The Republicans have been going ape shit over a post of Judicial Watch showing that Nancy Pelosi uses military aircraft to fly around the country. Coming to the defense of Pelosi, out of all places, is ABC:

The treasure trove of documents obtained by Judicial Watch from the Department of Defense regarding Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s use of military aircraft doesn’t seem to prove the organization’s allegation that Pelosi has made “unprecedented demands” for the flights.

In fact, it appears that Pelosi uses military aircraft less often than her predecessor, former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert.

The documents cover the period from January 2007 to November 2008 and show that Pelosi made the equivalent of 20 round-trips between Washington (Andrews Air Force Base) and San Francisco. That’s an average of less than one round-trip per month. In contrast, former Speaker Hastert traveled home to his Illinois district virtually every weekend and, his former aides tell ABC News, he would almost always travel on military aircraft. Like Hastert, Pelosi also occasionally leads Congressional delegations on foreign trips (the documents show six foreign trips: one to Asia, three to the Middle East and two to Europe).

The documents obtained by Judicial Watch also disprove another frequently repeated rumor about Pelosi’s travel: that she regularly flies home to San Francisco in an Air Force C-40, the military equivalent of a Boeing 737. According to the documents, Pelosi did not make any domestic trips on a C-40 during the 23-month period from January 2007 to November 2008. Her trips to San Francisco have all been on smaller executive aircraft, usually an Air Force C-20 (the equivalent of a Gulfstream G-3) or a more plush C-37 (a Gulfstream G-5).

So the Republicans have been out there blowing this whole story up, and even lying about it. Remember, Pelosi is right behind Biden when it comes to being inline for the Presidency. The use of military jets for the Speaker was put in place right after 9/11 by none other than George Bush.

It’s really nice to see the media finally look at the facts on these stories instead of relying on right-wing lies, but I am sure the wingnuts will start bitching about the “liberal media” any minute now.