AP Poll: U.S. Tepid on Bush's Space Plans

[45th Med]

By WILL LESTER
The Associated Press
Monday, January 12, 2004; 2:50 PM


WASHINGTON - President Bush's plan to build a space station on the moon and eventually send astronauts to Mars hasn't grabbed the public's imagination, an Associated Press poll suggests.

More than half in the poll said it would be better to spend the money on domestic programs rather than on space research.

US Tepid on Space Plans

[Hobarticus]

1. Yuh think?

Build Space Station Poppy on yer own dime, Georgie.

[45th Med]

5. uh, yea.......

let it be funded privately........see how many takers there are! we have enough problems in our country without going into the hole on ANOTHER dumb program.....

[Ronnie]

14. Good idea.

They want to privatize everything else.

[TEXASYANKEE]

2. Tepid?

Tepid?!! Ha, the US lackey media again fails to amaze me.

[wryter2000]

3. hahahahah

Nothing he does works anymore. He's a looooooser!

:bounce:

[jpgray]

4. This, like the immigrant bit, is politically dumb

I'm not sure yet whose votes they plan to snare (beyond defense contractors) with this one.

[MoonAndSun]

6. Rove has put out some really dumb proposals these past couple of

weeks. Is he really suppose to be a brilliant strategist?

He is a brilliant a**hole, though.

[Hobarticus]

7. This could be GW's "grocery scanner"...

Remember when they showed Poppy utterly fascinated by a simple bar-code scanner at a grocery store, and how that was turned into "he's out of touch with average people"?

Lessee...the economy stinks, Iraq's a mess, corporations are moving overseas...and you want to go to the moon. Ohhhh-kay. Thanks for playing.

[ninkasi]

8. Gee, I wonder why?

Of course, it might be that people prefer to have jobs that pay livable wages, universal health care, adequately funded schools, and a strong Social Security system. Those same people might also want clean water, clean air, and a stop put to raping the environment. A program to develop clean, renewal energy sources would be nice, too.

This has got to be the most corrupt administration in American history, and the least responsive to the will of the people.

[fjc]

9. Kucinich had the funniest line in last nights debate.

He said that the only reason that the administration wants to go to Mars is that they're still looking for the weapons of mass destruction.

[ahimsa]

12. The moon probably would have been cheaper than Iraq...

.. and that would almost be funny if it weren't true.

:think:

[Qutzupalotl]

10. Friday's BBC World News had a priceless moment about this proposal.

The announcer just so matter-of-factly and in a slightly condescending British accent said, "President Bush announced today that he wants to put a space station on the moon."

Okay, you had to be there. It's like he was talking of the President like a 5-year-old.

[yellowcanine]

11. But this was my JFK moment!

You ain't no JFK, shrubbie.

[Mel]

13. who trusts this clown.....

not me, if you ask me this will end up being about his wanting weapons in space.
It's the same old, same old.

[PennyLane]

18. EXACTLY!

It goes along with the presence in the Middle East, the presence in
Asia, and now a tactical command center in space. I was beginning to
think I was the only one who thought this. Some people want to pretend Bush is a child, but he's sly like a fox. It's all falling
into place. Can we say P.N.A.C.???????

[Zech Marquis]

15. when I told my co workers about this

everybody and even a few customers nearby just busted out laughing. One guy walked up and said,"I wish we can send his sorry ass to Mars on a one way trip!" "but that would be cruel to the Marrtians" I added :evilgrin:

[WealthAndDemocracy]

16. I'd rather see the money spent on domestic programs and on the debt

he got us into in such a short time. What is he trying to do? Make it even worse?

[aquart]

17. You know those commercials about identity theft?

Well, picture George as the giggly girl who buys the $500 bustier because it ain't like SHE's paying for it.

[newyawker99]

22. Hi WealthAndDemocracy!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[moondust]

19. Tepid? Ice cold here.

It is sheer lunacy to even mention starting another gazillion dollar space program before current gazillion dollar space programs are completed and show some results.

[pinniped]

20. What a surprise.

Just about every single letter to the editor I read today was against it. There were a couple exceptions and they were for it so long as it was the ASSHOLENAUT in chief who was sent back to Mars.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2004/01/12/EDGG2465BV1.DTL

-------------------

Editor -- For once, President Bush has proposed something I can get behind. Spending hundreds of billions to land a man on the moon may seem a steep price to pay given our flowing red ink, but if that first man were Bush himself, and the minimum time it took to get to Mars was seven months, we might actually come out ahead.
Calculated in terms of savings in human lives and human suffering, the environment, the economy and international public opinion during those seven months, sending Bush to Mars sounds like the prudent and cost-effective thing to do.


MEREDITH MINKLER
Kensington

------------------

Sending men (including Bush?) to Mars

Editor -- Your headline reads, "Bush to announce plan to send men to Mars" (Jan. 9). As we suffer through an administration that has brought us unending war, international scorn, record budget deficits, painful unemployment, skyrocketing health care costs and relentless assaults on our environment, our civil liberties and our sense of community, I wish the headline had read instead: "Men announce plan to send Bush to Mars."


KATIE KLEINSASSER
San Francisco

[truthisfreedom]

21. rove will try anything at this point, and the public has a bad taste in

its mouth. bush's plan to blow a bunch of money on something that will undoubtedly be a decade or more off in the future and will cost more than fixing everything wrong with this country is a really bizarre and unlikely thing for rove to expect a positive reaction over.