Comments on: Curious Kerry commentary

By: Rand Simberg

Rand Simberg — Fri, 12 Mar 2004 16:20:18 +0000

D’oh! That first sentence was a quote from Dwayne’s post–it was supposed to be italicized. Jeff, you should warn commenters that HTML isn’t allowed.

By: Rand Simberg

Rand Simberg — Fri, 12 Mar 2004 16:18:38 +0000

Without other data, you have to take the candidate at his word.

Not when his word changes weekly. It’s hard to grant the Senator any credibility on any topic when it comes to his future positions or actions.

By: Kevin Parkin

Kevin Parkin — Thu, 11 Mar 2004 09:14:25 +0000

Revitalizing the high-technology (aerospace) sector has been a theme in several high-level reports over the years, but the problem has not yet been addressed in any serious way.

Apparently, at least one person in Sen. Kerry’s campaign understands that renewing aerospace infrastructure (rather than generating spin-offs) could/should be an important pragmatic justification for a future NASA.

Space is obviously not going to be a vote winner this election, so I can understand why Sen. Kerry is noncommittal on the exploration initiative. If he becomes president, I expect that events will force him to move forward on at least one major space initiative. As long as he doesn’t back himself into a corner with strong and unjustified comments against space exploration, then I’m not holding it against him.

By: Dwayne A. Day

Dwayne A. Day — Thu, 11 Mar 2004 03:57:21 +0000

I have read a number of analyses of how Kerry might lean on space policy and the more I read the more confused I get. It is not so much Kerry, as the question of what criteria one would actually use to assess this issue. As several people have noted, it is probably not best to use his campaign rhetoric as a yardstick. Yes, he has led chants of “Send Bush to Mars,” obviously implying that the Bush space plan is unwise. But it is probably much more accurate to say that this issue is unimportant to him and all his public statements on it so far are simply campaign tactics.

However… at the end of the day, all you are left with is the public statements and the other indicators. We lack a crystal ball to figure out what his administration would really do on this subject. Without other data, you have to take the candidate at his word.

By: Arthur Smith

Arthur Smith — Thu, 11 Mar 2004 03:07:13 +0000

Jim’s in Alabama, so space is obviously much higher than #28 on the priority list for him