The greatest scientific instrument ever created? I think that's a little hyperbole.

That said, if and when this does happen (assuming it happens sooner rather than later), I'll be surprised. NASA needs high-profile projects in order to stir up public interest that will translate into votes in Congress for more money. Hubble is precisely the thing I'd have thought they wouldn't axe. In any case tho, we'll only have clouded vision for a few years or so (if indeed it does get axed) -- isn't there a Hubble replacement telescope slated to be launched sometime in the next five years or so?

It is sad news, but I think the penultimate paragraph says much as to why the politicians will allow this: "But techniques in Earth-based astronomy advanced, and British astronomers now use a telescope in Hawaii twice as powerful as Hubble."

Yea, Hubble is old, and it would be cheaper to replace it.

This may just be the opening gambit in negotiations. Say that you will axe what you think has the most public support, and people might come to your defense.