the panda really has failed evolution, I agree with superchunk there, but I still believe we should at least try to preserve them, but if they do go extinct, then I will not be too sad

Yes, I know it is a natural extinction, but why should we let it run its course?

Almost looks like my cat, with the markings ...

Because I'd rather spend the money on the billions of humans that actually need it and want to survive.

That would make me a sad panda...koala? 

God, if I have to read one more negative thread about the upcoming World of Warcraft expansion.... wait, what?

Alright, solid argument.

Or we can make the rich pay to come see pandas, then donate their moneyz!1!!

I love panda daddies :)

http://wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/endangered_species/giant_panda/panda/where_panda_lives_habitat/

Those little red marks are 46% of their original habitat, superchunk? It doesn't look like 46% to me.  The fact is, the number you are refering to is the % of their remaining habitat that is protected, not how much of their natural habitat is.  

The problem is that they eat bamboo. Lots of it, and not much else. Except, here's the thing, they have the teeth and digestive system of a carnivore. They eat the stuff because they can't find food for their natural diet and get fed much better in zoos. However, many animals don't fornicate in zoos because they are aware of the situation they are in - imprisoned and constantly watched - and that's a bad environment for procreation.

We actually don't know how the pandas would respond to having a more varied diet AND the freedom to live in the wild, because even the areas set aside from them are NOT in the same state they were before humans began exploiting them. You may like to think they are driving themselves to extinction, but you're either ignoring or ignorant of a number of facts about their environment that are driving them towards extinction. Human influenced factors.

While i think we have sped up the problems of the panda, it is reasonably clear that they are an evolutionary dead end and that really aren't worth saving aside from their aesthetic appeal

As someone else said, this isn't like many other endangered species, like Whales or Wolves or the Bald Eagle, the Panda is fairly useless from a purely biological perspective