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I see it a different way. A glass can be half-full or half-empty. Without any politics ever involved in space flight, almost everything we talk about would only exist on paper, if at all. Politics of course always has its aftertaste. But better to have an aftertaste instead of no taste at all.
It sounds like you think that the choice is between Ares I and no manned flights. The fact that politics is required for space travel shouldn't prevent people to disagree with political decisions in a space programme.
As far as I know, there was no manned launch abort and no launch escape until today.
Soyuz T-10-1
Orion is not basically a lunar craft, it's a spacecraft designed to operate in almost any kind of space environment between Earth, Moon and possibly Mars too, while its first missions are going to be LEO mission to the ISS. On the first place it's even just a crew carrier for various types of missions. And the DV of Orion does not contradict the need to carry it up into LEO anyway before it can become operational. But to me the most important fact is, that after Apollo, it's the first spacecraft which is not bounded to LEO anymore.
I do think you're missing the point I'm trying to make. I believe that Orion will not be economically competitive in LEO ops, compared to craft like Soyuz. Orion's lunar capabilities is going to make it un-economic in LEO, just like Saturn(V and 1b). Any lunar hardware has to be tested in LEO before it can go into operation. This doesn't make it suited for regular LEO operation.
This is not a fact. It's my personal opinion. But no bucks = no Buck Rogers.
STS was a fantastic technological experimental programme, that IMHO will not be topped for a long time. But it was never ready for operational status.
Suggesting that Ares I is going to replace STS is not really relevant. The objectives of those programmes are completely different, and the only thing they have in common is manned space flight.
NASA doesn't have a craft that can provide relatively cheap regular access to LEO and back again. Without such a craft, LEO operations are going to eat up NASA's budget.