Hutchinson: national pride above private enterprise

The honorable Kay Bailey Hutchinson spent far too much time on Thursday addressing Obama's plans for NASA. The short version of it is the Republicans just found one more silly thing to accuse the president and Democrats of being anti-american. She shouldn't play poker, because she has an obvious tell - she smirks whenever she blurts out rhetoric. Interesting things I noted during her speech:

1) Reliance on Russia for shuttling astronauts to the ISS is a terrible thing because somehow that makes America no longer a leader in space exploration. Got that? Performing thirty year-old missions is somehow supposed to be glorious and groundbreaking. It's outsourcing taxi work!

2) Obama's idea of getting NASA to use private American companies to get payloads into space is bad. She doesn't believe in private companies to handle such a trivial task. Who's a big-government socialist now?

3) Going to the moon is a worthy plan. Sure, back in the 50's where Republicans seem to be stuck. Obama is talking about looking forward to asteroid and Mars exploration. How are those not worthy goals for a great nation?

4) Republicans can't stand science and research when it's related to climatology, but if it's for war or exploration that's ok. Must we point out how terrible it is when politicians get to decide what scientists should focus on?

5) Hutchinson is still impressed by velcro. Yup- 1950s.