Hat tip to the Captain’s Quarters, trackbacked at Jo’s Cafe:
From The Washington Times:
[for logon visit BugMeNot.com]
The office of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is pressing the Bush administration for routine access to military aircraft for domestic flights, such as trips back to her San Francisco district, according to sources familiar with the discussions.
The sources, who include those in Congress and in the administration, said the Democrat is seeking regular military flights not only for herself and her staff, but also for relatives and for other members of the California delegation. A knowledgeable source called the request “carte blanche for an aircraft any time.”
“They are pressing the point of her succession and that the [Department of Defense] needs to play ball with the speaker’s needs,” one source said. The request originally went to the Pentagon, which then asked the White House to weigh in.
To be fair and honest I have to remind you that outgoing Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) started using US Air Force planes for domestic travel to and from his district for security reasons. After 9/11 there security concerns regarding air travel for someone in a direct line of succession to the Presidency. But he didn’t invite his aides or family along, and he didn’t use it for routine travel – something Pelosi is requesting. Pelosi’s staff, colleagues, friends, or family do not have anything to do with the succession to the White House. She would be President if both the President and Vice President suddenly died.
But she is not the Queen, and her entourage is not the Royal Court. I think we’re going to see a lot more of this, especially if you people vote in a Democratic President in 2008. Remember that lots of people were calling the Clinton Presidency a new “Camelot” back in the 1990s. Democrats see governmental positions akin to a monarchy. Many Democrats think the US military is nothing more than “knights of the court”, there only to serve the “royal family”.
This request by Pelosi goes far beyond normalcy. Congressional access to military passenger jets is generally restricted to official trips abroad, or for domestic flights to military bases or events to which the Pentagon invited the lawmaker. US Air Force travel for VIPs such as members of Congress is first-rate. The planes are staffed with stewards who serve meals and tend an open bar. These aircraft are supposed to be used only for official business – not an air taxi for your friends and family, and not for routine pleasure travel. Free flights aboard a military aircraft are not merely “perks” of being a Congressperson. These aircraft are expensive to fly and maintain, and you the taxpayer will be paying for each trip she or her minions take. Is this how you want your tax dollars spent?
Sources said Pelosi’s request goes beyond what Hastert received, a “carte blanche for an aircraft any time.” But this is part-and-parcel of the Left’s philosophy on tax dollars. To the Left all the tax monies are the Government’s to do with as they please with little regard to the fact that each and every dollar came out of some taxpayer’s wallet. To the Left the taxpayer is nothing more than a peasant, someone that owes their land, their income, their job … their entire life … to the rulers of the kingdom. To the Left you owe the Government everything, not that the Government owes you anything. And that philosophy is only one step away from the dream of the Left – Socialism – as long as they remain “on top” of their Socialist “society of equals”.
