This isn't specific to the Northrop Grumman-Boeing proposal, but more so about NASA's whole Moon exploration plan. Here goes:
They could have named this Apollo Retread or Project Desperation - NASA's Search for Relevancy.
The public's (thus Congress') reaction to this is a big yawn or at best "30 years later and that's the best that you can come up with?"
This is the old guard's "safe" plan. This is as if an architecture student traced over a Frank Lloyd Wright drawing and submitted it for his senior project.
I can't believe that Mike Griffin would have accepted this, even if he did get in on it late in the game.
"ARTIST CONCEPT - A Northrop Grumman-Boeing team has unveiled its plans to design and build NASA's proposed Crew Exploration Vehicle, a successor to the space shuttle that will carry humans to the International Space Station by 2012 and back to the moon by 2018. Shown in this artist concept, the new, modular space vehicle comprises a crew module reminiscent of the Apollo spacecraft, a service module and a launch-abort system. Northrop Grumman MODULAR VEHICLE - A Northrop Grumman-Boeing team unveils its plans to design and build NASA's proposed Crew Exploration Vehicle, a successor to the space shuttle that will carry humans to the International Space Station by 2012 and back to the moon by 2018. Shown in these artist concepts, the new, modular space vehicle comprises a crew module reminiscent of the Apollo spacecraft, a service module and a launch-abort system." Northrop Grumman