What’s with republicans and their airplane envy?
During the Clinton Presidency in 1995, then-Speaker Newt Gingrich famously complained about having to exit Air Force One from the rear doors following the return flight of the US delegation to the funeral of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. The petulant Georgia republican later suggested that this "snub" led him to help instigate the shutdown of the federal government.
Now the neo-cons who have usurped the party of Lincoln are complaining about democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s air craft accommodations. Many on the right have been complaining that the jet she’ll be using is larger than the one used by her predecessor, Denis Hastert.
Mrs. Pelosi responded to her critics in an interview given to that fortress of liberal journalism, Fox News. Mrs. Pelosi said that she required a larger jet than Hastert because of the longer distance between her home district and the nation’s capital. Mrs. Pelosi added that she was willing to use a commercial flight but that security concerns made the use of a government jet mandatory.
"Where the misrepresentations and mischaracterizations came from, I don't know, perhaps the Defense Department, because I've been one of their critics. But I'll say this, I know it didn't come from the president of the United States. Because he has been, if anything, very definite in saying to me, you need to have the security you have," Mrs. Pelosi said.
The security issue means republicans have a hard time justifying their anger. If the security concerns they have are real, then Mrs. Pelosi cannot be faulted for availing herself of the same kind of transportation used by her predecessor.
Mrs. Pelosi noted that security for House members is directed by that chamber’s Sergeant at Arms. The actual jet used for Mrs. Pelosi’s transportation is picked by the Defense Department.
It is entirely possible that details of Mrs. Pelosi’s aircraft were leaked by someone at the Pentagon. The past several years of republican control at the White House and in the Congress have seen an incredible rise in vindictive acts that were a response to a slight that was real or imagined. Valerie Plame, anyone?
Of course, if the Department of Defense really wanted to go after Mrs. Pelosi they would have selected an aircraft far less commodious than the one she has been assigned. If some Pentagon officials had their way, she’d probably be riding shotgun in a Piper Cub in between sessions of the House.
There may be an even more elemental reason behind the republican dismay. Shave the wings off a passenger jets fuselage and your left with a big honking phallic symbol. For a party dominated by middle-aged white men the symbolism was probably just too much.
After all, size does matter.
Maybe all these disgruntled republicans would be happier if we could get them a prescription for Viagra or a male-enhancement drug.
It would have to come under the auspices of the Department of Masculine Security.