The Washington Post today reports that the aircraft carrier Lincoln, on which Dubya made his carefully choreographed campaign speech last week, was delayed from arriving at port for the political show:
Pentagon officials said yesterday that an aircraft carrier waited within sight of San Diego last week while President Bush slept aboard, instead of heading straight to port after 10 months at sea.
A Pentagon official said the USS Abraham Lincoln made “lazy circles” 30 miles at sea and took 20 hours to cross a distance that could have been covered in an hour or two. But that official and others said the carrier was slowed to ensure it reached the dock at the time that had been promised, about 9 the next morning.
“We’re not doing the families any favors by tricking them and coming in sooner,” said Rear Adm. Stephen R. Pietropaoli, the Navy chief of information. “From the get-go, the White House staff was very sensitive to the Lincoln’s schedule and wanted to accommodate the president’s schedule to the Lincoln’s schedule.”
Democrats alleged that the 1,092-foot carrier was delayed to enhance Bush’s trip, and called it a sign that he was using the military as a prop for political advantage. The Lincoln provided a spectacular platform for his May Day address declaring victory in Iraq, and the commander in chief’s landing aboard in an S-3B Viking jet produced huge headlines labeling him “Top Gun.”
… “This was a deliberate and intentional use of the military for campaign purposes,” [Rep. Henry] Waxman said. “Of course, the president should greet the troops. The question is misusing the Navy and Air Force and taxpayer dollars to kick off a reelection campaign.”
… Sen. Robert C. Byrd (D-W.Va.) said on the Senate floor Tuesday that it was “an affront to the Americans killed or injured in Iraq for the president to exploit the trappings of war for the momentary spectacle of a speech.”
The possibility of a taint emerged earlier Tuesday when the White House acknowledged that Bush had not needed to arrive in the Navy jet, as his aides at first asserted, but instead could have used a helicopter. That would not have required the olive-green flight suit and helmet that Bush posed with, or the rescue training he received in the White House pool. Aides explained that the Lincoln had been expected to be hundreds of miles out, and that Bush stuck with his plan when that changed.
Update 2pm: The White House is now sending out facts and figures that show that using the jet to land the President on the carrier was only marginally more expensive than using Marine One. That may well be, but they miss the point. The fact that he did it at all is the problem. He could have made that speech from the White House, but instead the taxpayers paid for a massive campaign appearance on the deck of an aircraft carrier which was delayed in order to serve as the backdrop for a long-form, free TV commercial.
Update:
The story continues in the May 9 Washington Post:
White House press secretary Ari Fleischer said the cost of flying the S-3B Viking that carried Bush to the carrier was $6,559 per hour — only slightly more than the hourly cost of flying the Marine One helicopter. “The cost difference between a Viking per hour and Marine One per hour is $7 per hour,” he said. “Given the fact it actually takes a Viking less time to travel than a helicopter, you can do the math.”
That accounting, however, left out crucial elements. First, there were two Vikings in Bush’s entourage. Then there were the four “COD” aircraft, the “carrier onboard delivery” planes that ferried Bush’s staff and selected journalists to the USS Abraham Lincoln. In addition, Marine One flew to the ship anyway, separate from Bush’s trip by Viking. Marine One, a backup and a third transport helicopter were all flown to the Lincoln to carry Bush and his entourage from the ship.
That’s fuzzy math, indeed. An emormous logistical undertaking, extremely expensive, for one short speech meant to win political points. Can you imagine the outcry if Bill Clinton had done this?
The Washington Post ran this correction this morning:
The headline on a May 8 article about President Bush’s visit to the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln incorrectly said the ship was delayed. The ship arrived at its scheduled time after waiting offshore for a day.
It was not specifically “delayed,” but it did speed up and thus had to waste a day to accomodate the President:
The Lincoln originally was scheduled to return May 4. About a week before its arrival, the date was accelerated to May 2, and the ship increased its speed to allow it to rendezvous with Bush, according to Lincoln crew. The accelerated return from Hawaii brought the ship nearer than expected to port, leaving it only 30 miles offshore when Bush arrived May 1. The carrier made what a Pentagon official called “lazy circles” within sight of San Diego as Bush slept aboard. “It is not an uncommon practice for them to wait offshore so they can arrive exactly at the time as advertised,” Fleischer said yesterday.
