Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich has never been one to shy away from lofty goals.
But the former House Speaker certainly raised some eyebrows in Thursday's GOP primary debate when he pledged to establish a permanent colony on the moon before the end of his second term.
Some have dismissed his remark as blatant pandering to the space workers of Florida who have been faced with the demise of the space shuttle program. Others simply attributed it to Gingrich's fondness for science fiction - he has authored fictional books of alternative history and even attributed his entrance into politics to the seminal "Foundation" Series by Isaac Asimov.
(It should be noted that New York Times columnist Paul Krugman also gives Asimov's fictitious "psycho historian" Hari Seldon credit for his inspiration to join the field of economics - and that Krugman vehemently decries Gingrich's attempts to assume Seldon's mantel.)
But despite his vision - or pander, as the case may be - Gingrich's plan for a lunar colony opened him up to a somewhat scathing criticism from former presidential candidate and Arizona Senator John McCain.
McCain, who has endorsed Gingrich's primary rival for the nomination, former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, Friday unveiled a line of attack he admitted to a Florida crowd that had just occurred to him:
"I think we ought to send Newt Gingrich to the moon and Mitt Romney to the White House," he said.
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June 12, 2026 17:14 ET Major central bank action was the focus this week in economic news. The European Central Bank became the first major central bank to move in response to the rising inflationary pressures in the backdrop of the conflict in the Middle East. In North America, the U.S. inflation and trade data as well as Canada’s central bank decision gained attention. The Chinese trade data was the main news in Asia.