# Bush to announce manned moon mission another fine example of bait and switch **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 9, 2004, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-to-announce-manned-moon-mission-another-fine-example-of-bait-and-switch/223551 "2004-01-09T02:00:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2004, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-to-announce-manned-moon-mission-another-fine-example-of-bait-and-switch/223551/81 "2004-01-10T00:45:53Z")
**TartPops** , have you ever read a book that _wasn’t_ written by Bill Bryson? You keep citing him like he’s the be-all and end-all of knowledge about the space program. Have you considered looking into any books about space written by people who actually works in some field more directly related to the space program than a guy who’s chief claim to fame is being a professional tourist? ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Ashtar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@Lord\_Ashtar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Ashtar)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2004, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-to-announce-manned-moon-mission-another-fine-example-of-bait-and-switch/223551/82 "2004-01-10T00:47:22Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Left Hand of Dorkness \* > \*\ ***Lord Ashtar** , I know our house will never be entirely in order. Had we been pushing to the moon in the mid-nineties, however, when the economy was booming, it would’ve made more sense. Things are especially _out_ of order right now; that’s why I don’t see doing it now. > > It’s also pretty ironic that this laudable but expensive plan is being proposed by the same guy that slashed the government’s income. You’d think, were you an idealistic fool, that he would at least have the integrity to mention how much it’s going to cost and how he’s going to pay for it. > > Daniel \*\* Wouldn’t a push to the moon create jobs? ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2004, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-to-announce-manned-moon-mission-another-fine-example-of-bait-and-switch/223551/83 "2004-01-10T00:48:05Z")
For the record, the $450 billion figure for a manned mission to Mars came from a committee proposal solicited by Bush the Elder, and shows what happens when every single department in the bureaucracy gets to write a chapter to financially justify their various projects as being part of the overall program. Bob Zubrin, the iconoclastic but technically gifted space evangelist behind the “Mars Direct” concept, calls the $450 billion plan “Battlestar Galactica.” Read his book _The Case for Mars_ to see an alternative approach that he claims would cost $20 billion but that I think he’s low-balling by twenty-five percent which is still a freakin’ _bargain._ And re the potential Bush announcement, this makes one item in his favor, with several quadzillion still against. This stuff just makes me _moist._ ---
**Author:** ![Ilsa\_Lund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a6a055/32.png) [@Ilsa\_Lund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ilsa_Lund)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2004, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-to-announce-manned-moon-mission-another-fine-example-of-bait-and-switch/223551/84 "2004-01-10T01:57:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by TartPops \* > \*\*And the point of this post was…what exactly? > > Wait, I know the answer. > > There isn’t one. > > You just can’t face up to the fact that your earlier statement about my pulling facts out of my ass has been exposed for the utter lie that it is. > > If you had the maturity level of even a 14 year old you would admit that you lied and possibly even apologize, but I bet that’ll never happen. > > And my political philosophy comes from a number of sources, one of which is a careful reading of various newspapers and another a great deal of reading of history. \*\* It wasn’t a lie, and I do apologize. Not to appease you, I may add, but because I do have more emotional maturity than a fourteen year old. I still think you’re a fucking moron. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2004, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-to-announce-manned-moon-mission-another-fine-example-of-bait-and-switch/223551/85 "2004-01-10T04:38:29Z")
> [@](#): > > I’ve seen it alluded to before, but allow me to come out and say it. We can afford it. Most people don’t have a concept of how much money the US has at its disposal. Hell yeah we can afford it. Just looking at how much we spend on Iraq, Israel, Saudi Arabia, and all the billions that disappear into black budgets - building a base on the moon is easy and chump change. Heck, going to Mars is chump change. ---
**Author:** ![Michael\_Ellis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/977dab/32.png) [@Michael\_Ellis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael_Ellis)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2004, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-to-announce-manned-moon-mission-another-fine-example-of-bait-and-switch/223551/86 "2004-01-10T05:32:23Z")
Well, I see **Tarty** has been banned. What happened? Returning troll? ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2004, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-to-announce-manned-moon-mission-another-fine-example-of-bait-and-switch/223551/87 "2004-01-10T05:40:24Z")
This thread was started by a returning troll, so I’m closing it. Y’all can continue to debate the merits of the space program and how it should be funded in GD, or continue to bash Bush in the Pit, but not in this thread. Lynn For the Straight Dope [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bush-to-announce-manned-moon-mission-another-fine-example-of-bait-and-switch/223551.md?page=4)