Some of the data you seek has already been provided above (by anonymous), and elsewhere on this site.

If I worked on the McCain campaign (as Mr. Hillhouse does) I would talk to Mr. Floyd Deschamps and ask for his help in putting together a detailed case.

I will leave the exercise to Mr. Hillhouse.

– Al

As an expert on space policy, what are the voting records of both McCain and Obama on space? Who voted for which bills when? That would be very interesting to see and it sounds like you would have the data handy based on your post above.

Jim,

Senator McCain is a good man, but I know space policy, and he is not a leader on space policy. Senator McCain served as Chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, and as a good Republican he put his name on two bills … but he did not LEAD the legislative effort on those bills.

Chairman McCain was doing his “duty” as Chairman of the Commerce Committee for legislation requested by the Bush White House. His staff did the work. The legislation was pretty non-controversial, and did not require any significant legislative work. In fact, it would have stood out if McCain had not helped the President, who was the leader of his party.

A second bill was the companion piece to House legislation that was lead by Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R, CA), who was the then-Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Space. Now, if you want to know what a real leader on space looks like — think Dana Rohrabacher.

I can name many other *LEADERS* on the Hill on space policy, on both sides of the aisle, but Senator McCain is not on a list of any serious space policy expert (that I know) as somebody who has demonstrated serious interest or leadership in space.

Senator McCain has had nearly 30 years on Capitol Hill, giving him plenty of opportunity to demonstrate an interest in space, and the record is clear. He is about as interested as the average Member of Congress.

I don’t hold this against him. The Member of Congress who likes and supports space, without it being an item of local interest, is pretty rare. It is just the way it is.

I just find it pretty annoying with admitted flacks try to sell him as being more pro-space than he really is.

McCain is a good man, but I can do without the spin.

If you want to win me over, then get the McCain campaign to release a more detailed space policy statement that addresses some of the obvious and fundamental issues. If McCain really is pro-space, and if you really are “connected”, then that should not be too much of a problem for you.

FWIW,

– Al

No, he doesn’t. McCain has been negative on NASA’s human space flight programs multiple times in past speeches, testimony, and votes.

McCain spoke against the $1 billion “Mikulski miracle” budget boost to pay for NASA expenses associated with Columbia and Katrina recovery as recently as last year. See (add http://www):

.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/18/AR2008081802171.html

McCain submitted written testimony that was negative on the VSE when it was rolled out in 2004. See (add http://www):

globalsecurity.org/space/library/congress/2004_h/040128-mccain.htm

And McCain has a fairly long record of voting against NASA funding
.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=26112

All politicians change positions and speak out of both sides of their mouths.

But to pretend that McCain has not changed his position on NASA’s human space flight programs more times than Obama is either a very poorly informed statement or a bald-faced lie.

FWIW…

I don’t mean this as an insult — I really don’t. But are you serious that McCain’s position on civil space policy is being influenced by an unpaid computer programmer (yourself)?

Seriously, there would be no McCain civil space position if you had not “encouraged” the campaign to come up with one?

The enthusiasm is laudable, but this says very bad things about the campaign’s staffing in this area.

I thought Obama’s 60-odd space advisors was silly. And I thought sending Walt Cunningham to represent McCain to the Mars Society when Cunningham didn’t even know the campaign’s positions was sad.

But this is outright ridiculous.

“As to where my views end and the campaign’s begins, once I was brought in on Monday, my views ended.”

First you said that you were the campaign’s representative on civil space issues in Brevard Co.

Then you backtracked and stated that being a spokesman was above your pay grade. And we found out that you’re not actually in Brevard quite yet.

And now you once again claim to be espousing the campaign’s official viewpoint.

Which is it? Are you authorized to speak on behalf of the McCain campaign or not?

“I can answer questions 2 and 3 in part because of what McCain has said in public, namely that NASA is special to the U.S. and that the proposed freeze on discretionary spending never included NASA.”

Again, where and when was it reported that McCain stated that NASA is exempt from his proposed FY 2010 discretionary budget freeze? And did he really justify the exemption by calling NASA “special”?

“the only candidate who campaigned for 17 months that he was going to cut Constellation funding by 85% for 5 years was Senator Obama.”

“here’s a good 10 months worth,

From Kos on 20 Nov. 2007…
From the Obama campaign on 20 Nov. 2007…
And from this site on 20 Nov. 2007…
Wired Magazine on 21 Nov. 2007…
From NPR on 1 March 2008…
From here on 7 March 2008 during a townhall meeting…
From SpaceDaily on 7 April 2008″

I searched the sources at each of these links, and an 85% figure (cut or add, to any NASA budget or program) does not appear in any of them. Again, where and when was the 85% cut reported?

“… from now on, I’ll use 10 months, not 17.”

The lack of accuracy in your figures, the unsourced figures, the back-and-forth on whether you actually represent the McCain campaign or not, the misleading statements about where your base of operations, and the incredulous credentials — it’s all getting a little tiresome. Maybe you’re a troll having a big laugh at a bunch of space cadets’ expense. But if not, I’d urge you to get your story straight and doublecheck your figures and sources before coming back. You’re not doing the McCain campaign any favors.

FWIW…

I would disagree with you on this basis. McCain has a legislative history that is supportive of manned Space exploration. Senator Obama does not. So voters don’t know what Senator Obama really believes about Space exploration. And what I worry about is that Senator Obama’s first policy inclination on November 20th, 2007 might have been where his heart really was and might be where he goes back to.

Has Senator Obama really changed his mind? Or is Senator Obama merely doing what so many candidates have done over the last 40 years–show up at KSC, get a nice photo-op, offer up some nice platitudes to please the Space worker masses, win the election, and then blow-off Space?

Has Senator obama really changed his mind? Or is Senator Obama merely doing what so many candidates have done over the last 40 years–show up at KSC, get a nice photo-op, offer up some nice platitudes to please the Space worker masses, win the election, and then blow-off Space? Or worse?

Not the old, overcome-by-events, no-longer-current-or-accurate space policies.

Whoever brings up OLD non-existing space policies INSTANTLY LOSES CREDIBILITY.

– Al

Googling “Obama cut space Constellation ” revealed much, but here’s a good 10 months worth,

From Kos on 20 Nov. 2007 http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/11/20/215249/38

From the Obama campaign on 20 Nov. 2007 (near the bottom) http://obama.3cdn.net/a8dfc36246b3dcc3cb_iem6bxpgh.pdf

And from this site on 20 Nov. 2007 http://www.spacepolitics.com/2007/11/20/obama-cut-constellation-to-pay-for-education/

Wired Magazine on 21 Nov. 2007 http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2007/11/obama-pits-huma.html

From NPR on 1 March 2008 http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=87829747

From here on 7 March 2008 during a townhall meeting http://www.spacepolitics.com/2008/03/07/obama-nasa-no-longer-associated-with-inspiration/

From SpaceDaily on 7 April 2008 http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1100/1

So, I must apologize to everyone because, as I was only able to find comments by Obama concerning his intent to cut…well, really kill Constellation only go back 10 months. So, from now on, I’ll use 10 months, not 17.

Is this the info you were looking for ctyri?