Rep. Pelosi, unfortunately hails from San Francisco. Probably pretty safe in her position even though she is a terrible example for the country.

In my opinion those in positions of power and authority, during their elected terms, should be free to use the airforce as their own personal airline, it's much safer and probably much more convenient as well.

*snore*

She isn't treating the Air Force like its her personal airline.

Shes stimulating the Air Force. Big difference.

Free pass.

What's the problem with two Secret Service agents and three business class tickets on a commercial jet?

Just asking.

Slaxl: In my opinion those in positions of power and authority, during their elected terms, should be free to use the airforce as their own personal airline, it's much safer and probably much more convenient as well.

No disagreement there, but there's personal use, and then there's booking a flight every weekend and then backing out at the last minute.

Even worse, she doesn't hate Mexicans.

She is third in line to the throne. C'mon, lighten up. And pray for Obamas continued good health.

She has the right to use the Air Force whenever she needs it. The problem here is that she is a pain in the ass.

I hate this woman

We finally have a president who appears to have a fully functioning cerebral cortex, who is at least TRYING to make some substantive changes to the way politics is done in Washington, who is at least TRYING to put some actual effort into bi-partisanship....I'm not saying he's perfect or even doing enough, I'm just saying that I think these efforts are genuine...

....and Pelosi simply cannot put aside being just as petty, vindictive and partisan as she claims the Republicans were. She is the face of the problem in Washington as much as anyone else.

She also looks like she should be guarding a crypt

Ha, this already made it to Snopes. (scroll to end)

Oops, linky: Link


Plain text if Fark rejects it again: http://www.snopes.com/politics/pelosi/jet.asp

Wow, watch the point fly right over peoples heads.

Do you know how much trouble and time people go to to accommodate this unappreciative witch only to have her routinely cancel at the last minute? It'd be one thing if there was a tone of respect and gratitude from her and her staff, but instead what you get is this condescending arrogance and sense of entitlement.

Think long and hard, do you want somebody that self important and arrogant to hold such a high position in government office? If she's got that kind of attitude toward people that are essentially providing a service, imagine what sort of attitude she has toward everyone else.

AnOldMan: Rep. Pelosi, unfortunately hails from San Francisco. Probably pretty safe in her position even though she is a terrible example for the country.

San Francisco won't be very safe if Bill O'Reilly has his way.

FTA: Speaker Pelosi came under fire in 2007 for requesting a 42-seat Air Force carrier to ferry the Speaker and her staff back and forth between San Francisco, CA and Washington, DC. Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert was allowed access to a 12-seat commuter jet for security reasons after the events of 9/11.

I remember reading about this, and Pelosi's staff didn't request a specific size of jet, they just asked for a plane that was capable of going from D.C. to San Francisco in one hop (which the 12-seater can't). That makes me wonder if the other facts they state are equally misleading.

I'm not familiar with Judicial Watch; do they have a specific political slant?

Christ, their own farkin' report shows she has never used the big plane, but instead the smaller ones.

randomjsa: Wow, watch the point fly right over peoples heads.

Do you know how much trouble and time people go to to accommodate this unappreciative witch only to have her routinely cancel at the last minute? It'd be one thing if there was a tone of respect and gratitude from her and her staff, but instead what you get is this condescending arrogance and sense of entitlement.

Think long and hard, do you want somebody that self important and arrogant to hold such a high position in government office? If she's got that kind of attitude toward people that are essentially providing a service, imagine what sort of attitude she has toward everyone else.

OUTRAGE! UMBRAGE!

SpaceButler: I'm not familiar with Judicial Watch; do they have a specific political slant?

Of course they do. Just look at the name of their organization -- they were founded to keep an eye on "activist judges".

SpaceButler: I'm not familiar with Judicial Watch; do they have a specific political slant?


The guy who pays for it (new window)

Cubicle Jockey: Christ, their own farkin' report shows she has never used the big plane, but instead the smaller ones.

