What plane?!
It is quite a way from Washington to San Francisco, but evidently nothing like the distance separating House Democrats and Republicans when it comes to the air travel arrangements of Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Republicans, accusing Ms. Pelosi of putting on royal airs, on Thursday stepped up their campaign to portray her as a luxury-loving San Franciscan because her cross-country travel could require a larger military jet than the one used since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks to ferry Speaker J. Dennis Hastert home to Illinois.
Ms. Pelosi and fellow Democrats said that House security officials insisted that she travel in a government plane and that if she had her way she would fly on commercial craft. They suggested that Republicans were hypocritical, scheming sexists trying to deny the speaker the same protection afforded her male predecessor.
The House debate poked fun at the speaker’s love of chocolate, lamented the torment of missed connections and middle seats and speculated about whether Senator John McCain of Arizona or Senator Barack Obama of Illinois would draw bigger crowds in an airport than Ms. Pelosi.
For those who wonder whether we should take this debate somewhat serious:
The White House weighed in, as well. “This is a silly story,� its spokesman, Tony Snow, said.
Mr. Snow said that the Republican criticism was unfair and that the Bush administration essentially sided with Ms. Pelosi.
And:
Some Republicans were put off by the flight fight. “This is a bunch of baloney,� said Representative Ray LaHood, Republican of Illinois, who said he had flown on Mr. Hastert’s military plane.
I can imagine that many Americans are thrilled that some Republicans are so dedicated to limit government spending that they are willing to have a debate about something as serious as this instead of actually trying to limit the size of the federal government and cut back in certain costly federal programs.
Now, I am far from a Pelosi fan and I am not exactly a big fan of Snow either but I have to agree with him: this, ladies and gentleman, is a wonderful example of a silly story.
Also read Polimom’s take on this who writes:
You know, I wanted to pick on the blogosphere about Planegate. I really did. This is, after all, merely the latest round of silly mudslinging that goes on in this nest of partisan vipers… but when the elected leadership is acting like two-year-olds fighting over an alphabet block, what’s the point?
Exactly.
More:
Mark Murray at First Read who points out that Pelosi herself is at fault as well… to a degree.
The L.A. Times
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