You Had me at "Moon Colony"

Dragon-X the first private spacecraft orbited in 2010.

Okay, I admit I was less than happy with Newt Gingrich as the potential Republican presidential candidate. I heard a lot of complaints that he wasn't a "real" conservative, that he had some problems with morals, that he had ethical problems and that he didn't get along with members of his own party.

It didn't quite match the "get 'er done" Speaker of the House I remember from his years in the House during the Clinton Administration. It doesn't quite match the in-your-face bulldog I've been seeing in the debates. Then last week when a Romney acolyte complained that Newt was a "loose cannon" and didn't get along with the Republican leadership, it was a bridge too far.

You mean he didn't get along with the country club Republican good old boys that gave us Bob Dole as a presidential candidate? You mean he didn't get along with the country club Republican leadership that took a conservative mandate and turned it into a spineless policy game that put the Democrats back in power in the Capitol?  You mean the Republican leadership that compromised with Democrats time and time again and managed to allow the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac crisis and the housing mortgage crisis with hardly a whimper from the "Republican leadership". President Bush complained. A few scattered members of Congress and the Senate raised a ruckus, but they didn't get much more than lip service level backing from the "Republican leadership".

I kind of like it that Newt makes those guys nervous.

Also, several of my favorite Republicans have endorsed Newt, including Sarah Palin, Herman Cain, Rick Perry and Fred Thompson. Can you imagine if Newt put them all on his cabinet? Wowie-zowie!

Finally, during the debate, Newt said we ought to go for a moon colony in the next decade or so. I admit it, I'm a space junkie. I love the idea of building new spacecraft, space stations, landing on the moon and exploring the solar system. I suspect that Newt would encourage private enterprise to lead the way. That would be exciting.

But Newt had me at "moon colony".  Unless someone else makes me believe they would push the space program forward, I'm afraid the Newtmeister moved to the top of my candidates I find least objectionable.

I admit it. I'm that easy!

Tom King (Native of Texas - home of NASA ground control)