Senator Specter Violates Air Force One Code

[Oilwellian]

By JIM RUTENBERG,The New York Times
Posted: 2007-07-27 18:45:16
Filed Under: Politics
PHILADELPHIA (July 26) — Guests of President Bush aboard Air Force One generally know that he expects them to behave in a certain way: No showboating or mingling with the on-board press corps and, certainly, no criticizing the commander in chief or his team.

Senator Arlen Specter violated both points of decorum on Thursday. He visited with reporters aboard the presidential airplane before it lifted off for Philadelphia and lambasted the attorney general.

Mr. Specter, Republican of Pennsylvania, wandered back into the press cabin as the plane sat on the tarmac at Andrews Air Force Base before the president arrived from the White House.

According to a pool report of the encounter, Mr. Specter expressed anew his criticism of Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales but said he saw no signs that Mr. Gonzales would be forced to resign. Mr. Specter attributed Mr. Gonzales’s job security to Mr. Bush’s “personal loyalty” to him.

Mr. Specter spoke derisively of Mr. Gonzales’s appearance Tuesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee, where he faced accusations that he misled Congress last year when he said there had been no disagreement within the administration over the National Security Administration’s domestic surveillance program.

“Our hearing two days ago was devastating,” Mr. Specter said. “But so was the hearing before that, and so was the hearing before that.”

http://news.aol.com/story/_a/senator-violates-air-force-one-code/20070727093809990001?ncid=NWS00010000000001

[Adsos Letter]

1. And yet...

...he has the gall to turn around and accuse the Dems of political grandstanding on the AG case...

[Subdivisions]

5. I wonder if he was just throwing a tantrum for having been cut

out of the loop as he traveled to Philly with the chimp. Schumer and DiFi swooped in, as they should've, and announced a call for investigations.

[Swamp Rat]

2. Kinda hard to believe ANYTHING that comes from Air Force One these days.

[SharonRB]

3. I'll bet he's never invited back on AF1.

[Captain Hilts]

4. But he was back on the Republican reservation when the plane landed. nt

[Kagemusha]

6. I find this fascination with royal prerogative disturbing.

The monarch has his rules and expects everyone to abide by them. And someone dared break his rules, even if briefly. And the press is transfixed.

There was a revolutionary war, right? I didn't just imagine that during history class?

[SoCalDem]

7. No more plane rides for him..

:)

[Toasterlad]

8. He Also Kept Chanting "Bye Bye Plane!" Throughout the FA's Safety Lecture.

[Richard Steele]

9. No wonder he's in trouble- only B*sh is allowed to do that on AF1!