by David Phinney
Friday April 19th 2024

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Flying First Class Pelosi (and her entourage)

Feb.3, 2007 —

WHAT’S THIS?:

Speaker Pelosi wants to fly military planes to her congressional district in San Francisco on a regular basis “not only for herself and her staff, but also for relatives and for other members of the California delegation. A knowledgeable source called the request ‘carte blanche for an aircraft any time.'”

So says reporter Rowan Scarborough of The Washington Times.

Of course, Republican hacks may be using The Washington Times as a pawn to advance their own political vendetta — Rowen says the story came from sources in Congress and in the administration.

THEN AGAIN: Pelosi could go back to flying commerical planes like the rest of us.
UNLIKE MOST OF US
: Just be careful about wrinkling those Armanis, darling. Steerage can be so — cramped.

If Pelosi’s flying Air Force planes the way Hastert did (Post-9/11 precautions for the third in line to the White House), then she may as well take as many other California lawmakers as possible.

It’s a long, expensive trip and they already fly commercial airlines every week or two on the taxpayer’s dime. So there’s an economy of scale to be weighed and if Pelosi really wanted to play it cool, she would invite Republicans along for the ride.

Just throw them in the back with the luggage. Let them eat pretzels.

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4 Responses to “Flying First Class Pelosi (and her entourage)”

  1. David,
    My “impartiality” comment wasn’t a dig. I really was actually thanking you. After reading other news articles and blogs, I was relieved to find yours was level-headed compared to others. Sorry if you took it as a sarcastic comment.
    As for the Think Progress fact check, it was just more clarification for your readers. Keep up the good work and stop by my blog of you feel inclined.

  2. alison says:

    STATEMENT BY SERGEANT AT ARMS
    In December 2006, I advised Speaker Pelosi that the US Air Force had made an airplane available to Speaker Hastert for security and communications purposes following September 11, 2001.
    I told Speaker Pelosi that Speaker Hastert used the Air Force plane for travel to and from his district, however, I was uncertain of the rules and guidelines governing use of the plane. I offered to call the U.S. Air Force and Department of Defense to seek clarification of the guidelines.
    Subsequently, several members of the Speaker

  3. markg8 says:

    Nope not true. Pelosi didn’t try to requisition AF planes.
    http://thinkprogress.org/2007/02/05/pelosi-military-aircraft

  4. john acorn says:

    i heard that this wasnt actually true?

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