Former Wisconsin Senator William Proxmire, long-time nemesis of NASA, and budget hawk (something that we could use a lot more of, these days, though he always made an exception for dairy price supports), has apparently died.

[Update a few minutes later]

Here's the story. I hadn't realized that he suffered from Alzheimers. At least his suffering is over.

Somehow, I just cannot get misty over Proxmire.

One of the less-known stories about the "Golden Fleece" awards is that many of the DOD ones were, unknown to Proxmire, bogus. Several times he gave awards to military programs that went over budget and didn't seem to deliver the results promised. In fact, the awardees were cover stories for very, very black programs. One example was the DSRV program - it supposedly was a cover for the USN programs for covert activites inside the USSR's territorial waters. Tapping cables, planting listening devices and the like was done routinely during the cold war. Some pretty amazing hardware was developed and deployed at great risk to the sub crews and the emplacement teams. (See "Blind Man's Bluff".)

However, the spirit of what Proxmire did was right.

I once worked in Congress (8 years on staff, and more years after that as a lobbyist). When I was on staff, I was allowed entrance to the Library of Congress' areas devoted to the support of Congress, especially the so-called Congressional Reading Room.

Proxmire spent much of the early '90s there, reading newspapers and magazines as his mind slowly faded away. It was actually quite pathetic.

I plan to dance on his grave if he is interred at Arlingtion National Cemetary.

"I plan to dance on his grave if he is interred at Arlingtion National Cemetery."

Do a two-step for me. When Mondale goes, I may do the entire riverdance.

Proxmire was a piece of work. His self appointed role as a foe of government waste was a harmful and as bogus, in its own way, as his predeccessors self appointed role as a foe of communism. In both cases, it was a means of harassing primarily innocent people for the purposes of political grandstanding.

And, frankly, I hope he is burning in Hell now.

"And, frankly, I hope he is burning in Hell now."

I won't go quite that far but I will pray he is consigned to the most sterile corner of the non- damming afterlife that can be found and is only foodsource for eternity is cheese.

I feel that he proabally wasn't truly evil, simply profoundly ignorant.

Mike, that would seem to be a more tedious after life than the flames (g).

What a legacy. Let's nitpick every ricebowl... except his own. Another political hack. Good riddance.

I would suppose this isn't the best audience in front of which to bring up the observation that he was right about the shuttle?

Phil, it's a little more complicated than that. Proxmire (among others) was instrumental in creating the atmosphere in which the shuttle's development was underfunded and it's purpose compromised (i.e., sold as the be all and end all for space transportation.) In opposing the shuttle, he did not propose any viable alternatives. He was opposed to all publically manned space flight, no matter what their utility. If you want to choose the one person in public life most responsible for the dysfunction that had plagued the space program these past thirty years, Proxmire has to be it.

Phil: Proxmire's correctness is the reason for all the vicious bile.

Paul, nope. Proxmire's somewhat selective definition of "government waste" and his all out, fanatical opposition to publically funded space travel is the reason for the harsh but accurate criticism of his record.

is all out, fanatical opposition to publically funded space travel

'Fanatical'? The fanaticism I see is all on the other side, Mark. Quite amazing fanaticism too, that held onto silly notions (like the shuttle being a good idea, or ISS being worthwhile) long after an honest observer would have concluded otherwise.

If his opposition was 'all out', consider the possibility that he was correct in opposing it, rather than rejecting the opposition because it contradicts your dogma (or threatened your career).

Paul, I'm not sure where you're getting that. I cowrote an analysis in the Weekly Standard that, in part, condemned the shuttle and ISS, entitled Thirty Years of Ineptitude. Proxmire's beef was not against the shuttle or ISS. It was against human space flight period. He offered amendments to defund Apollo in 1963. That's how long and how deep seated his ire against the whole idea was.

I suspect that if her were alive and thinking today, he would be railing against even the sort of things the alt.spacers approve of, like the Centential Challenges, as "waste."

I think Mark is trying to say that the enemy of your enemy is not always your friend. Especially in this case.

Proxmire's inepitude will in the end cost us far, far more than it has ever saved.

Ineptitude is sufficient rationale for eternal condemnation to Hell (if that's what one believes)?

Strawman, where did I condemn him to Hell?

I'm not sure that it was ineptitude on Proxmire's part. He knew what he was doing, which was promoting William Proxmire, without a care of who or what he hurt.

Mark, you wrote:

In opposing the shuttle, he did not propose any viable alternatives. He was opposed to all publically manned space flight, no matter what their utility. If you want to choose the one person in public life most responsible for the dysfunction that had plagued the space program these past thirty years, Proxmire has to be it.

First, what is the "utility" of the publically funded manned space program? My take is that none of it was particularly useful. Perhaps I'm being picky about the price tag, but it does seem a rather large sum of money spent in an incredibly inefficient way over more than half a century. IMHO that goes a long ways to explaining why such programs would fare poorly under opposition.

In that light, I find the claim above unfounded. Surely, one should first come up with an example of a useful manned space program that was resisted by Proxmire.