I'm still thinking about that Bush announcement of a Moon and Mars vision thing--a U.S. moon base and a U.S. manned mission to Mars. I've not heard a single commentator ask, "And this from someone who said 'the verdict's still out' on whether or not evolution is true?!" (
http://quote.multiservers.com/religious.html)
Also bearing in mind that in August 2001 Bush called the disappearing surplus "incredibly positive news" because it would put Congress in a "fiscal straitjacket," (http://www.pkarchive.org/economy/TaxCutCon.html) it's clear that Bush doesn't give a damn about science (just ask stem cell researchers, or alternative energy experts); rather Bush's Mars & Moon plan is vapid--all empty rhetoric--like every Karl Rove idea he parrots.
Bush/Rove hopes that this spacey project will inspire America (i.e. distract us from Iraq and a jobless pseudo-recovery) and further bankrupt the federal gov't, forcing cuts in programs the rich--his backers--don't need, like Social Security and Medicare.
This whole Moon and Mars thing ought to be named Project Disingenuous; it's an idea with its head not in the clouds, but firmly fixed on the things of Earth...in the most Machiavellian way imaginable.