http://www.breitbart.com/news/2007/02/08/D8N5MJO00.html Here is the recent comments from Tony Snow about the recent uproar over Pelosi's request for an Air Force transport for herself and her staff. I know that many people will not agree with this, but I think that they are correct. She is, whether we like it or not, third in line to the Office of the President and should be accorded the appropriate security for that position.
Pelosi is a small time local pol drunk with power and self-importance. She has no need or right to Air Force One style accommodations. She has been given use of a corporate type jet, which is more than adequate, except she wants one that can haul an army of political workers and contributors all over the country. She has been given what Hastert used, and he was part of the President's team. They have no obligation to subsidize Pelosi. So she is third in line. What about the guy who is fourth? Shouldn't he get the same? Or fifth? Pelosi has gotten off to a rocky start. She put the only muslim in congress, a former Nation of Islam mouthpiece who is heavily supported by CAIR, on the Intelligence Committee, which overseees anti-terrorism. Her pick for Chairman of that committee is astoundingly ignorant of basic facts concerning the middle east. Pelosi got a hypocritical exception to the minimum wage law for a company in her district. Now she is demanding her own airline?
Thank you Annson Coulter in the Beltway... Pelosi is a small time local pol drunk with power and self-importance. She has no need or right to Air Force One style accommodations. She has been given use of a corporate type jet, which is more than adequate, except she wants one that can haul an army of political workers and contributors all over the country. She has been given what Hastert used, and he was part of the President's team. They have no obligation to subsidize Pelosi. So she is third in line. What about the guy who is fourth? Shouldn't he get the same? Or fifth? Pelosi has gotten off to a rocky start. She put the only muslim in congress, a former Nation of Islam mouthpiece who is heavily supported by CAIR, on the Intelligence Committee, which overseees anti-terrorism. Her pick for Chairman of that committee is astoundingly ignorant of basic facts concerning the middle east. Pelosi got a hypocritical exception to the minimum wage law for a company in her district. Now she is demanding her own airline? [/QUOTE]
So we should follow the Blair way? Oh goody, full on socialism here we come... What a load of partisan crap we are seeing in this thread, at least Brandonf is demonstrating some non partisan independent thinking...
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The White House on Thursday defended House Speaker Nancy Pelosi against Republican criticism that her desire to fly in an Air Force transport plane is an extravagance. "This is a silly story and I think it's been unfair to the speaker," White House spokesman Tony Snow said. Republicans are taking issue with the size of the plane Pelosi would need to fly in to reach her hometown of San Francisco without refueling. There are three Air Force airplanes that have the fuel capacity to make the trip nonstop, with the largest being a C-32 plane, a military version of the Boeing 757-200. (Watch Pelosi call the GOP charges 'a myth Video') In an interview with Fox News Wednesday night, Pelosi speculated that Department of Defense officials were distorting the story as retribution for her stance against the war and former Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld. "There are probably those in the Department of Defense who are not happy with my criticism of Secretary Rumsfeld, the war in Iraq, other waste, fraud and abuse in the Defense Department, and I guess this is their way of making their voices heard," she said. The Pentagon this week informed Pelosi's staff that she would be provided with a plane but that its size would be based on availability and that it could not guarantee nonstop service. (Read the Pentagon's letter to Speaker Pelosi -- PDF) After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the Pentagon agreed to provide the House speaker, who is second in the line of presidential succession, with a military plane for added security during trips back home. Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert, an Illinois Republican, flew in a small commuter-sized Air Force jet. Pelosi said she would be happy to fly on commercial airliners but said the House sergeant-at-arms office urged her to continue Hastert's practice of using Air Force transport. She said she was informed on her first trip home that her plane would not make it across the country. "I said well, that's fine, I'm going commercial," she told Fox News Channel's Greta Van Susteren. "I'm not asking to go on that plane. If you need to take me there for security purposes, you're going to have to get a plane that goes across the country, because I'm going home to my family." Rep. Adam Putnam of Florida, the No. 3 Republican leader, called Pelosi's desire for a large transport plane "an extravagance of power that the taxpayers won't swallow." "It's important we see what the specific request was," Putnam said. But Snow on Thursday said the negotiations over Pelosi's transport have been conducted solely by the House sergeant-at-arms and the Pentagon, with no direct involvement by the speaker or her office -- or the White House. The guidelines provided by the Pentagon say Pelosi could be accompanied by family members, provided they pay the government coach fare. The plane could not be used for travel to political events. Members of Congress could accompany her on the plane if the travel is cleared by the House ethics committee.
If you think "citizen legislators" should be flying back to their districts on military aircraft then you have a different view of government than me.