Last night's presidential debate didn't bring much unseen material forth from the GOP contenders, but new rivals Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney butted heads over one very pertinent issue: the moon. Should we mine it for moon minerals? Let's argue.


It started, the LA Times reports, when Romney was asked to explain what sets him apart from Newt—and of course, he started with something highly relevant to the average voter:

"We could start with his idea to have a lunar colony that would mine minerals from the moon. I'm not in favor of spending that kind of money to do that."


And Romney is right! Sort of: ABC News says Gingrich has talked moon love before, but maybe not to the ridiculous extent Mitt implied:

Gingrich has proposed scaling back NASA and offering private companies prizes for space travel, including travel to the moon. He mentioned lunar colonies at a townhall meeting in Bluffton, South Carolina when a student said he wanted to work for NASA.

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Mining the moon will probably be more important for the 2172 election, when the nation might have the money and attention span to do so. But that won't stop the squabbling: "I'm happy to defend the idea that America should be in space and should be there in an aggressive, entrepreneurial way," longtime space enthusiast Newt Gingrich shot back. Mining the moon for... moon rocks is definitely aggressive! Aggressively stupid. How about everyone stops talking about mining the moon for the duration of this election, unless there is some plan to end American unemployment by flying every jobless citizen to the vacuum of space. [LA Times]

Above video is from June's GOP debate