...just keeps going, and going, and going...

Here's the latest from Florida Today. The Kerry people didn't just shoot themselves in the unlucky rabbit's foot on this one. They kept reloading:

Kerry's campaign team asked for the pictures and helped pass them out to reporters, NASA said. Once the photos surfaced on Web sites and in newspapers, becoming joke fodder for pundits at the Democratic National Convention in Boston, Kerry's campaign got defensive.

The Kerry team hinted at dirty tricks. Campaign manager Mary Beth Cahill said the pictures were not meant to go public.

NASA routinely photographs touring dignitaries and posts them online. Kerry's group included four current or former U.S. senators. Two of them, Glenn and U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Melbourne, flew in space. So there was nothing unusual about publicizing the photos...

...NASA did not elaborate on whether lawyers deemed the Kerry campaign event Monday was an improper use of the Visitor Center. Nor did the agency say how it differed from the ways other politicians have used NASA locations and high-profile space events for political purposes.

It's wabbit season!

That's what irritated me about this. There was no "high-profile space event" here. It was simply using a NASA center as a prop to talk about things that had nothing to do with space. It was purely a campaign event, and despite Lori Garver's flimsy defense of him (and I like Lori), the senator continues to strike me as someone who is as profoundly unserious on the space issue as he is on all others, except for achieving his lifelong dream of being the second JFK.

"...despite Lori Garver's flimsy defense of him (and I like Lori)..."

Actually, I have more than a passing acquaintance with Ms. Garver as a member-in-exile of the former L5 Society. It's not at all surprising to see her involved in Kerry's campaign, or of her making a hash of it in the process. She managed to alienate (no pun intended) nearly everyone from the L5 half of the merged National Space Society organization with her bumbling personnel policies and virulent opposition to anything that whiffed of the private sector in space.

If you're still schmoozing with her, give her a cardiac stress test the next time you see her: ask her if she remembers Peoria L5, SpaceLines and Simon Jester.

Simon, I haven't seen her in years, and have no expectations of seeing her any time soon, unless Kerry manages to somehow win the election and she once again becomes part of the policy apparatus. I've received similar sentiments to yours in email.

My comment was based on my own personal experiences with her, which have been limited (and extremely so in recent years). Others may have had more unpleasant (to put it mildly, based on other feedback) interactions with her, and so their mileage may vary, perhaps widely. I'm certainly not in a position to render judgement on that--I can only speak for myself.

I was a little surprised at all the space references given during the DNC, and at the whole KSC visit, considering the fact that Kerry seems to have no actual policy on space.

I'm not involved (at all) in the space community, so I got no dog in this fight, but wasn't Lori Garver the lady who was trying to ride on (of all people) Lance Bass' coattails to get people to sponsor a trip for her to ISS?

"Here at our great nation's primary space center, we can take a few moments to address issues central to America's space efforts, outlining the difficulties common Americans are experiencing bearing the brunt of offshore outsourcing and Bush's vicious protectionist policies, which are damning America's elderly, crippling them with the need to go to Canada to get desperately needed medications while-"

'Uh, Senator? Uhm, space matters?'

"Oh, yes. Where were we?"

Just thought everyone might appreciate the humor in this google news article on the bunny suit pictures. I have a screenshot of it here: http://server6.uploadit.org/files/Larson2042-waffle.jpg