Entries for the Tag:Bush
Pelosi’s Private Jet
A few weeks ago I wrote a blog supporting the use of Air Force One by President Obama. Recently, reports have resurfaced about Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s use of private jets, specifically the “demand” that she be shuttled around in a Boeing 757. To be clear, in 2001, the BUSH Administration enacted the policy that for security purposes, the speaker of the house (and 3rd in succession) would travel in VIP military transport. Nancy Pelosi typically travels aboard a C-20, which in military parlance is really a Gulfstream III or Gulfstream IV. “Pelosi has used the Air Force equivalent of a Boeing 757 to fly between Washington, D.C., and her San Francisco district. But she has done so exactly once, when no smaller aircraft was available, according to Air Force spokesman Eric Sharman.”, as reported on FactCheck.org.
Again, we are looking at private aviation as a target of political vitriol from those against any kind of corporate bailout. Perhaps if these same critics from the House and Senate were forced to travel exclusively by commercial airlines, the greater flexibility, range, speed, security, comfort afforded by private jets would seem less of a perk and more of the essential business tool that they really are.