Stretch Pelosi, Carbon Criminal

The woman is just oozing hypocrisy.

The speaker has decided that she needs a personal shuttle between Washington, D.C., and her home out on the Left Coast.

Historically, House speakers flew commercial. Then, after 9/11, Speaker Dennis Hastert cited security reasons in switching to a military-provided plane.

But that was a small jet: It sat 12 passengers, with a crew of five.

In contrast, Pelosi is said to want a top-of-the-line, Air Force passenger jet - the military version of the Boeing 757 - which features 42 business-class seats and a 16-member crew, plus a fully enclosed stateroom, entertainment center, private bed and state-of-the-art communications center.

Color us surprised.

We didn't think Pelosi had any use for the military whatsoever.

As for the taxpayers, they stand to get clipped for $300,000 per trip.

For a lady who stands in the first ranks of the "party of the people," she sure eats pretty high on the hog.

Not to mention that such profligate use of jet fuel would make a mockery out of Pelosi's professed political priorities.

This is the same woman who declared last month: "I promise to do everything in my power to achieve energy independence . . . and to stop global warming."

Just two weeks ago, she added, "The science of global warming and its impact is overwhelming and unequivocal." Then she dedicated a select House committee actually to do something about global warming.

Such rank hypocrisy reminds me of when the gasbag Arianna Huffington told Sean Hannity she only flies on private jets because, well, they were already going somewhere and she just happened to need a ride.