Gingrich’s Lunar Orbit

Published in Le Monde
(France) on 26 January 2012
by (link to originallink to original)
Translated from by Deonca Williams. Edited by Louis Standish.
Newt Gingrich understands the basics: In an American election campaign, the media must be kept in suspense. Every day, it was Gingrich, though, who made a buzz. Regardless of what the truth is, the media has provided these ideas. Mostly large ones — "Big ideas," Gingrich claims.

Newt is a man of big ideas. Ezra Klein has dissected a few, calling them “big, bad ideas.” Gingrich’s tax reform, which would allow Mitt Romney to pay 0 percent interest on his dividends, is already underway.

The site "Supervillain or Newt" has even created a game where one can train to distinguish true Gingrich-like ideas from copies. (For example: Is the nuclear cause concerning geological movements that would help the real estate sector by creating a larger coastline Newt’s idea or not?)

Gingrich’s most recent idea: settling on the moon. Newt had already proposed drilling. Yesterday, at Cape Canaveral, Newt promised that the U.S. would have a base on the moon before the end of his term (that is, his second). As we can see, Newt really thinks big. This has brought on a never-ending stream of “jokes”; the Washingtom Post proclaimed “Newt Promises the Moon.”

The word that is automatically associated with Newt is "fantasy," but fantasy still does not apply to him.

Yet ... one of his most eloquent statements during an interview with Esquire magazine is when he admits he is four years old at heart (and he reserves a soft spot for dinosaurs). "There is a large part of me that has always been four years old. I wake up in the morning and I know there is a cookie somewhere. I do not know where it is but I know it's mine and that I must find it. My life is an amazing piece of cake."

Below is an excerpt of the original interview, conducted by journalist John H. Richardson:

"There's a large part of me that's four years old," he tells you. "I wake up in the morning and I know that somewhere there's a cookie. I don't know where it is but I know it's mine and I have to go find it. That's how I live my life. My life is amazingly filled with fun." He says this in the same office, with the same assistant at his side and a digital recorder on the table. Last year, at 65, he converted to Catholicism. He credits this to Bisek, a willowy blond who sings in a church choir. "Callista and I kid that I'm four and she's five and therefore she gets to be in charge, because the difference between four and five is a lot."


Gingrich en orbite … lunaire

Newt Gingrich a compris l'essentiel : dans une campagne électorale (américaine), il faut maintenir les medias en haleine.
Tous les jours, c'est lui qui fait le buzz. Peu importe le réel, pourvu qu'on ait les idées. Grandes, de préférence.
- "Big ideas", revendique-t-il.
Newt est l'homme des grandes idées. Ezra Klein en a décortiqué quelques unes.
- "Big bad ideas"
Sa réforme de la fiscalité, déjà. Elle permettrait à Mitt Romney de payer 0 % d'intérêts sur ses dividendes.
Etc..
Le site "Supervillain or Newt" a même créé un jeu où on peut s'entraîner à distinguer les vraies idées gingrichiennes des copies.. (Exemple: utiliser le nucléaire pour provoquer des mouvements géologiques qui aideraient le secteur immobilier en créant un littoral plus long. Newt ou pas Newt ?)
Dernière idée en date: s'installer sur la lune. Newt avait déjà proposé d'y faire des forages. Hier (à Cap Canaveral), il a promis que les Etats-Unis auraient une base sur la lune avant la fin de son mandat (le deuxième. Newt voit grand, on vous dit)
Une source inépuisable de "jokes":
- "Newt promet la lune", a titré le Washington Post.
Le mot qui revient systématiquement chez Newt: c'est "fantasy". Mais il ne s'applique pas à lui.
Pourtant... L'une des déclarations les plus parlantes du candidat est celle où il avoue qu'il a encore quatre ans (et qu'il a gardé un faible pour les dinosaures). C'était dans une interview au magazine Esquire.
- « Il y a une large part de moi qui a toujours quatre ans. Je me réveille le matin et je sais que quelque part, il y a un cookie. Je ne sais pas où il est mais je sais que c’est le mien et qu’il faut que je le trouve. Ma vie est une étonnante partie de plaisir ».
Ou, en version originale, recueillie par le journaliste John H. Richardson ...
"There's a large part of me that's four years old," he tells you. "I wake up in the morning and I know that somewhere there's a cookie. I don't know where it is but I know it's mine and I have to go find it. That's how I live my life. My life is amazingly filled with fun."
He says this in the same office, with the same assistant at his side and a digital recorder on the table.
Last year, at sixty-five, he converted to Catholicism. He credits this to Bisek, a willowy blond who sings in a church choir. "Callista and I kid that I'm four and she's five and therefore she gets to be in charge, because the difference between four and five is a lot."
This post appeared on the front page as a direct link to the original article with the above link .

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