Conservatives have their panties all in a bunch over arrangements being made for Speaker Pelosi’s air travel accommodations. Since 9/11, the Speaker of the House, being next in line after the Vice President to take over the leadership of the nation, was given access to an Air Force jet, as the president and vice president are. The reason is security; in a time of emergency, the Speaker must be kept safe.

When this policy was implemented when Hastert was Speaker, neither conservatives nor liberals had a problem with it. When Hastert was given private use of a C-20D, the Air Force version of a Gulfstream III executive jet, it was seen as a security measure. It fit the bill, and the range allowed for non-stop travel to Illinois, where Hastert’s district is. No one objected, even when Hastert used it for more than just his back-and-forth travel.

Now Pelosi has to have a jet arranged–and Republicans and conservatives are whining because she is asking for security to be maintained. Pelosi’s district is on the California coast–and the C-20D Hastert used can only go coast-to-coast in perfect wind conditions, meaning that the plane will usually have to stop along the way to refuel. As far as security is concerned, that’s a clearly stupid condition. If there is a crisis in progress, you don’t want to pin your leaders to the ground; it would defeat the whole purpose of using a jet for security.

Not to mention the day-to-day logistical nightmare of contingency planning for an unplanned emergency landing should prevailing winds not allow the jet to make it all the way. What if the weather doesn’t allow for the plane to land short? What if traffic is backed up at the layover? (Republicans would love it if Pelosi was given clearance ahead of passenger jets–it’d be Bill Clinton getting a tarmac haircut all over again!) The whole idea of a C-20D for a San Francisco shuttle doesn’t make any sense–especially from a security standpoint, which is supposed to be what this is all about in the first place. So the request was made for a plane that could fly non-stop.

Naturally, Republicans smelled blood. Any chance nowadays to smear a Democrat is a call for a feeding frenzy on the right wing. Got a random picture of Kerry sitting at a table with a few empty seats? The soldiers hate Kerry! A right-wing rag prints a suggestive article about how Obama went to a “madrassa”? Obama’s a radical muslim terrorist, and Hillary’s the one smearing him! Who cares if they’re blatant lies? The right wing certainly doesn’t, and when the lies are shown up and debunked, that doesn’t even stop them from continuing to spread the story.

So when Pelosi made a very reasonable request based upon security concerns, the right wing jumped on it as an unreasonable extravagance based upon arrogance and corruption. They instantly fabricated all kinds of bullshit, like that Pelosi demanded a huge Boeing 757-200, with “sleeping quarters” which would become a “Lincoln Bedroom” on “Air Force III.” Stories have been coming hot and heavy with suggestions of corruption: “Some Republicans have argued that Pelosi could offer trips to top political donors,” the AP juicily dishes up. Yeah, that’s right. She wants the plane just so she can do favors for lobbyists. Because lobbyists wouldn’t be caught dead in this ragged old C-20D that Hastert used:

In fact, Hastert didn’t just use it for himself–he let his political bedfellows use it independently at his whim, shuttling conservatives around in luxury simply because they could.

“Nonstop service is not guaranteed, meaning she’s getting Hastert’s plane and nothing bigger,” a conservative congressional source petulantly concluded.

Right-wingers are saying Pelosi is demanding a C-32, a version of a Boeing 757-200. However, no such request was made. Pelosi simply requested any available Air Force jet that can fly non-stop, and left it up to the Air Force to decide on the craft. Which means that the Air Force will likely just upgrade Pelosi to the C-20H, or a Gulfstream IV, which can make the flight non-stop. Pelosi has already stated flatly that the plane will not be used for political travel. Everything else beyond that is nothing more or less than right-wing fantasizing and fiction; the whole Boeing 757-200 thing is completely made up.

And now the mainstream media is picking up the smear. Lou Dobbs has trumpeted the corruption and greed fantasy for six straight days, repeating the right-wing lies. Reports are going out in the mainstream press all over the place. And yet right-wing rags are whining that the media is “skipping over the story.”

These people know no shame; there is no depth they won’t sink to in the hopes that the slime they dredge up from those depths may stick to a Democrat or two.