Cocoa Beach, Fl – After speaking to a massive crowd earlier today in Coral Spring at a restaurant that serves wings, Newt Gingrich gave the dreams of Space Coast constituents wings with his speech in the early evening hours. 

Taking a break from his standard stump speech, Gingrich talked about bold, imaginative plans that fired the imaginations of a segment of Floridians that have been cast aside by the decisions of the Obama Administration.  Obama’s decision to moth ball NASA has left the once active and tourist-friendly Cocoa Beach area reeling under the weight of a stagnate economy.  Gingrich’s speech described a vision that lit fires in the eyes of more than a few  of the more than 600 attendees.

“I am sick of being told we have to be timid and I’m sick of being told we have to be limited to technologies that are 50 years old, Gingrich said.

Gingrich spoke of resurrecting the space program through privitization and competition, making the goal of a return (and yes, colonization) to the moon a prime goal.  The former Speaker of the House also spoke of making Mars one of the missions, calling to mind memories of  John F. Kennedy’s challenge to Americans on our reach to the moon.

Though his ideas have been called “grandiose” (a designation he does not dispute), there can be no doubt that Gingrich HAS ideas.  The question that his competitors and Democrats must be asking themselves is “Can he back those ideas up with action?”.  If history is any indicator, the answer is “yes”.

The claims that Gingrich makes regarding working with Reagan and other politicians to cut spending are matters of historical fact.  It is also a matter of history that he worked to pass the Balanced Budget Amendment of 1997 – leading to 4 consecutive years of a balanced budget.  It can be argued that the former Speaker of the House is aggressive in getting things done, sometimes with conflict, but he does get them done. 

So when he is quoted in Cocoa Beach, FL saying  ..” By the end of my second term, we will have the first permanent base on the moon and it will be American”, it may be that astrophysicists and engineers start dusting off their résumés, while GOP competitors and Democrats start listening for the sonic boom of a rocket launching.  If the positive reaction of the crowd on the Space Coast was any indicator, Gingrich’s Republican nomination is a ‘GO’ for launch and victory.

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