Pat Dollard

So, you know how you read or hear or see something one day, and then a day or two later you actually make a connection that you didn’t actually make at the exact moment of the initial exposure? You sleep on it, and things line-up on the tarmac in your mind?

Hey, I’m just sayin’.

Speaker’s Plane Becomes a Point of Criticism

By CARL HULSE - (NYTimes) - Published: February 9, 2007

WASHINGTON, Feb. 8 — 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.

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.

The attention to the dispute illustrates that politicians are acutely aware that a jet-setting image can be dangerous, particularly given the travails of modern travel for average Americans.

President Bill Clinton spent a long time living down the tale of his haircut on Air Force One as flights were delayed at Los Angeles International Airport, even though there is dispute over whether other planes were affected.

The image of Newt Gingrich complaining about his forced rear-exit departure from Air Force One earned him a reputation as a petulant pol. And John H. Sununu, a former White House chief of staff, was ridiculed for using government jets to visit the dentist and the ski slopes.

When Republicans learned that Ms. Pelosi was trying to upgrade at taxpayer expense, they caricatured her as an imperial speaker even though no one uttered a peep about Mr. Hastert’s reliance on military jets. Cornered by reporters on Thursday, Ms. Pelosi suggested that what she called a misinformation effort emanated from the Pentagon.

“Look, when I became speaker, the sergeant at arms said the speaker has transportation because of security,” said Ms. Pelosi. “As a woman speaker of the House, I don’t want any less opportunity than male speakers have had.”

In a statement released on Thursday, the House sergeant-at-arms, Wilson Livingood, said he had been behind the call for the long-distance airplane. “The fact that Speaker Pelosi lives in California compelled me to request an aircraft that is capable of making nonstop flights for security reasons,” Mr. Livingood said, adding he regretted that the security concerns had become a political issue.

In a letter from the Pentagon that she received on Wednesday, Ms. Pelosi was assured that she would receive courtesy military shuttle service between Washington and San Francisco but that it might not always be nonstop. The letter said that she could not be given a plane to take her to political events and that family members would have to make some reimbursement.

House Republicans lined up on the floor to attack Ms. Pelosi and submitted a pointed amendment to a renewable energy bill that said the nation should decrease demand for jet fuel for aircraft “such as passenger planes with 42 business class seats capable of transcontinental fights.”

Republicans said one plane that might be available for the speaker had a game room, stateroom, entertainment center and bedroom and seated 42 to 50 people.

“I hardly think these amenities help with security, and I personally would describe them as inappropriate and unnecessary extravagances,” said Representative Eric Cantor of Virginia, chief deputy Republican whip and sponsor of the amendment.

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.

“Next week,” Representative Jeff Flake, Republican of Arizona, said, “we are going to steal their mascot and short-sheet their beds.”