I can't believe the # of people who assume this was hopeless from the git go. Crap, something could have been tried, even if the odds were long . . . I think you misunderstand a lot of what is being said.
The point was not that the re-entry was "hopeless," but that the odds of a successful re-entry were thought to be better than the odds of any other "something" that NASA could have tried.
I'll be comfortable with that conclusion as long as its demonstrated that there isn't a bunch of CYA shenanigans taking place...