Posted on 11/19/2010 7:57:42 PM PST by markomalley
Representative John A. Boehner, soon to be the Speaker of the House, has pledged to fly commercial airlines back to his home district in Ohio. But that does not mean that he will be subjected to the hassles of ordinary passengers, including the controversial security pat-downs.
As he left Washington on Friday, Mr. Boehner headed across the Potomac River to Reagan National Airport, which was bustling with afternoon travelers. But there was no waiting in line for Mr. Boehner, who was escorted around the metal detectors and body scanners, and taken directly to the gate.
(snip)
And so on Friday, he did. But not without the perquisites of office, including avoiding those security pat-downs that many travelers are bracing for as holiday travel season approaches.
Michael Steel, a spokesman for the Republican leader, said in a statement that Mr. Boehner was not receiving special treatment. And a law enforcement official said that any member of Congress or administration official with a security detail is allowed to bypass security.
“The appropriate security procedures for all Congressional leaders, including Speaker Pelosi and Senator Reid, are determined by the Capitol Police working with the Transportation Security Administration,” Mr. Steel said.
(Excerpt) Read more at thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com ...
It’s an amazing thing to watch. If it were any where else I would just shrug my shoulders, but here I guess I expect something a little different. I suppose angry people just have to vent.
Go ahead. Excuse the Republican emperors.
LOL really? I’ve already stated why it’s likely he didn’t go thru the check (which no one else should have to go thru either). I’m not going to restate it again. If you disagree, that’s fine, but if all you’re going to post back to me is childish stuff like this, please stop, it’s not worth either of our time. And it makes FR look stupid to the rest of the world.
I'm happy for Boehner and for every other person who isn't treated like a head of livestock by the TSA.
so I thought you were referring to the security detail he had.
I don't have a problem with that either. I don't even have a problem with him not getting the security check.
I do have a problem with US having to get one when he doesn't and I do have a problem with someone saying that he's not getting special privileges when he is.
He any not be getting any special privileges compared to other politicians, but compared to us, yeah, he is.
This is no longer a country of equality and equal rights for everyone. It's becoming a caste society.
It goes like this: President, Vice President, Speaker of the house, President Pro Tem of the Senate. After that I get a little hazy.
>> Security for the guy who is second in line to be President makes sense.
That’s not my argument.
Let the entire contingency wait in line and suffer the same indignities as the next guy, gal, or kid.
I agree.
But the remedy isn't to force Boehner to undergo the indignity of of a pre-flight grope--it's to eliminate the requirement for the rest of us.
I don’t know, but my guess would be that Obammy is trying to demoralize Americans with government sexual abuse policy.
Sure he’s getting some special privileges. I don’t see any way around it. No one wants to kill me or you. I don’t know, maybe we go overboard with security for our elected officials. But, if we stop and we have an assassination, what then?
I see lots of problems, and I think most of our elected officials are out of touch, but I don’t think this is a caste society. After all, we can aspire to join that little group (which we couldn’t in a caste society, which means we are born to one caste, and we are stuck there, period).
I am NOT making light of this. Of course, I think term limits are the answer. Then they do have to live with the laws they make for the rest of us. Maybe not during their one or two terms, but that will only shield them from some things for a short time.
BUT let’s not focus on this. Let’s focus on the fact that NONE OF US should be going thru this. And stop fighting with each other about these little sideshows that the NYTimes wants us to focus on. Because we are FReepers and we are on the same side. :)
You gotta wonder.
No, let none of us do it.
No kidding.....
I never said or implied any thing else.
The posts I’ve been reading here call for Boehner to submit to this sh*t. Wrong answer.
It's good to be Queen.
>> I don’t think that they realize that they have been once again played like a fiddle.
The next time you get junk stroked by the TSA, you think about who’s getting played like a fiddle.
If he needs to go somewhere, do what the Brits do, rent an Airliner.
It’s irrational in a way. Where’s the rest of the story? There’s 435 congress critters and 100 senators. Why the big deal about Boener and not the rest of them?
LOL they aren’t stroking me ever, Gene.
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