"Several of these CHSRA critics are way too negative, and too focused on a "my alternative is better than your alternative" argument"

An alternative has to be picked at some point. Whichever one is picked, some people are going to be pissed.

"Right now, no true "Private Partner" is willing to share true "risk" by investing in this project"

Their biggest folly in my opinion is thinking they can attract so much private investment. This should be a federal project built with federal money similar to the way the Interstate Highway System was built.

"with inflated and unrealistic ridership."

The ridership estimates are on par with the rest of the world and completely reasonable. Which estimates are you looking at?

"And, yes, we Americans can do these things. McCain's grandfather built and equipped 100+ aircraft carriers, and the US put together a 14 million man force, supported most of our allies, and in just 4 years we won WWII. We built 90% of the interstate system in less than 20 years. We went to the moon in 10 years."

We did those things with massive amounts of federal money. World War II saw the highest levels of government expenditures of the day. Why are we knocking our high speed rail plans for not attracting private investment? We shouldn't expect it to.

In two weeks the feds will announce the HSR funding allocations, and hopefully it's only the start.