No no, see, the right-wing outrage is due to the fact that her staff is *not being nice*.

randomjsa: Wow, watch the point fly right over peoples heads.

Do you know how much trouble and time people go to to accommodate this unappreciative witch only to have her routinely cancel at the last minute? It'd be one thing if there was a tone of respect and gratitude from her and her staff, but instead what you get is this condescending arrogance and sense of entitlement.

Think long and hard, do you want somebody that self important and arrogant to hold such a high position in government office? If she's got that kind of attitude toward people that are essentially providing a service, imagine what sort of attitude she has toward everyone else.

One of the best way to judge a person's character is to see how they treat a waiter or waitress.

Judicial Watch? I thought they folded their tent and left DC with the Clintons! This is a blast from the freaking past!

Cornwell: What's the problem with two Secret Service agents and three business class tickets on a commercial jet?

Why? She's Second in line to the Presidency, or two heartbeats away from the Oval Office.

If you read the Snopes thing, she was making sure that she had access to a jet that could get her from Cali to DC flying NONSTOP. There's probably something in the rules of succession that requires this.

It's a national Security issue. If (somehow) the President and VP are killed, she has to be in DC ASAP.

If she were a Representative from a state east of the Rockies, this wouldn't be an issue, but her district and her home are in Cali.

Dwight_Yeast: There's probably something in the rules of succession that requires this

Do what?

How many commercial flights, daily, at any price (has to be cheaper than firing up a plane just for the purpose, right?), with one or fewer connections from one of the three airports in the Washington area to San Francisco? Travelocity.com says 46, including 6 non-stops from around $650 round-trip and one-change flights from $240.

Wtf is the point of posting non congruent parts of documents without providing any context for them. For example, take this little gem:


In response to a series of requests for military aircraft, one Defense Department official wrote, "Any chance of politely querying [Pelosi's team] if they really intend to do all of these or are they just picking every weekend?...[T]here's no need to block every weekend 'just in case'..." The email also notes that Pelosi's office had, "a history of canceling many of their past requests."


What does this even mean? What was the purpose of the request? Ski chalet weekends with Ted Kennedy? Official congressional delegations? It doesn't say. What exactly are they asking for? What's being requested?

Ok, granted, Judicial Watch is basically a fascist rag. We should guess this already with a name like "Judicial Watch" (Damn activist judges, enforcing the constitution and not bowing to the bible!) But even then, shouldn't they at least actually try to make a point.

All they're doing is basically inferring that Pelosi's requests are somehow improper, without actually offering any evidence of this other than the bottom "critique" (and I use that word VERY loosely) of their wing nut President Tom Fitton (Fit on what? A big airport bathroom dick I bet.)

"Taken together, these documents show that Speaker Pelosi treats the Air Force like her personal airline," said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. "Not only does Speaker Pelosi issue unreasonable requests for military travel, but her office seems unconcerned about wasting taxpayer money with last minute cancellations and other demands."

Boy Tom, I really wonder how you come to this farking conclusion considering the documents that you so kindly link to show that in the first fiasco of the "Canceled itineraries" that Pelosi made one request for a jet to take a congressional delegation to god damn Iraq and Afghanistan - and it wasn't canceled.

Oh yeah and Harry Reid asked for a small craft to take some people to Michigan. Meanwhile as such notable DemocratsRepublicans such as Kit Bond, Saxby Chambliss and Judd Gregg are the ones that actually requested large rides and then bailed on them.

/facepalm

Jesus Christ on a pogo-stick. At least try to get better at lying, this is just embarrassing!

Dancin_In_Anson: Dwight_Yeast: There's probably something in the rules of succession that requires this

Do what?

Since 9/11 the House Sergeant-at-Arms has requested that the Speaker fly by private plane. Was Denny Hastert for the first five years.

Dancin_In_Anson: Dwight_Yeast: There's probably something in the rules of succession that requires this

Do what?

