Air Kerry: Nonunion and previously Air Bush
A basic fact of Democratic Party politics is that you look for the union label before buying any service or good. So it should come as no surprise that unions representing airline workers are miffed that John Kerry's campaign is using a nonunion campaign jet. But labor insiders tell us that it's not the senator's fault. Commercial carriers, it seems, can't supply what he needs, largely because of costs. Paul Hallisay, political director of the Airline Pilots Association, says he has even contacted airline CEOs to help, but no luck yet. "The Kerry campaign has done everything they can do to secure a union airline," he says. Hallisay, whose union is likely to endorse Kerry next month, concedes that no union label is a problem, especially for the AFL-CIO. "We would like to see him flying a union carrier, but we're workers and we're not management and we cannot dictate procurement policy to the airlines," he says. Then there's the problem with the charter broker Kerry uses. It's Air Charter Team, which brags that "our most notable client was U.S. President George W. Bush during the 2000 campaign."
Politics and Policy For $1,000, Alex
It took a trip to San Francisco and lots of wine, but normally serious education policy writers let their hair down earlier this month when the Education Writers Association met for its annual awards banquet. But what happened is giving some a hangover. To brighten up the night, John Merrow, host of PBS's Merrow Report, played jeopardy . Most categories were serious. But not the one called "Rod Paige," after President Bush's education secretary. It poked fun at Paige quotes and his dissertation on football. The reporters laughed, and some applauded slams on Bush education policy. But not all. "If this had been held in Washington," said one appalled observer, "there'd be outrage at reporters ridiculing the guy they cover." Merrow said "it was just kind of having fun" and the point of the stupid-quotes category was to get to one from Bush, when he refers to "my wife and I." Merrow: "He should have said, `Laura and me.' " Nyuk, nyuk. Said Paige spokeswoman Susan Aspey, "Can we suggest a new category for next year--fair and balanced for $1,000, Alex."
The Ketchup Embargo
Iraqi insurgents are starting to have a real impact on Americans based in Baghdad, we hear. Sources say that the bad guys have stopped supply convoys carrying things like ketchup and ice cream destined for the American "green zone." The result: Ketchup's gone AWOL. Ice cream's been rationed to just a scoop a day.
Ebert & Bush
President Bush has joined Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton in endorsing Osama, the art house film that shows the struggles women faced in Taliban-run Afghanistan. At a top-dollar New York fundraiser last week, he told his donors, "There's a movie called Osama.' I wish you'd look at it." Stating the obvious, he added, "When I talk to the American people about what it means to liberate people, the movie says it a lot better than I can."
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