Jake Tapper from ABC News dissects the fake scandal pushed by the "unnamed administration officials," Pentagon officials, GOP Congressmen Blunt and Putnam, the Moonie-owned mouthpiece of the right wing, the Washington Times, and, sadly, CNN.
The right wing noise machine, with the help of many in the traditional media, is accusing Pelosi (falsely) of wanting to use the plane that hauls Laura Bush around the country. It's not even true, but that seems to be the crux of their complaint. (Interestingly, Mrs. Bush, as far as I can tell, has no constitutional authority and most of her trips are pure fluff. So even were it true, why would Laura Bush need a better plane than the person second in line to the presidency during a time of war?)
The rules for travel by the Speaker changed after September 11, 2001. After Cheney, Pelosi is next in line to be President. In these times, where the Speaker is and how she travels is a major security issue for our country - and this was acknowledged by the Pentagon when they provided then-Speaker Denny Hastert (R-IL) with a military plane to travel back and froth from his district in Illinois, non-stop, without needing to refuel (which makes sense, considering the man may need to return to Washington in a hurry, as our new president, if Bush and Cheney and the rest of us are nuked).
Well, the Pentagon joined the political fray today and denied Pelosi a non-stop plane to California, even though Hastert was provided a non-stop plane to Illinois. The Pentagon's decision - clearly meant to be a partisan swipe at the House Speaker and the Democrats (after all, God forbid the generals at the Pentagon existed to protect all Americans, not just Republicans) - comes after a week during which the Republicans simply lied about this entire issue, repeatedly, until CNN, and especially Lou Dobbs, picked up the lie and beat it like a dead horse for an entire work, including today.
The Pentagon is playing politics with this issue and it's disgusting. And worse, in a democracy it's downright dangerous for our generals to act like we live in a banana republic. The Air Force provided a long list of rules for Pelosi's travel. Great. Do they give the same list to the White House for travel by Laura Bush and Lynne Cheney? Maybe David Gregory from NBC News, who breathlessly reported this story morning during the TODAY Show could find out. (That would be the same David Gregory who knew that the White House staff had leaked the name of Valerie Plame, but nonetheless dutifully reported their denials without question. Plame leak, not a story. GOP lies about Pelosi's plane, he's giddy. Pathetic.)
Then we have the complete disinformation campaign spewing from House Republican leaders, Roy Blunt (R-MO) and Adam Putnam (R-FL). Blunt and Putnam are just plain lying. Per ABC's Jake Tapper, one of the only reporters who took the time to find out the truth (Lou Dobbs, check out how a real reporter covers the news - yeah, I know this story has nothing to do with bashing Mexicans, so it might be hard for you to follow):
Republican leaders have also stated — with no tangible evidence — that Pelosi wants to use the plane to reward financial contributors. [emphasis added because it's a key point overlooked by many in the media]No tangible evidence to back up those claims, yet the GOP leaders - and CNN - never worry about the facts. Has Blunt ever checked to see if the Bush White House has taken supporters on government planes? Doesn't have to. Blunt and Putnam know few reporters (Lou Dobbs) will do what Tapper did to see if there is any basis to their claims.
"She was offered the same aircraft that the previous speaker had," Putnam said yesterday. "It sat 12 people, and she refused it, didn't think it was big enough for all of her friends and supporters. In fact, she specifically requested that supporters be able to travel."
Said Blunt, "If you can take your supporters in the air on a government plane, that is a pretty big perk to be able to offer, I would think, whether you are the speaker or anybody else."
In the past two days, 11 U.S. soldiers have died in Iraq. That's news. But the GOP and the Pentagon don't want to talk about the disaster their incompetence has created in Iraq. If the GOP and the Pentagon want to talk about aircraft, let's talk about aircraft - how about all the helicopters being shot down in Iraq? No, we can't talk about that - that's real news. They'd rather manufacture scandals about nothing, then disseminate it through the GOP's all-too-willing allies in the press who fall for it again, and again, and again.
Hey, did you hear the one about how the Clinton people trashed the White House before they handed it off to George Bush?