Think about what happened on 11 Sept 2001. There was utter chaos, but both Bush and the VP were loaded on planes and in the air withing an hour of the attack, and I'd bet you the next five people in line were also completely secure.

If something happened to both the President and VP, Pelosi's Security detail would hustle her out of wherever she was, throw her into a car, drive at top speed to the nearest military base with an airstrip, which would be locked down. She's be put on a plane and kept airborn until it was deemed safe to land her, at either a safe location or in DC.

The first part (from her home to the plane) would happen in less than an hour, and she would have -she has- absolutely no legal choice in the matter.

It was decided, after FDR's death, during the Cold War, that the Line of Succession to the Office had to be maintained at all costs. After the confusion about who was in charge after Reagan was shot, rules were affected to make sure there was never a microsecond of doubt about who was in charge of the United States of America at any moment. Ever.

I think that's pretty cool. Hate Pelosi, though.

Edsel: Of course they do. Just look at the name of their organization -- they were founded to keep an eye on "activist judges".

I was wondering about that, but a quick Google search turned up nothing of them biatching about activist judges, and some stuff about them getting information released, like some footage of the plane that hit the Pentagon on 9/11 and some internal FDA info on the HPV vaccine.

Not that that necessarily means they aren't there to keep an eye on all those "activist judges". Their wiki article says they self-describe as "conservative" and "non-political", and when those two terms come together I tend to believe the former more and the latter less..

Edsel: Oops, linky: Link


Plain text if Fark rejects it again: http://www.snopes.com/politics/pelosi/jet.asp

Are you seriously expecting me to believe that Republicans would play political partisan games and blatantly lie about national security issues? Rush would never let them get away with it! He's a big big powerful surrogate father who loves America, Americans, and our way of life! The real question is, "Who is editing air force travel reports to protect her?"

Dwight_Yeast:

Think about what happened on 11 Sept 2001. There was utter chaos, but both Bush and the VP were loaded on planes and in the air withing an hour of the attack,

Cheney was never in the air on 9/11

DarnoKonrad: SpaceButler: I'm not familiar with Judicial Watch; do they have a specific political slant?


The guy who pays for it (new window)

Scaife? Hah, that'd do it. Thanks.

THIS is the sense of entitlement that we have created in Congress.

pandabear: How many commercial flights, daily, at any price (has to be cheaper than firing up a plane just for the purpose, right?), with one or fewer connections from one of the three airports in the Washington area to San Francisco? Travelocity.com says 46, including 6 non-stops from around $650 round-trip and one-change flights from $240.

Just to nip this in the bud: SHE CAN'T FLY COMMERCIAL.

And in a National Emergency, she has to be airborne on a plane that can do a transcontinental flight INSTANTLY.

Ages ago, it was decided that the best way to keep the President and the VP safe in an emergency (if they weren't at the White House) was to keep them airborn until the situation was understood. This was done with both Bush and Cheney on 11 Sept 01.

Hang On Voltaire: Dwight_Yeast:

Think about what happened on 11 Sept 2001. There was utter chaos, but both Bush and the VP were loaded on planes and in the air withing an hour of the attack,

Cheney was never in the air on 9/11

Nonsense. The man was on cloud 9.

In this thread, liberals pretend not to care and blame Republicans for "making this all up" as a means of "political games."

Then, the conservatives point out that the rich, spoiled politician wants a luxury level jet she feels she's entitled to, and will make up plenty of legitimate sounding reasons.

Dwight_Yeast: Judicial Watch? I thought they folded their tent and left DC with the Clintons! This is a blast from the freaking past!

To give JW their due, they did go after Cheney and his "Energy Task Force" and got several documents daylighted--including an oil exploration map of Iraq with certain sectors assigned...

Hang On Voltaire: Dwight_Yeast:

Think about what happened on 11 Sept 2001. There was utter chaos, but both Bush and the VP were loaded on planes and in the air withing an hour of the attack,

Cheney was never in the air on 9/11


how did they get him to the Greenbriar, or wherever his "secure undisclosed location" was? (My memory of the day's a bit fuzzy at this point; I'll go Google.)

