The Chronicle ran this cartoon from right-winger Michael Ramirez last week. Mothballing the Space Shuttles is a sore subject around Clear Lake, where thousands of NASA employees are worrying about their jobs, and blaming the President; but I have to wonder how many people noticed the following, from the second GOP debate in Manchester New Hampshire last month. From The Chronicle blogs:

“Republican presidential candidates agree: No more federal money for human space flight

“The Republican presidential field sent a clear message to NASA workers in Texas and Florida: They don’t see a federal role in funding human space flight.

“The unanimous verdict came during a New Hampshire presidential debate tonight and following a scathing assessment of NASA management by former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga.

““NASA has become an absolute case study in why bureaucracy cannot innovate,” he said. “What we have is bureaucracy after bureaucracy, failure after failure.”

“Gingrich, a longtime supporter of space research, said the private sector and not government should lead the nation into the future of space innovation.

““Unfortunately,” he said, “NASA is standing in the way of it.”

“Debate moderator John King of CNN asked the other six candidates in attendance — including Texas Rep. Ron Paul — whether they would continue federal funding for human space flight.

“Not a single candidate — Paul, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum and former Godfather’s Pizza CEO Herman Cain — raised their hand.”