Campaign '04

Obligatory Kerry bunnysuit post

I’ve been informed that federal campaign law requires me to post an opinion about that whole silly controversy over the Kerry “bunnysuit” photos taken during his visit Monday at KSC. (Actually, the law doesn’t require it, but sometimes it seems that way.) My use of the word “silly” above should plainly describe how empty an issue this is; you can also read what Keith Cowing has to say about it at NASA Watch. But don’t take my word for it: here’s what Tucker Carlson and George McGovern said about it on CNN’s Larry King Live last night:

CARLSON: And, in fact, or the weird, you know, NASA outfit.

KING: That’s with all the NASA people. Why was that weird? That’s what they all wear.

CARLSON: Really, yes, but they wear it in the privacy of their own space capsule not, you know…

MCGOVERN: He looked like a teletubby.

There you go. Don’t say we don’t have insightful commentary on the key space issues of the day here.

9 comments to Obligatory Kerry bunnysuit post

  • Anonymous

    Unfortunately, the one big lesson that politicians are likely to take away from this incident is that NASA can only bring you negative publicity. It cannot help you.

    That clearly seems to be the lesson that the Bush administration has learned from Bush’s January speech, hence, no further mentions of it.

  • Perry A. Noriega

    Perception is in the eye of the beholder, and the relativity of human perception is infinite. One gathers from an experience, or a photo, what one’s preconceptions and perceptual filters lead one to perceive. The fact that Kerry and his advisors are upset over the Bunny suit photos are more an example of how they think, nothing else.

    The fact the Republicans choose to portray Kerry as a bunny or a teletubby is more a comment on how they think than anything else either. If the Republicans had any real brains en masse, and their spin machine was truly well informed, they could have commented on not only how everyone must wear a bunny suit around critical spaceflight hardware, particularly the crew cabin of shuttle orbiters, but how Kerry should be honored, not insulted,to have NASA give him the chance to go inside of what is, to many in the space community, as a holy icon, and sacred ground both.

    For all of them to comment not on the signal honor to tour Discovery firsthand, but on how Kerry looks silly wearing necessary garb to do so, is more an indication of the generally low level of political commentary, and the state of conventional, authoritarian, bureaucratic, hierarchical politics in the US, and such organizations in general, than anything substantive or important.

  • Yes, all of the commentary on this has been disappointing. No one (other than me, of course) has pointed out how an attempt to use NASA as a campaign stage prop and empty photo opportunity backfired so badly.

  • Anonymous

    “If the Republicans had any real brains en masse, and their spin machine was truly well informed, they could have commented on not only how everyone must wear a bunny suit around critical spaceflight hardware, particularly the crew cabin of shuttle orbiters, but how Kerry should be honored, not insulted,to have NASA give him the chance to go inside of what is, to many in the space community, as a holy icon, and sacred ground both.”

    Actually, if Kerry is smart, he will try to turn this around and use it to his advantage. If he shows that picture and jokes about it, he can defuse some of the brouhaha. His next sentence should be to play the patriotism angle–talk about the hero alongside him, John Glenn, and the brave people who fly into space. Lay it on thick. Talk about wonderful American values such as courage, ambition, dedication, etc. He could easily spin this whole incident into motherhood, apple pie, and the flag. And he could do it all without once mentioning the NASA budget.

  • Perry A. Noriega

    Yes, but my money is betting on the chance that he won’t.

  • Perry A. Noriega

    Thanks to Keith Cowing and Frank Sietzen, I now have substantive information about Senator Kerry’s voting record on space during his time in the US Senate. It is not good. Kerry on eight separate occasions voted to either cut funding to the International Space Station, NASA’s Human Spaceflight Program, or kill the station program outright. Specifics can be found at: http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewnews.html?id=965 .

    John Kerry’s staff also chose to complain about NASA posting images of him in a clean room smock, a.k.a Bunny Suit. He should be well aware that KSC has various Internet sites that post images of different subjects of interest, such as Messenger being prepped for its launch to Mercury, OV-103/Disvovery being put back together in preparation for resumption of space shuttle flights, and so on. These sites would obviously post images of a Presidential Contender visiting an American Icon, holy shrine, and manned spacecraft all at the same time. Kerry should be humbled by the experience, and if he or his advisors understood space policy or programs one whit, they would be able to use his visit to Discovery and KSC to his, and NASA’s advantage both. Unfortunately, this seems to be beyond the capacity of Kerry and his advisors. At least so far.

    Kerry is typical of old style, leftist-liberal, socialist oriented, social welfare spending, the government that regulates and controls more is better, and big brother knows best; he will tell you whether you ask him or not. And the type of politics, political parties as they are now, and their prospective policies scare the bejeesus out of me. And his effect on VSE, or on space programs and policy in general, could well be disastrous. Same goes for his other policies to be, if his professional, personal, and official history is any evidence of future actions.

    So NASA does Kerry a favor, and his staffers bungle the opportunity to do some good. Bumbling by Kerry’s staff, a press corps seeking attack dog journalistic spectacle at any cost, and a photo opportunity gone bad from lack of knowledge and marketing skill turns a chance to help everyone into a loss-loss proposition for all concerned. If only NASA management had known ahead of time this could happen, maybe they could have headed off this media disaster at the pass, and saved their skills and spacecraft for someone, anyone else, who could turn it to their advantage, and help NASA out of a very bad time too. Sadly, this is evidently beyond John Kerry’s, his staff and management’s, our journalists as they see the world at present, and NASA’s P.R. staff together. Don’t work together and things will fall apart-guaranteed.
    All in all, not the best day for NASA, space policy and programs, and John Kerry too. Better luck next time.

  • Kerry on eight separate occasions voted to either cut funding to the International Space Station, NASA’s Human Spaceflight Program, or kill the station program outright.

    You say that like it’s a bad thing…

  • Anonymous

    Maybe it’s not so silly:

    http://mediamatters.org/items/200407280008

    The photo that most of the media has been using, with Kerry looking a bit goofy crawling out of a hatch, isn’t on NASA’s web site. So how did that photo get out, and why isn’t it posted online? The KSC PAO has some explaining to do.

  • Dogsbd

    “The photo that most of the media has been using, with Kerry looking a bit goofy crawling out of a hatch, isn’t on NASA’s web site.”

    Evidently they al been ordered removed.

    http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewnews.html?id=966