Nancy Pelosi's is bigger...Dennis Hastert's? Not so much.

The Republicans are all in a tizzy because Nancy Pelosi has a bigger "plane" than Dennis Hastert. This is pretty funny, because while they were screwing us for the last few years, they kept telling us that "size doesn't matter!" Whee!

I was just watching Lou Dobbs tonight, and he is still going on about the Republican bilge about Nancy Pelosi and their claim that she has asked the military for some extra special pimped out ride. He was gleefully telling the tale, disregarding the fact that the story was debunked almost a week ago. Will somebody please tell Mr. Dobbs that there is an illegal immigrant in his bran muffin?

Lou Dobbs likes to play-pretend that he is "non-partisan," but have ever noticed that when he rags on Republicans he says "All politicians in this country stink," but when he complains about Democrats he says, "Who do the Democrats think they are? They say they are the party of change, but just look!"

Now, you can understand why the GOP and their paid stooges are grasping at straws. Next to Hastert, We all know that Pelosi has bigger, ahem, landing gear. Complain all you want, reich-wingers! At the urinal cakes of government, Hastert and the rest of the Republicans have come up woefully short.

In the face of adversity the Republican sewer rats have all turned out to be dandified city mice, while Pelosi's approval rating is at 49%, up from 39% two months ago.

This whole story, like the Obama smear, is a smokescreen to cover up what the Republicans are doing (or hiding from) right now. Their plate is quite full these days, laden with such items as delaying the minimum wage hike, stalling the Iraq resolution, the Cheney Libby trial, the 2007 Budget, how Mary Cheney's baby is the only baby in the country that is not political football, etc.

Wait! What is that I hear in the background? That distant thumping, like the beating of a war drum? Can you hear it? What can it be! Why, it is Nancy Pelosi and 52 hearings held on issues related to Iraq war, thats what!

Without prompting, and apparently in response to my previous post, I received a bulk email from Nico Pitney at the Center for American Progress with all of the latest details on the GOPs fascination with Nancy Pelosi's invisible plane. Here is all of the latest news about the Pelosi smear.

You might see fit to mention this point while commenting on Pelosi's aircraft issues. We've been covering the story all week.

Thanks,
Nico

Hastert Used Military Aircraft To Fly Foley Page Scandal Figure To Washington
The media continues to pound a false Washington Times report accusing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) of wasting government resources by “demanding permanent access to a large military jet for herself, her staff, other Members and supporters.”

In fact, Pelosi’s office has stated repeatedly, from the beginning, that “ it is up to the Air Force to decide what type and size of plane will be required,” and that she “ will not use the plane for political travel.”

Conservatives have tried to bolster their attack by claiming that former Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) only used his military aircraft for official business. The Washington Times quoted an unnamed “former Hastert aide” saying Hastert “did not use military planes for political trips or regularly transport his family.” But Chicago Sun-Times reporter Lynne Sweet says that isn’t true:

On Sunday, Oct. 1, Hastert’s team was scrambling to contain the escalating fallout from the Foley page scandal. That day, Rep. John Shimkus (R-Ill.), then the chairman of the page board, had gotten an urgent phone call from Stokke. The Hastert team wanted Shimkus to return to Washington immediately from his home in southern Illinois in order to appear at a press conference on Monday with the Speaker, and they did not want to deal with commercial flight schedules.

So at 8 p.m. that day, Shimkus arrived at the military side of the Scott Air Force Base near Belleville to board the Speaker’s jet that had been dispatched for him.

The plane then headed to an airport near Aurora, Ill., to pick up Hastert, who had been weekending at his home in Plano, before flying on to Washington.

That Monday, Hastert and Shimkus headlined a press conference in the Capitol to talk about the Foley resignation.

For those who don’t remember, Shimkus is the former House Page Board chair who learned of Foley’s inappropriate emails and then refused to inform the Democrat on the
board, Rep. Dale Kildee (D-MI).

Pelosi said today she will fly commercial rather than use the aircraft offered by the Pentagon, which cannot reach her home district in California without stopping to refuel.

Nico Pitney
Center for American Progress
ThinkProgress.org

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