Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has sent a letter to President Trump suggesting that unless the government reopens this week, he should postpone the state of the union address (SOTU) until a later date or deliver the address in writing to Congress on January 29th.
Speaker Pelosi’s letter cites “security concerns” as the principal reason for her suggestion. She implies that the partial shutdown of the US government has “hamstrung” the US Secret Service and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) so the Secret Service cannot adequately protect this National Special Security Event (NSSE).
Planning for NSSEs usually begins weeks and on recurring events like the SOTU, often months ahead of the event and continues uninterrupted until the event concludes. I’m certain this SOTU was no different.
It was and I presume still is a disgustingly common practice for deceptive politicians in both major parties to attribute cancellation or postponement of an event on “security reasons,” thus implying that the security providers have told them they just can’t adequately do their jobs. If there is intelligence that a credible threat is actually posed against the SOTU, Speaker Pelosi ought to be meeting directly with the President, Senate Leader McConnell, the House Sergeant at Arms Paul Irving, and the Secret Service to discuss it.
It seems more likely that Speaker Pelosi’s reason for wanting to postpone the SOTU is to avoid giving President Trump prime television time to explain just how well the country under his presidency has begun to recover economically from the damage inflicted during the eight years of the Obama administration.
Yeah, this one was pretty obvious. Nice try, but it won’t work.
Comment by Dan Gookin — January 16, 2019 @ 12:34 pm
Dan,
Thank you.
The television skews networks will fall all over themselves to give the Democrats rebuttal time, and that’s fine. I’m guessing, though, that since The Chuck and Nancy Show was such a flop after the President’s last prime time appearance, they’ll probably choose their spokespersons more carefully.
Comment by Bill — January 16, 2019 @ 12:55 pm
Pelosi was denied a military plane for an overseas trip …. LOL
Comment by Stebbijo — January 17, 2019 @ 11:39 am
Stebbijo,
It won’t work. Nancy can still fly using her lifetime pass on Broomstick Airlines.
Comment by Bill — January 17, 2019 @ 12:07 pm
I have seen assertions that Pelosi had made arrangements for several of her family members to travel with her on the cancelled trip. Are you aware of any ‘list’ of the persons that were suppose to travel with her?
Comment by Tributary — January 21, 2019 @ 11:27 am
Tributary,
I haven’t seen such a list, however I’m 100% sure (just like Buzzfeed, ABC, Sulzberger’s Slimes and Bezo’s Bozos, and CNN are sure) that at least one list exists.
If the bus that picked up the CoDel was a US Air Force bus, it’s very possible that there was a manifest for the bus so the driver could check off each passenger who boarded.
The CoDel flight was a USAF 89th Military Airlift Wing flight out of Joint Base Andrews (formerly known as Andrews AFB). There would have been an 89th crew member there to check off people on the aircraft’s passenger manifest either when the passengers checked in at the terminal’s VIP lounge and at planeside.
Comment by Bill — January 21, 2019 @ 11:46 am