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Pelosi and the Plane

Many on the right have seized the opportunity to criticize House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for requesting a bigger military jet than the one Dennis Hastert used during his tenure. Except that the right got it wrong.

As the New York Times noted in this article :

Ms. Pelosi and fellow Democrats said that House security officials insisted that she travel in a government plane and that if she had her way she would fly on commercial craft. They suggested that Republicans were hypocritical, scheming sexists trying to deny the speaker the same protection afforded her male predecessor.

[emphasis mine] I have no idea how this is sexist, but it certainly was hypocritical. Many Republicans, including the White House, seemed embarassed that anybody tried to call Pelosi out on this issue. As for myself, I understand that the "red meat" section of the rightosphere could jump the gun when knowning half the story, because that's the game both sides play. The danger of jumping the gun is that you can get disqualified from the event, and that's exactly what happened here.

I appreciate those Republicans who were honest enough to defend Pelosi and even make light of the situation. At the top of the list, Jeff Flake (R-Arizona), quoted in the same Times article as saying:

Next week, we are going to steal their mascot and short-sheet their beds.