It’s a brewing brou-ha-ha. Speaker Pelosi recently requested military transport that is capable of a non-stop flight across the country and conservatives in general and Republicans in particular are making much of what seems to me to be quite a simple and common-sense request.

Nancy Pelosi (D - CA) in the past has taken commercial airliners for trips home, however, in her new role as Speaker of The House, she is now second in line for the Presidency after VP Cheney. As many have noted already, the military began providing their own transport for Speaker Hastert shortly after 9/11. Shortly after Pelosi ascended as Speaker, the House’s sergeant-at-arms urged her to use military transport and even favored a transport that could go non-stop across the country.

In addition, Speaker Pelosi has said that, if she cannot get a non-stop military flight, she would be happy to take a commercial flight. Makes sense doesn’t it?

But the fact is, like it or not, Nancy Pelosi is now one of the most important people in this country, which also makes her a high profile target. I like the idea of having extended protection for those in the top-most rung of our chain of command and I cannot see how it is such a big issue that the current Speaker asks for a non-stop military flight similar to what she would receive flying a commercial airline.

I think Tony Snow, the White House’s spokesperson, said it perfectly when he said that “[t]his is a silly story and I think it’s been unfair to the speaker.” I think the word “silly” is a perfect description of this situation. Are there not more important issues to be discussed than a simple request for a non-stop flight for the third most important powerful member of the US government? Lets protect our Speaker as we would protect the President and Vice President and move onto bigger and better issues.

My last word on this issue is a message to Speaker Pelosi and her fellow Democrats in congress. I think the term “you reap what you sow” applies neatly to this situation. For many years now, Democrats in Congress have grown increasingly partisan, making mountains out of mole hills and obstructing progress in Washington as often as possible without looking too much like obstructionists.

I think a perfect example is the President’s recent slip during his State of The Union speech last month when he congratulated the “Democrat Majority” rather than the “Democratic Majority.” Democrats, of course, were indignant over the slip and accused the President of intentionally maligning the name of their party.

This coming from the same people who never lose an opportunity to tell us how terrible a communicator the President tends to be. They make fun of his every slip, his every mispronunciation. Yet, when he makes a simple and innocent slip during his SOU speech, they treat it as intentional.

And so, Speaker Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Reid, and Democrats throughout congress must now deal with a Republican minority that remembers well the trouble caused by fellow Democrats when they were the minority. Who knows, Democrats probably taught Republicans some good tactics to employ over the next couple of years. And this while Democrats struggle to relearn the ins and outs of being the party in power.

All that said, I do hope Republicans will show themselves to be more honorable as a minority party than Democrats were these past four or five years. At present, however, I’m not going to hold my breath.

There’s an old old saying that goes, “there’s nought so strange as folk,” and I agree. But there is an even stranger sub-class of “folk.” We know them as politicians, and today The Drudge Report posted a link to a San Francisco Chronicle article which claims that San Francisco’s Mayor, Gavin Newsom, had an affair with the wife of one of his aides:

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom’s re-election campaign manager resigned Wednesday after confronting the mayor about an affair Newsom had with his wife while she worked in the mayor’s office, City Hall sources said.

Alex Tourk, 39, who served as Newsom’s deputy chief of staff before becoming his campaign manager in September, confronted the mayor after his wife, Ruby Rippey-Tourk, told him of the affair as part of a rehabilitation program she had been undergoing for substance abuse, said the sources, who had direct knowledge of Wednesday’s meeting.

I don’t find this strange. I live in the Washington D.C. area and I can tell you this kind of stuff is more typical of politicians than perhaps even rock stars. Big egos and power are a heady mix to some.

What is interesting about this whole situation is that Newsom’s aide, Alex Tourk, quit and has refused to comment on this allegation. So has Tourk’s wife, Ruby Rippey-Tourk, who, the SF Chronicle reveals, now hosts a weekly radio show for Benefit Magazine in San Francisco.

So I decided to visit the Benefit Magazine site and see if I could read more about the magazine and the radio show. What did I see when I arrived? Well, the first thing was that the issue posted currently to that site is the Sept/Oct 2006 issue. Second, it was an issue with Newsom’s handsome profile right on the front and a byline of “Why Gavin Gives” on the cover. Why indeed!

Linked to the front page of the site is a puff piece on Newsom discussing his charitable giving and his desire to help the community. I won’t comment on that or try to find fault with that as I agree that impacting your community is what politicians ought to do.

What I do wonder about is the timing of the article with the hiring of Ruby Rippey-Tourke and the posting of that piece and the article cover to their website. It may be nothing other than bad timing, or a media organization showing some favoritism to a particular politician, which is not something I find unusual. It’s just the interesting connect between Ruby Rippey-Tourke’s new job with Benefits Mag, their article on the Mayor discussing his “Homeless Connect” program, and the fact that Alex, Ruby’s husband, who did not know of the affair at that time, was still a principle aide in the Mayor’s office.
It is an interesting coincidence. And, there is some additional irony here because, if you read the article posted to the Benefit Mag site, you’ll find this quote:

“I have great respect for him,” says Newsom’s Deputy Chief of Staff Alex Tourk. “It’s one thing to talk about the world the way it should be. It’s quite another to roll up your sleeves and actually [do something about it]. Anyone who questions his sincerity simply doesn’t know him.” [Emphasis mine]

Ah politics…