Defending Democrats

There are a couple of different active stories at the moment where Democrats need defending. The first is this whole Nancy Pelosi Air Force jet story. Pelosi has been encouraged to fly to and from her San Francisco area home to DC using a military aircraft. The problem with this is that they're not willing to supply here with an aircraft capable of making the trip non-stop. I think she should either:

a) be allowed to fly coach if that's what she'd prefer
b) if folks are going to insist that she use a military aircraft then they should provide her with one that will be able to get her to and fro in a similar time frame as the coach flight would

If that means a larger aircraft than what Hastert used then so what? Big deal. Get over it, people. Given the way Republicans have spent tax payer money lately I don't think it's nearly as much an issue of fiscal constraint as it is being a bunch of sore losers. Show some class.

The second Democrat that needs defending these days is John Edwards. Apparently he and his family have just finished building a massive estate in North Carolina. It's 28,000 square feet situated on 102 secluded acres, according to reports. Personally, I think it sounds lovely. I think if he's made the kind of money to provide for his family like that in an honest fashion then good for him. I wish I was able to provide for my family like that.

Now where Edwards will run into a little trouble, and perhaps rightly so, is on his vision of two Americas. As Jay Leno was quick to point out, "we know which America he [Edwards] is living in." It's hard to be thought of as sincere when you claim to be fighting for the rights of the poor when you live in such splendor. How well can you know the poorer America when you keep yourself so far removed from it?

Now I don't know a whole lot about the personal life of Edwards. For all I know he and his family are at the local soup kitchen working every week and he may do oodles of other things for charitable reasons. If that's the case then good for him. Maybe it's not at all hypocrisy. I don't know. I can understand why it would at first glace need explaining, though.