Pelosi Demands Use of Larger Air Force Jet

[Midnight Mike]

Today's LA Times* is reporting Pelosi's staff inquired about the use of a C-40 (the military 737) which has the range to reach California non-stop.

I can't find the link right now, but yesterday, one of the stories I read said that while the House Sergeant at Arms made inquiries about use of a military aircraft for security purposes, and before any determination had been made, Congressman Jeb Hensarling, of Texas, the chairman of the Republican Study Committee sent out a news release from his group with a photo of a C-32, sparking the uproar.

Hell, the funny part about this - the White House is supporting Pelosi!


* - In the interest of openness, the LA Times is owned by the same folks who own my company.

The White House is supporting Rep. Pelosi's request for an aircraft & not for her request for a C-32.

Once again, a C-40 is to much of an aircraft for her needs.

Rep. Murtha threatened the Pentagon to give Rep. Pelosi what she wants as she controls the purse strings...

[Midnight Mike]

Maybe, I can see a civilian not being able to tell the difference between a C-37 & a C-20, but, since Rep. Pelosi is a member of Congress in line to assume the role of the President, I would expect her to under the aircraft that are assigned to the Military.

I'm an Air Force veteran and an airplane geek, and I have a hard time telling these two apart. Without knowing the specs, I wouldn't know that one has transcontinental range and the other doesn't.

http://jetphotos.net/viewphoto.php?id=5769644
http://jetphotos.net/viewphoto.php?id=5700558

Nancy Pelosi is 3rd in line for the President of the United States, I would expect her to know what options are available to her.

Rep. Murtha has been advising her, & he damn well knows what aircraft would be suitable for Rep. Pelosi's needs.

They tried to get an aircraft that was more than what she required, media found out and exposed her, she made a mistake, just fess up to it, & the story will go away.

Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., the Pelosi ally who chairs the House military appropriations subcommittee, said he has spoken to Pentagon officials about the need to provide Pelosi with a bigger plane that can fly passengers coast to coast in comfort.

[MORS-AB-ALTO]

With a 5000+ mile range the C-37A, or Gulfstream V in civvie terms, is more than adequate for Pelosi. Perhaps her advises were unaware of the C-37A which when regards to size sits between the C-20B(GIV) and the larger C-32(757) & C-40(737). Of particular note is the fact that the C-37A has a longer range than C-32 & C-40.

Sure it's the the right wing media exploiting a left wing mistake, a possibly arrogant one at that. But, the real blame here is with the Pelosi camp. It just seems that every time the Democrats make some sort of headway one pf them always makes a political blunder that stays in the public mind and erases any hard fought gains. I guess you could say that about politicians as a whole. That's why I'll stay Independent.

Ok...less politics and more airplanes.

[Matt Molnar]

Pelosi says "Screw you guys, I'll just fly commercial." Sort of.

Bloomberg:

Pelosi May Decline Air Force Flights Over Plane Issue
By Laura Litvan

Feb. 8 (Bloomberg) -- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she might decline the use of Air Force planes to travel from Washington to her San Francisco district because the Pentagon won't guarantee her an aircraft that can make the trip non-stop.

``I have said that I am happy to ride commercial if the plane they have doesn't go coast to coast,'' Pelosi said today.

Republicans seized on the issue in speeches on the House floor, criticizing Pelosi's ``extravagant'' request. Pelosi said Pentagon officials may be ``feeding the flames,'' of the issue in response to her criticism of the strategy in the war in Iraq.

Sounds good to me. I think the security concerns are overblown and unfounded. Think of all the world's actual heads of state that fly commercial. Flying commercial should also make the environmentalists happy.