Hang On Voltaire: THIS is the sense of entitlement that we have created in Congress.

Yep! (new window)

Edsel:

No no, see, the right-wing outrage is due to the fact that her staff is *not being nice*.

It is more about the sense of entitlement. I realize you need to go into hyper defense mode if a Democrat is questioned but the language used in those emails is inexcusable.

/hot like she's not

Dwight_Yeast:


how did they get him to the Greenbriar, or wherever his "secure undisclosed location" was? (My memory of the day's a bit fuzzy at this point; I'll go Google.)

IIRC Cheney was in the White House bunker

Tickle Mittens: Edsel: Oops, linky: Link


Plain text if Fark rejects it again: http://www.snopes.com/politics/pelosi/jet.asp

Are you seriously expecting me to believe that Republicans would play political partisan games and blatantly lie about national security issues? Rush would never let them get away with it! He's a big big powerful surrogate father who loves America, Americans, and our way of life! The real question is, "Who is editing air force travel reports to protect her?"

Well what's clever is how in the hit piece that this headline is linked to, they mention the controversy without actually coming out and saying it was bullshiat.

If that doesn't just scream "credibility" then I don't know what does.

Billy McGoodGuy: wake me up when she uses those air force planes to drop bombs and kill half a million people. Until then, you 28%ers will have to deal with the butthurt.

Yes, yes we get it - there is NOTHING that any (D) can ever do that is worth even a slightly negative news article let alone any real partisan bickering until a (D) starts a war that costs more than Iraq... tell ya what by your own logic you are not allowed to complain about combat deaths in Iraq of Afghanistan until the number of dead surpases Vietnam - come to think of it we're probably STILL not up to the number of civilian deaths caused by Vietnam. So if this is the logic you are choosing to accept please STFU and get back to me later - I'm guessing much later.

Skleenar:
To give JW their due, they did go after Cheney and his "Energy Task Force" and got several documents daylighted--including an oil exploration map of Iraq with certain sectors assigned...

no no no. They are a right wing neocon Bush apologist group who made up documents because they hate powerful women

Hang On Voltaire: Edsel:

No no, see, the right-wing outrage is due to the fact that her staff is *not being nice*.

It is more about the sense of entitlement. I realize you need to go into hyper defense mode if a Democrat is questioned but the language used in those emails is inexcusable.

No, your complete idiocy is what's inexcusable. Personally I blame our educational system. And Mexicans. And the poor. And Muslims. If there's one thing the GOP has taught me, there isn't anything that can't be solved by blaming minorities or poor people.

The more you know ™

Yeah, the plane story is mostly bullshiat, but still...

I remember going to a golf tournament at Congressional CC in Maryland and seeing Tip O'Neill holding court at the clubhouse patio table with the best view of the 18th green. This was maybe two years after Reagan got shot, there was zero security screening at the tournament, and yet the Speaker to my eyes seemed far more concerned with keeping the drinks coming than with any security issues.

Fast forward 25 years and farkwits like Nancy Pelosi and that tool Hastert before her need to be guarded like the farking Mona Lisa because 9/11 9/11 9/11, and meanwhile a process server can stroll right up to the Chief Justice's front door?

Not that she needs to be letting nutjobs into her house like Hastert did.

ZachF81: In this thread, liberals pretend not to care and blame Republicans for "making this all up" as a means of "political games."

No, if we're going to "blame" Republicans, it will be for changing the rules about ho the SoH was allowed to travel after 11 Sept 01.

ZachF81: Then, the conservatives point out that the rich, spoiled politician wants a luxury level jet she feels she's entitled to, and will make up plenty of legitimate sounding reasons.

All she did was check to make sure she was allowed to use a military jet large enough to fly cross-country without refueling.

Did you actually read the article or this thread, or do you just troll blindly?