Pelosi Blames Plane-Gate on Sexism, Rummy

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How can Nancy Pelosi tell she's lost the Plane-Gate argument? When even MSNBC brands it "Air Pelosi." Check the screencap.

But Pelosi has apparently decided to go down fighting. She's now playing the gender card, and for good measure has thrown in a soupçon of Rumsfeld-phobia. MSNBC just aired a clip of Speaker Pelosi making the following remarks on the issue of her request to the Pentagon for a large plane to transport her home:

"I don't even know the numbers of the planes. So this is something that is really very strange. That the Department of Defense, the Pentagon, which I have been a constant critic of the war in Iraq, and where I understand Mr. Rumsfeld still has a desk, even though he's no longer the Secretary, has decided that they would go public about a conversation on an issue that applied to the previous Speaker. Now, as a woman, as a woman Speaker of the House, I don't want any less opportunity than male speakers have had when they have served here."

View the video of one angry Pelosi here.

In to discuss the matter with host Norah O'Donnell were Kelly Dingell, Dem strategist, and Cheri Jacobus, GOP strategist. Cheri actually offered some very sound advice to the Speaker:

"The biggest mistake that Nancy Pelosi can play right now is to try to play a victim. This business that this is happening to her because she's a woman is ridiculous. She's asked for a larger plane, she's asked for something more than what the previous Speaker had. It's ridiculous and naive of her to think that people aren't going to look at this and want to know why. She's talking about this ethical Congress, they're supposed to be big environmentalists. I think it's ridiculous for her to make this about her being a woman, and a huge mistake on her part."

Dingell and O'Donnell emphasized that Pelosi was seeking a plane that could fly her home to California non-stop. But as many readers have pointed out, that in no way justifies the need for the behemoth Pelosi has been seeking. There are any number of executive-sized jets with more than enough range to go California dreamin' -- non-stop.

When Dingell suggested there was good reason to suspect that someone "leaked" the story, Jacobus had a telling rebuttal: "I have a problem with the term 'leaked.' It shouldn't be a secret. Is it something [Pelosi] thought should have been kept secret?"

Precisely..

Contact Mark at mark@gunhill.net