Mars is not just inferior, it is almost literally not an option. It might be someday, and that's why it's worth pursuing, but even in the forseeable future it would just be a horrible, suicidal backup plan for like a couple hundred people.

The context of the quote is a response to people who are really enthusiastic about actually being Mars colonists. "It’s a lot easier to imagine a few scientists spending a year or two at a small Martian research station, like the ones in Antarctica, than it is to imagine thousands of people emigrating permanently to a Martian metropolis."

Building a colony in a salt mine would be an easier backup plan than a Martian one. Maybe you need to scrub radiation and smallpox out of your air but at least you have air! Admittedly solar power would be off the table, but almost everything else is easier.

Yeah, if the backup plan was as good as the plan, it would just be the plan. :)