THE WICKED WITCH OF THE WEST

February 8, 2007 - Speaker Nancy Pelosi has achieved a place of dishonor in the hagiography of the Republican Right surpassing even Senator Hillary Clinton.   Madam Speaker is now the Republicans’ Wicked Witch of the West and they are waiting with bated breath for a house, or more precisely an airplane, to fall on her.
The GOP back benchers who could not find a voice to express their outrage while Denny Hastert was Speaker have a new cause célèbre in the Speaker’s use of military aircraft for the long commute between the Capitol  and her home district.  The problem seems to be that it is 2,800 miles to San Francisco and only 700 miles to Hastert’s district, just a short taxi ride from Chicago’s O’Hare Airport.  That longer ride requires an aircraft with a longer range than the one that the former speaker used. 

The Speaker of the House is second only to the Vice President in the line of Presidential succession.  In the aftermath of 9/11 the Whitehouse and Pentagon agreed that Speaker Hastert should have the use of military aircraft for official travel and to commute between his home district and Washington.  The assets of the 89th Airlift Wing based at Andrews Air Force Base outside the Capitol.  Hastert used a C-20, the military version of a Gulf Stream 3 business jet.   According to Capt. Herb McConnell of the 89th the C-20 is able to make it to the West Coast non-stop but not in the winter when strong headwinds are blowing.  The aircraft would typically be forced to stop to refuel on the way. 

The 89th operates 4 aircraft, the C-20 used by Hastert; the smaller C-21s is not able to make the trip; the C37a, the military version of the Gulf Stream 5 which is able to reach the West Coast non-stop; and the C-32 a VIP version of the Boeing 757 with a private stateroom for the principal passenger.  The C-32 is used by the First Lady and the Vice President.  When Speaker Pelosi asked for the use of an aircraft that could make it to San Francisco non-stop the Republicans decided that she was asking for the lavish C-32. 

The fact is that the Speaker has not asked for the use of the C-32 nor has she quibbled with the rules the Pentagon has published for her use of military transport aircraft.  Roy Blunt and the others leading the charge against the Speaker have woven a scenario that not even Dennis Hastert at the height of the Republican control of the House would have considered – though Newt Gingrich would have had he thought he could get away with it.  She has been accused of wanting to use the plane to reward supporters and provide travel perks to lobbyists.  They are even referring to the C-32 as “Pelosi One”.  She is accused of “arrogance and hypocrisy” in making her request for non-stop flight capabilities.   The fact is that the controversy lies only in the minds of the GOP stalwarts; in their imaginations and wishful political thinking.  In their anxiety to catch a Democrat out in scandalous behavior they have created a scandal out of whole cloth.

But I suppose that they should be forgiven their distortions and mischaracterizations of fact.  They have, after all, lived for so long in the Emerald City being led by a succession of imitation Wizards. As Frank Baum imagined his world somewhere over the rainbow noting was as real as that which was wished for.  Even the White House sees the airplane scandal for what it is.  Press Secretary Tony Snow said today, “This is a silly story and I think it's been unfair to the speaker.''

I guess Roy Blount is going to have to look elsewhere for something to drop on the Wicked Witch of the West!