Much to Floridian Jeb Bush's potential disappointment, the following two Republican elected officials appear to be the leading influential Shuttle pundits:

SENATE:

http://brownback.senate.gov/ (R, KS)

Quoted here:
http://www.sunherald.com/mld/sunherald/news/nation/8307442.htm

"U.S. Sen. Sam Brownback said Monday he wants to hold a hearing on recent problems within the space shuttle program and whether NASA's remaining fleet could or should be retired sooner than the current target date of 2010."

HOUSE:

http://joebarton.house.gov/ (an engineer; R, TX)

U.S. Rep. Joe L. Barton has said that the Shuttle is too dangerous to fly with people on board. "I think we should use the three remaining orbiters in an umanned capacity, in other words convert them so you don't put humans in the orbiter," said Barton during an appearance on CNNfn. "We should use the Russian Soyuz or develop our own new shuttle or spaceplane to take astronauts back into space."

Can we terminate the murderous & wasteful Shuttle program before it re-launches? Wooooooow...better CENSOR me, huh?