A Comment On Pelosi's Plane Antics

I will print and read this over lunch. However, I thought you should note a common mis-usage of the word gauntlet:

http://www.bartleby.com/68/8/2708.html

Not just my personal opinion. Gauntlets are thrown down or taken up; gantlets are run.

Best,

CJ

I am not certain which plane was assigned to Speaker Hastert. I have heard it was the G-III, and the opinion above says G-IV. I am certain the G-450 [the modern G-IV] has the range described above, as two weeks ago I was working at site that had G-450s and G-550s and I asked then. The G-550 carries enough fuel to reach Tokyo, from the East Coast, without refueling, but is still small when compared to a 757. The only reason for the Sergeant at Arms to request a 757 is because the new Speaker wants to carry vastly more weight [and or passengers], than a Gulfstream could manage. That implies luggage and entourage, not security.

CJ:

I believe the point the kids made was that while the plane privilege is for security purposes (to protect her role in the presidential order of succession) House Speaker Pelosi wants to use the plane for something other than the simple run back and forth from DC and San Francisco. Her stance implies that her state delegates would be allowed to use the plane, as well, which is NOT the intended purpose of the plane. As for your assumption about Speaker Hastert's plane, according to the Washington Post's initial report on this issue, it was a C-20G that he flew on, which is a G-IV Gulfstream. That is where they picked up the information from.

As for the question regarding the name of the site (while I find it utterly irrelevant), a "gauntlet" according to my handy-dandy dictionary here is:

"A double file of men facing each other and armed with clubs or other weapons with which to strike at an individual who is made to run between them." A synonym of the word is "ordeal." The word you cite "gantlet" is an informal variation of gauntlet.

Sabrina McKinney