProgressNow]

OMG Mitt and I actually agree on something...but I'm STILL VOTING FOR OABMA!!!!!!! OBAMA 2012!!!!!!

[cybervigilante]

I think a lunar colony is a great idea. We could send all the Republicans there and they could spend their time crapping on each other, instead of us.

[cybervigilante]

Seriously though. Paul and fire-em-all Romney are unimaginative. The entire electronic revolution that enriched the world came directly from NASA research in miniaturization. The moon is rich with rare elements and at the lighter end of a gravity well, so transferring material from the moon via slow-route carriers and balutes for landing would be cheap. Lunar mining could be huge, and the moon already looks like a stripmine, so there is no environmental harm. And I am sure scientific discovery and the uncovering of rare, unknown minerals would be stunning, also enriching the economy. All the repugs can think of is belt-tightening. Herbert Hoover tried that and Caused the Depression, but Republicans don't read history so they're eager to repeat the destruction.

BTW, Ronald Reagan increased the debt limit Six Hundred Percent more than Obama did. All Republicans know is the lies of hateradio.