The Opening Salvo From Congress

I find it hypocritical that the anti-government Republican crowd is now defending government monopoly of human access to space, dismissing American industry and the free enterprise system as incapable, and touting 2-time endorsement of a proclaimed inept Congress as a justification to save Constellation.

Likely those particular Republicans are concerned that moving to commercial space access will mean more efficient use of resources (read: money) than the current system of bloated government subcontractors.

folks, mainstream DC seems to have gotten past CxP vs. commercial - it's moved on to Manned vs. Unmanned:

Steven Weinberg: Obama Gets Space Funding Right
We could send hundreds of robots to Mars for the cost of one manned mission.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704259304575042920971568684.html?mod=rss_Today's_Most_Popular

(this is a pretty well stated & reasoned argument, maybe there should be an equal to or better than Nobel prize winning scientist-author-manned-spaceflight proponent out there that can publish a counter in this very same WSJ?)

Lose no sleep on the mystery:
Before a politician is against anything, he is in favor of getting everything for his state.

The potential for a permanent spaceflight gap and crippling brain drain could mean big losses in jobs and money. That would affect those same republicans ability to get reelected.

Politics is alot like evolution. If they cant meet the basic requirements of keeping their seats, all these other values are a moot point.

Obama has finally achieved bipartisanship on an issue, the opposition to canceling Constellation coming from TX, FL, and AL is coming from both sides of the aisle.