The Congressional Space Cadet

It's not who you think

NY Sun

Here are the opening grafs from an article in Salon.com (the id of Newt) today:

On Dec. 14, with Newt Gingrich still leading in most polls of Iowa but a softness in his numbers beginning to show, the former House Speaker made the unorthodox choice to take time off campaigning to deliver a seminar on brain science in the liberal university town of Iowa City.
. . . 

The best guide to understanding the reasons Gingrich took time off the campaign trail to teach a brain-science seminar — and also, in the words of Mitt Romney, to understanding his “zany” side — is Gingrich’s first book, “Window of Opportunity.”

First, note there is nothing that historian Gingrich won't lecture other people about.

Window of Opportunity is a book at Gingrich wrote in 1984 when he was the chair of the Congressional Space Caucus. The book includes such gems as these:

This much flashier space vehicle would theoretically be capable of research and development missions, hypersonic flight, and even rescue missions to the Moon — but it must be piggy-backed into orbit on the shuttle, and it will be piloted by a single man in an open cockpit, protected only by an anti-micrometeorite suit supplied by the lowest bidder.

And this:

The third-generation shuttle of the year 2020 should offer yet another magnitude drop [in the price of flying cargo to space] about $10 a kilogram. At that point, a typical couple might take a honeymoon trip into space for around $15,000.

Thank you, Dr. Science.

Truly, with the Congressional Space Cadet and Ron "Gold Bug" Paul, you can appreciate how hard it is for Michele Bachmann to reach the same crazed Iowa audience.