David Brooks says Newt Gingrich once proposed putting mirrors in space

www.politifact.com

quote:

The space-mirror system seemed so outlandish that we felt compelled to check whether Gingrich really suggested it.

Comment:

Unfortunately, it does appear that Gingrich is a little too enamored with big government with respect to space.   He would have to be watched carefully, if he were to become president.  Who would do that?  Democrats?  Republicans?

one more quote:

Our ruling

Gingrich co-wrote his book more than a quarter century ago, and since he doesn’t appear to have reiterated the call for floating mirrors in recent years, we can safely assume the idea is no longer at the top of his policy agenda. But did cite the idea approvingly in his book, so we rate Brooks’ statement True.

Comment:

The mirrors part is probably designed to hurt Newt.  If Newt is smart, he may want to revisit his ideas from time to time and improve upon them.  Otherwise, he's going to be marginalized like this.  Also, if he gets the nomination, it will be because people believe he is a small government conservative.  If he wants to continue to be seen as such, he'd better act like one.

Update:


To be fair with Gingrich, here is a quote from the debate:

“I’m proud of trying to find things that give young people a reason to study science and math and technology and telling them that some day in their lifetime, they could dream of going to the moon, they could dream of going to Mars,” he told the Ames, Iowa crowd. “And I’m happy to defend the idea that America should be in space and should be there in an aggressive, entrepreneurial way.”

[ emphasis mine]

Comment:

That's the right tone and the right approach. Let's see the follow up.

Update:


Here's a link to a question about space in the first Republican debate.  Amongst the responses, it appears that Gingrich is the only one who has actually done significant thinking about it.


There's a risk of the Governor Moonbeam reaction that may rear its ugly head.

Update:


I've written about Romney's book here and here.   Gingrich's book will be for the next update to this post.


Update:


Gingrich's book may not have gotten posted about here.  I'll keep looking, but if I can't find it, I'll write up something.