I come from the homebuilder ranks and if the idea is to attract new
blood to the sport of gliding from EAA members ....Then I think they
made an excelent choice of gliders to display. Most of the "purests"
already are involved in the sport. If you are pitching the sport to
the general public to attract non-aviation types then a more "pure"
craft might make sense.

IMHO there is a large untapped market among EAA and part 103 fliers
that would really enjoy the challange and economy of a reasonably
efficent motorglider. They just haven't been exposed to that branch of
aviation, or have been scared off by the "purests" with their big
expensive high performance glass. Soaring/gliding really is a fairly
well kept secret and even harder to get started in (in many parts of
this country) than general or experimental aviation.
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Leon McAtee