Republicans and the Pelosi non-scandals
By Sean Aqui | Related entries in General Politics, News, Partisan HacksFirst there was the Starkist stock deal. Then there was “Obama in a madrassa.”
Now the latest non-scandal dreamed up by Republicans is “Pelosi One.”
At issue is what kind of aircraft the House speaker � second in line to the presidency � should use to get around the country. For years, speakers flew commercial like everybody else in Congress. But after the Sept. 11 attacks, it was deemed that anyone two heartbeats away from the presidency warranted a military jet.
Until now, the only speaker affected was Republican J. Dennis Hastert, who commuted to his Illinois district in small executive-style military jets.
But those aircraft require ideal weather conditions to make the cross-country trip without stopping to refuel.
The main aircraft that can make the trip nonstop is a modified Boeing 757 that is much larger than the plane Hastert flew in. Hence the attempts to paint Pelosi as “demanding” a plane fit for a king.
Putting aside the fact that Vice President Cheney gets around in a similar plane, let’s agree that a 757 is a bit much for one person to have, even if that person is third in line for the presidency. Surely there are smaller planes that can fly cross-country without having to refuel.
Still, there’s no “there” there. The negotiations didn’t involve Pelosi or her office; they were conducted entirely by the House sergeant-at-arms. Pelosi merely said that she would like to be able to make the trip without refueling, and if there was no plane available with that capability she preferred to fly commercial instead.
Now, one can certainly speculate that she was free to say all that, knowing that only one plane was big enough for the job and that her security people wouldn’t let her fly commercial. But there’s simply no evidence to suggest that that’s what happened.
(continued at Midtopia)
This entry was posted on Friday, February 9th, 2007 and is filed under General Politics, News, Partisan Hacks. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
February 9th, 2007 at 2:01 am
You are assuming that the Obama thing was dreamed up by Republicans, when so far the only person accused of spreading anti-Obama mischief is Hillary Clinton, as we discussed in the earlier thread. I don’t think it was done either by Clinton or by Republicans, but that’s beside the point here.
As for Pelosi, you seem to be responding to a non-scandal with a non-objection. You seem to agree that it is absurd for Pelosi to have a huge-ass 757 just so she can fly non-stop to California – consuming as much fuel as every SUV in California on the way. (I guess we’re not going to hear any more crap about SUVs and greenhouse gases after this, right?) Murtha threatening to cut the Pentagon’s budget unless she gets one makes it extra ridiculous. Republicans dreamed all this up?
Invoking Cheney does not add anything to the argument. Cheney is the Vice President of the United States, and all sorts of emergency scenarios call for either the President or the VP to be whisked away to some remote location, or kept airborne for long periods of time. Secondly, the office of VP has all sorts of security attached to it that does not attach to the Speaker. I assume Pelosi does not need a 757 to cart around her Secret Service, staff, and press entourage.
So Pelosi’s Big Plane is a silly thing, which will be forgotten in a few weeks, but in the meantime somebody has to catch a little political flak. Good luck trying to use an imaginary Republican conspiracy as a shield.
February 9th, 2007 at 10:05 am
President supports Pelosi position on air travel. Seems like that would be big news. Yet there was only one headline from about 6 mainstream RSS feeds I use daily. (There would be more, but about 6 that Yahoo offers are never available, including Fox News.) What is up with that? Where is the so called liberal mainstream media? Could it be their corporate, conservative owners allow only certain liberal items to be printed to make it appear their outlets are indeed liberal? It seems to me that they are in lockstep with the Bushies in general, including enough liberal content in their coverage to legitimize their “liberalism”.
I agree with the author of the article, and your comments, Justin, about the far right’s (& far left’s) mudslinging. Both should be ignored except as a reflection of the people making absurd accusations. Whatever happened to atually reporting the news, without spin, & letting the viewer reach their own conclusions? Why must they be cheerleaders for one side or the other?
February 9th, 2007 at 1:11 pm
Not to pick a nit, but the Speaker of the House, Rep. Pelosi, is second in line to the Presidency. Vice President is first, followed by Speaker.
February 9th, 2007 at 6:20 pm
Yeah, I went back and forth on that. She’s No. 3 in line, if you count the President himself.
Glen: I think it’s weirder to assume Clinton dreamed up the Obama thing and leaked it to a Moonie publication than it is to lay it at the door of said publication. Though I suppose I should have been more careful in my use of the term “Republican.”