His rivals often decry Newt Gingrich’s scorched-earth rhetoric, but they are increasingly getting into the act themselves. Witness the newest broadcast ad from Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum, which calls Gingrich’s economic proposals “fiscal insanity.”
The ad’s wording and tone also borrows a read-between-the-lines theme that front-runner Mitt Romney has been using against Gingrich – that he is mentally unstable and therefore unfit for the presidency. In addition to liberal use of the word “insanity,” a digital press release accompanying the ad makes note of “Gingrich’s erratic behavior” and “wild ideas.”
The text of the radio ad, which the Santorum campaign says will be aired nationally beginning
Friday, says, “Reckless spending has led to a 15-trillion-dollar national debt. That’s $50,000 of debt for every person in America, and it’s crushing our economy. And what’s Newt Gingrich suggest? Spending half a trillion dollars on a moon colony.”
Gingrich’s voice is heard describing his plan for permanent base on the moon by his second term as president, followed by the voice over saying, “Gingrich’s idea is fiscal insanity. And another reason true conservatives are uniting behind Rick Santorum.”
Actual government estimates of a lunar outpost range from $104 billion to $230 billion.
In an interview on CNN Friday, Gingrich responded to the ad, saying it misrepresented his space plan. He said he would not increase federal spending, but rather “redesign NASA” and attract private capital to fund his moon base.
He said of Santorum and front-runner Mitt Romney, who also has criticized his plan as too expensive: “The Chinese have announced they're going to the moon and announced they're going to try to dominate space. We're not going to compete? What a tremendous gap from John F. Kennedy to politicians today who are too timid, too stingy, too lacking in imagination, and they're literally prepared to cede domination in space to Russia and China.”
Santorum is hoping to consolidate the support of social conservatives and tea party voters behind his candidacy in Saturday’s Nevada caucus and other upcoming primaries. That constituency was dominated by Gingrich in both South Carolina and Florida in primaries held last month.
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