Jon Chait uses the mysterious case of the renewable energy lab whose employees were going to be laid off until Bush decided to go there for a photo-op as a jumping-off point to discuss the White House's broader unseriousness about policy matters. One of his examples, however, is this: "After this dramatic announcement, the administration learned that the Mars trip would be massively expensive and of dubious benefit, and the idea was greeted with skepticism by the GOP base, so it pretty much let the whole thing drop." There's a widespread misconception on this score. The idea was greeted with skepticism by the GOP base, but with enthusiasm by aerospace contractors. As a result, the Mars mission is getting funding within the NASA budget at the expense of basic science research. The point about unseriousness, however, still stands.