(A version of the following is cross-posted on Daily Kos):Welcome to the underworld of right-wing hatred, courtesy of Michelle Malkin and the New York Post:
 | steveack wrote: nancy pelosi is nothing more then a parsite, and a poison in the veins of the american political syatem, which would benefit greatly if she were to receive a 50 calliber head massage! |
 | Lee Anthony Nieves wrote: Steveack: LOL. Pelosi thinks she is queen, and she wants to be treated as such. 2010 can't come any sooner to send her back benching. Kudos to the Air Force. Next time she opens her mouth, put a parachute on her, and throw her out. |
 | Bret wrote: Lee: Put a parachute on her? Heck no. Throw her out without one. That would put an end to her nonsense once and for all. |
Here's the story:
Conservative group Judicial Watch, right-wing rabblerouser Matt Drudge, Malkin and FOX News are all a little slow on the uptake. Two years, to be exact.
In a prime example of the inner-workings of the right-wing echo chamber, here is a short sketch:
Judicial Watch--funded by arch-conservative billionaire Richard Mellon Scaife--starts the ball rolling with a "report" on supposed abuses by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi regarding her use of a military airplane, specifically alleged last-minute cancellations.
Next, FOX News enters the picture and runs a "report", ostensibly regurgitating Judicial Watch's "report," which is picked up (and highlighted in red) by the Drudge Report.
Devoid of her own material, Ann Coulter clone Malkin writes a syndicated column about this well-worn non-story, which runs on her hideous blog and several newspapers, including Rupert Murdoch's New York Post.
Much like a rash or a retro-virus, the "report" produced by the partisan Judicial Watch--marketed as a "watch-dog group"--spreads to the always-willing Matt Drudge who is in bed with FOX News who passes it to media whore Malkin. Countless talk-radio mimics in markets large and small immediately contract the rapidly-replicating fever and pass it on to gullible listeners nationwide.
This is old, but it's not news.
MSNBC reported this in April 2007:
The Air Force transport plane decried by Republicans as an extravagance for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was requested by the House sergeant-at-arms as a matter of security, he said Thursday.“I regret that an issue that is exclusively considered and decided in a security context has evolved into a political issue,” Bill Livingood said in a news release. He said because Pelosi lives in California he was compelled “to request an aircraft that is capable of making non-stop flights for security purposes, unless such an aircraft is unavailable. This will ensure communications capabilities and also enhance security.”Republicans had taken issue with the size of the plane Pelosi would need to fly in to reach her hometown of San Francisco without refueling. There are three Air Force airplanes that have the fuel capacity to make the trip nonstop, with the largest being a C-32 plane, a military version of the Boeing 757-200. (The White House spokesman at the time, the late Tony Snow said), “This is a silly story, and I think it’s been unfair to the speaker.”After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the Pentagon agreed to provide the House speaker, who is second in the line of presidential succession, with a military plane for added security during trips back home. Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert, an Illinois Republican, flew in a small commuter-sized Air Force jet. (Hastert's Illinois commute allowed such a plane; Pelosi's California trips do not.) Pelosi said she would be happy to fly on commercial airliners but said the House sergeant-at-arms office urged her to continue Hastert’s practice of using Air Force transport. She said she was informed on her first trip home that her plane would not make it across the country. I said well, that’s fine, I’m going commercial,” she told Fox News. “I’m not asking to go on that plane. If you need to take me there for security purposes, you’re going to have to get a plane that goes across the country, because I’m going home to my family.”The guidelines provided by the Pentagon say Pelosi could be accompanied by family members, provided they pay the government coach fare. The plane could not be used for travel to political events. Members of Congress could accompany her on the plane if the travel is cleared by the House ethics committee.
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