Friday shooting range: Popping a cap in a few Newt smears

Former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney made a few claims during the CNN-Republican Party of Florida-Hispanic Leadership Network debate in Jacksonville on January 26. It’s Friday, so we thought we’d go to the political shooting range and pop caps in a few of those smears.

I. On the Lunar Colony

I’ve been fairly astounded at the number of pundits on both Left and Right that seem to think this is a loony concept. Romney said, "I spent 25 years in business, I had a business executive come to me and say they wanted to spend a few hundred billion dollars to put a colony on the moon, I'd say, 'You're fired."'

The audience giggled. If we hadn’t been in Florida, I could probably excuse the ignorance. Everyone knows exactly what the Space Coast means to this state.

What Romney and the audience apparently  didn’t know is that Russia and China have dialogued about exploring the moon as well as the natural resources that may be there.

NASA even featured a spreadsheet with data and the US Government held hearings in 2004. CBS apparently didn’t fact check CBS in giving Romney the points for his quip.

Why is the moon important? Once we had no idea how important the Arctic is. We do now—Russia announced in July they were sending two brigades there.

Here’s what the hearing of the House Science Committee focused on—I added the boldface:

“On Thursday, April 1, 2004 at 1:00 p.m., the Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics will hold a hearing to examine current thinking about the suitability of the Moon for scientific and commercial activities.

The hearing is not meant to focus on whether to go to the Moon, but rather is intended to examine the suitability of using the Moon for an extended - perhaps permanent - presence to conduct space science and resource-extraction activities."

As with the Agenda 21 issue, Newt is the only candidate to even mention this topic in a debate.

Points to Newt.

II. On Romney’s ad claiming Newt called Spanish a ‘ghetto’ language.

In the words of Romney responding to something else, “It’s inexcusable.” Gingrich spoke to the National Federation of Republican Women:

“In his speech to the National Federation of Republican Women, Gingrich advocated making English the official language, a position he still holds, and added: ‘We should replace bilingual education with immersion in English so people learn the common language of the country and they learn the language of prosperity, not the language of living in a ghetto.’"

As a conservative who has actually volunteered in many struggling classrooms, I can say Gingrich is right. As a resident of Jacksonville who can go to the cleaners and hear Armenian, head to the restaurant on the corner and hear Italian for lunch then head to the other restaurant on the corner and hear Spanish, I can say my community bears diversity in a manner similar to my country at large. That is a thing of beauty.

Although the Left asserted Newt assailed Spanish—there must be a zillion links on Google’s search engine making that claim—Newt didn’t point to a single language. He didn’t mention the word, ‘Spanish.’ Media claimed he ‘implied’ it. That is, in the lingo of the streets, horse crap.

Romney said the ad wasn’t his, then he asked what it said. Thing is, the ad was tagged with the familiar, “I am (whoever) and I approved this ad.”

Did Romney know the Hispanic Leadership Network was going to endorse Gingrich on Friday?

Points to Newt for truth.

III. Newt and Reagan

By now smear ads and attack barbs claiming Newt was anti-Reagan have been proved preposterous. A rant from former losing presidential candidate Bob Dole falls into the same category.

Those of us who lived through that time as adults knew better of course.

Lobbing one-liners in a debate is effective I admit. So is lobbing the truth even if it comes a day later.

Mr. Romney should go stand in the corner for at least 15 minutes.

(Commentary by Kay B. Day/Jan. 27, 2012)