FR EXCLUSIVE: INTERVIEW WITH HIGH LEVEL NAVY COMMANDER REGARDING PRESIDENT BUSH'S TAILHOOK LANDING

After listening to the rantings and ravings of the DemocRATS who are both jealous and livid after seeing a beloved commander in chief do a tailhook landing on the USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN, I wanted to get the real story.

After about 5 calls and transfers and return calls, I just spoke with a Navy commander who deals with public relations. He is very high level, but because this issue is so sensitive, I agreed that I would not use his name.

When asked whether the visit of the president delayed the arrival of the Lincoln, the answer was a resounding "Absolutely not!" The Lincoln arrived when it was scheduled to arrive. Ships slow down and speed up all the time.

The Navy does not have its ships land early. No. It is just not done. It is a logistical nightmare. Tugs and other port services have to be arranged. In 1991, the USS THEODORE ROOSEVELT arrived 20 hours early off the coast of Virginia. It sat out there looking at land for 20 hours. And they never come to port at night.

There were 20-25,000 families and friends expecting to watch the return of the ship and greet their loved ones.

"Psychologically," said the commander, "it would have been a nightmare. People made plane reservations, hotel reservations, long trips by car. Imagine what it would have been like for them to arrive to meet there loved ones, but it turned out that they came a day late for the event. We would have had 20-25,000 people really angry with the U.S. Navy."

The commander gave me his worst scenario for a public relations nightmare. It would be a grandma who drove all the way from Des Moines to see her grandson arrive, only to be told that she didn't make it in time; that they decided to come to port early. What do they say to her?

The commander is amazed at this flap, which has been totally invented by the media. This should be a non-issue with them. Some in the media were sworn to silence, and they were given the May 2 date about 3-4 weeks ago. They knew it would be coming to port at that time. At the appropriate time, the crew and families were notified. You just do not change the date.

As to the landing on a Viking rather than Marine One. The costs are roughly the same. Fuel and other costs for that Viking were already allocated and spent. If the President was not aboard that plane, it would have made a landing on the ship anyway. It would have done so sooner or later because it was in the budget to do it.

What has been lost in all of this, according to the commander, is that it was the Navy's idea for the President to come aboard and make a tailhook landing. They opted for an F-18. Because of security, however, the White House opted for the Viking, a 4-seater which could accommodate Secret Service.

"We would do this again," said the commander. "Ever since President Franklin Roosevelt, every president has landed aboard a Navy ship."

We finished with a laugh at the media. Members of congress and journalists are flown in and not charged. And these are the people creating an issue where none should exist.

Bolter! Bolter!

By Rich Galen
CNSNews.com Commentary from Mullings.com

May 09, 2003

* The Democrats continue to miss the mark on this USS Abraham Lincoln thing.

* The Dems have trotted out Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia and Congressman Henry Waxman (D-CA) to demand - DEMAND -- an investigation into the Presidential event aboard the carrier off San Diego.

* As I mentioned on MSNBC the other day, Senator Byrd who quotes Plato and Cato need only go back to the early 90's to find that President Bill Clinton flew onto the decks of two aircraft carriers with nary a peep out of the old Byrd.

* In 1993 Clinton flew onto the deck of the USS Theodore Roosevelt, which was about 100 miles off the coast of Virginia from which he did his Saturday radio address. A year later he went by launch from Portsmouth, England onto the USS George Washington, which was cruising through the English Channel. According to former Clinton staffers he: "toured the ship top-to-bottom, ate dinner with the crew, gave a speech on deck (repeat: gave a speech on deck), did live network interviews from the flight deck (repeat: did live interviews from the flight deck), attended a memorial service, met with the crew and ..." sit down. Are you sitting? Are you sure? Ok:

* "He steered the ship part-way across the English Channel."

* After he was done not wasting taxpayer money, President Clinton helicoptered to France where he participated in D-Day commemoration activities.

* We don't even want to get into the 1,200-person 30-million-dollar photo-op to China in 1998 while the scandal about Clinton doing you-know-what with you-know-who was in full flower.

* Next point. The home port of the USS Abraham Lincoln is Everett, Washington. This, from the Everett paper the day of her arriving in port: "Even before the carrier docks, Gov. Gary Locke and 10 other officials will be flown to the Lincoln on a helicopter -- weather permitting. Expected are U.S. Sens. Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray..." as well as the Governor a couple of Congressmen and some state legislators.

* Senators Cantwell and Murray are Democrats. Senator Byrd said of the President's visit, ""I am loath to think of an aircraft carrier being used as an advertising backdrop for a presidential political slogan, and yet that is what I saw." One wonders whether Senator Byrd's eyesight was good enough, and his loathing great enough, to pick Cantwell and Murray out of the crowd at the weekly meeting of the Democratic Senate Caucus the better to wag his accusing finger in their faces for using "an aircraft carrier as an advertising backdrop" for their own political purposes.

* One thinks not.

* Unmentioned in that newspaper piece is a report that the Navy had to send their helicopter transportation to Paine Field in Everett, Washington which, according to the airport's website is a "General aviation and industrial airport hosting major tenants Boeing and BF Goodrich Aerospace," lest the august visitors be inconvenienced by actually have had to drive their cars to NAS Whidbey Island - where the helicopter lives.

* Next point. Senator Robert C. Byrd is the all-time champion of pork barrel legislation for projects in West Virginia. There are Robert C. Byrd highways. Robert C. Byrd bridges. Robert C. Byrd senior citizen centers. Robert C. Byrd public mosquito breeding ponds, and Robert C. Byrd public mosquito rotisserie and picnic areas.

* Byrd has gotten so much pork for West Virginia he should be known as Trichinosis Bob. The only thing that ISN'T graced with his name is the State of West Virginia itself - but he's not done yet.

* Last point on all this. I do not understand why the Democrats -- who have been rubbing their hands together in glee while awaiting the end of the 23-day quagmire in Iraq to be able to talk about domestic issues -- come right out of the box and take on the President about the aircraft carrier.

* Every time one of the cable nets ran footage of Byrd or, worse yet Henry Waxman they split the screen with those shots of the President, in full fighter-pilot swagger, posing for photos with a clearly delighted crew.

* Memo to Robert Byrd and Henry Waxman: Thank you.
Signed,
The Bush/Cheney 2004 Campaign

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