The Real Newt?

This may seem random, but I was a little touched by Republican Presidential primary candidate Newt Gingrich's talk of moon bases yesterday. If you did not see Rachel Maddow's take on it, you should. Now, there are all sorts of trouble with the idea of a permanent US state Moon Base - and the next time he talks about it Newt must wear a Nehru jacket and carry a long-haired cat. 


But I wonder - is this an glimpse into the real guy? Are we seeing a boy that used to doodle lunar landing modules in Literature class? Or dream of being an astronaut himself? I became politically aware in the 80's so Gingrich has always been the nightmare jumping out of the closet to me. For 80's folks, Gingrich in charge of anything is always the worst case scenario. So when I see him talking, which is all the time lately, it is the Conservatron1000 I see: he is a talking points generator, and all attack all the time monster. 


Yesterday, though, I think we may have actually seen a little bit of the real human being. This is not Newt's first instance of space love. I think we are seeing a tiny, fragile, abused and emaciated boy-soul in there when he talks about this moon base. Now he seems like the little boy in the Despicable Me flashbacks, dreaming of the moon to the displeasure of his mom.


And I hate seeing that little boy-soul. Because I know that Newt and people like him never see the human being behind my political, social, philosophical, sexual, deviant beliefs. That ability or even willingness to acknowledge our shared humanity is completely one sided. There is no way that the Gingrich that wrote that language memo is going to give a damn about my humanity. So it kills me to see his.


Side note: I keep hearing the Space Sphere from Portal 2 when this subject comes up.