The Arrogance of Pelosi / Early 08 Numbers

Hey folks,

The arrogance is amazing. She thinks she is President. She does not want the plane they gave her. She wants THIS one.

No, I’m not talking about Sen Clinton. I’m actually talking about Pelosi. By now I’m sure you have heard the story, that she decided that the plane she was given was just too small. As a side note, I wonder how this sits with the Global Warming crowd. Anyway, she has decided that the one she was to use, is just too small.

But when Pelosi requested clarification from the Department of Defense about plane size and whether she can have friends and colleagues catch rides on the military aircraft, criticism mounted that the speaker talks a good game on ethics, but is not walking the walk against the "culture of corruption" she so frequently criticized while in the minority last Congress.

Friends and family? Of course she now denies this. She says it’s about security. Even let’s President Bush off the hook on this one. But she is not happy that some see this as Arrogant.

"This is not about having secure communications and secure aircraft available to her. It's about an arrogance of extravagance that demands a jumbo jet that costs $22,000 an hour to operate to taxi her and her buddies back and forth to California," Republican Conference Chairman Adam Putnam of Florida told FOX News.

Pelosi said Wednesday her inquiry about taking members of Congress and others along for the ride had "nothing to do with family and friends and everything to do with security."

But now? Get this,

She said reports filtering out into the media regarding inquiries about the use of a military plane nearly the size of Air Force One for her travel to and from Washington, D.C., shows a "misrepresentation that could only be coming from the administration ... one would wonder why the practice deemed to be necessary from a security standpoint would be mischaracterized in the press."

The speaker, however, specifically omitted President Bush from her complaints. "I know that it's not coming from the president because he impressed upon me the amount of security I need to have."

{Laughing} She of course has her defenders.

Pelosi is still awaiting a response from the military, and congressional sources told The Washington Times that Pelosi ally, Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., believes the delay is because of sexism on the part of the military. Murtha's office denied that claim.

Speaking with reporters, Pelosi lamented the need for a military plane, bemoaning the fact that "when you become speaker ... you give up movement" because of security concerns.

OK {sigh} she’ll get a pass on this also.

So what are the early numbers for the up coming 08 elections? They are interesting. On the Republican side,

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R) has moved a step closer to officially enter the 2008 race for the White House, but polling in the race for the Republican Presidential nomination remains little changed. Giuliani attracts 27% of the vote, down from 29% a week ago. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that Senator John McCain (R) support has held steady at 19% among Likely GOP Primary voters.

Rasmussen Reports releases updated polling data on the Republican nominating contest every Tuesday. Results for the Democrats are updated on Mondays.

While Giuliani and McCain remain in the top two slots, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R) dropped a few points and now is favored by 13%. Trailing Gingrich is former Massachusetts Mitt Romney (R) at 9% and former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee (R) at 4%.

On the Democrats side?

Clinton now attracts 34% of the vote, up just a single point over the past week (see last week's results). Barack Obama (news, bio, voting record) (D), the charismatic freshman Senator from Illinois, lost a single point and now attracts 18% support. That leaves him sixteen points behind the frontrunner. Three weeks ago, at the height of Obama-mania, the man from Illinois had pulled to within a single point of the frontrunner.

Despite the fact that the frontrunners in the Democratic Party are a woman and an African-American, 60% of voters believe that the Democrats will end up nominating a white male as their Presidential candidate in 2008.

Former North Carolina Senator John Edwards (D) earns support from just 10% of those polled. Edwards has consistently been in third place. However, now he shares that spot with former Vice President Al Gore. For Gore that reflects a slight gain from the 8% level of support he enjoyed a week ago. Gore has not indicated that he is running. Senator Joe Biden (D) and General Wesley Clark (D) each earn 3% of the vote. No other candidates top 1% at this time.

Meanwhile you have all the main power and money people pulling for Obama. Slowly sliding away from Clinton. Should be interesting to watch how this all plays out. We DO still have a little time. {Smile} We’ll have to wait and see.
Peter