It's starting already, the presidential election cycle of some people claiming that space exploration will grow and flourish if a Conservative is elected, and die on the vine if a Democrat makes it to the White House. They will glorify the Conservative candidate's interest in everything space related, and damn the Democrat as ignorant and uncaring.

These people will disregard that Bush has gradually starved space and has chosen to spend the surplus and everything he can borrow on optional, unnecessary, losing wars. They will ignore that Bush has committed the American taxpayer to pay for his wars for the next 20 years, minimum, leaving little, if anything, for optional programs. And for 7.5 years they have blamed NASA, not the administration, for a lackadaisical approach, ignoring that NASA's budget has been controlled by Bush, Cheney, Rice, Rumsfeld, Gates and for most of those years a Republican Congress.

We're gonna hear how McCain loves space as well as war, and how the Democratic candidate would squander money on health care for citizens rather than space exploration, 'ad nauseum'.

Ignoring history, along the way. Some years ago another Republican president cancelled many Apollo missions to help pay for a war he had promised to end.

Sigh.

Arf