That after all is what Delay seems to be on about.

Six weeks ago, I heard rumors that this program was being cancelled. My staff requested a status report from NASA headquarters. And only just last week, I received a one-page document that lays out a plan for "an orderly shutdown" of the X-38.

He makes a good point that O'Keefe's stated commitment to space science is at odds with his cancellation of the CRV.

The decision to kill the X-38 strikes at the very heart of the need to let science to drive the agency. With this plan, you deliberately constrict the science that can be done aboard the space station.

This is a politician who genuinely cares about the pork in his district. But he also makes a good case for completing the X-38.

O'Keefe couldn't afford the $40 million allocated by a unanimous vote of the committee for the X-38? Who does the bean-man think he's fooling?