Lying politicians is not news.

The "private plane" was a necessary part of the story. That's why they capitalized "$1 MILLION" in the headline, to emphasize that planes are for rich people, and played up the "hiding" aspect of the block tracking.

I don't find it plausible that she left one rally in the bus, the bus drove to the local airport, she got on the plane, flew to next stop, waited for the bus to arrive at that airport, got on the bus, and then the bus drove to the next rally. Yet that is what the article implies heavily.

What she probably did was use the airplane to fill in a visit while the bus was on a long leg between stops. That's the whole point of GA.

The story isn't "journalism", it is "news manufacturing", and private airplanes are a favorite hot button for that process.

Mike C.

Some of my best posts are written in white font.

Link to article from the St Louis paper. Reason this is "news" is for "plane" issues Claire and hubby had with their plane several years ago. Thus she will rightfully or wrongfully be under the scope for any "plane" related matter.

Do like the quote at the end or the article:

The issue flared up again last year when, during a town hall meeting, she appeared to agree with a questioner’s assertion that “normal people” could afford to fly private planes.

Good think none of us are normal ...

[Link]https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/mccaskill-disputes-claim-that-her-rv-tour-of-missouri-last/article_85f7d236-d9af-57de-b8e5-07f153d31c73.html[/Link]

I agree.

Mike C.

Maybe she will get behind a way to give us some privacy back with ADS-B.

Ken

I agree.

Mike C.

The headlines write themselves:

"Senator proposes rules to hide use of a $1 MILLION private plane"

It will come across as elitist and self serving, totally missing the actual merits of any such change.

The general message is that private air travel is toxic to your public image since that can be turned into a manufactured news story putting you in bad light.

Mike C.

Some of the problem might be reading the dailymail story. I read them a lot and they're terrible. try this one: http://freebeacon.com/politics/claire-m ... -missouri/

Many years ago I got to meet Senator John Glenn at KCGF (Cuyahoga Cty Airport, Cleveland, OH). Before he had the Baron, he had a Bo.

No entourage, no detail, no publicity. Just a pilot (who just happened to be a state senator and astronaut) flying to some function in Cleveland.

I think many of us (especially here) are fine with the use of an airplane for campaign stops. I struggle with the appearance of being on an RV (which is really a bus) for appearances but really doing something else. Cr@p.. if you can't be honest about that, is there anything she is honest about?

I get why this is controversial but I do this all the time. I fly my private plane but just rent a measly auto from Enterprise rather than have an RV waiting for me. Since I have a plane I can't afford an RV.

In my view there are lots of good reasons to not vote for her from a policy perspective. That she uses a Pilatus to get around shouldn't be one of them but she asked for it when she promoted her RV tour of the state. What she should have done was travel around in an RV-12, get picked up in her RV and then go to whatever function she is attending. Then she could take the Slick Willie approach......it depends on what the definition of RV is......

"news manufacturing"

That's a keeper Mike. Thx.

Do you think she is dishonest because of the article that was written?

Or do you know she lied?

In other words, was your opinion manipulated by the article or not? The article clearly paints a particular kind of picture to engender a specific response, namely that she did something dishonest, or at least deceptive.

She did say she used the plane some during this trip. I don't believe she ever said she would not use the plane at all during the trip. So where is the lie, exactly?

Somehow we got the point that using an airplane is not about the increase in abilities to do more, but now it is a "dishonest" elitist thing that should be hidden from public view.

It is bad enough that some of the general public thinks that, but it appears some pilots here think the same as well.

Sigh.

I don't know anything about her politics or party, but the mere fact she flies around the state in a PC-12 increases my opinion of her, and not something to condemn her for.

Mike C.

Not at all, although a very fair question. My comment / opinion would be the same regardless of which side of the aisle she sat. Personally, I don't even have a TV. Well, I have TV but no cable (much to the dismay of my teenager). I don't watch the news. And often I don't read about the news from FNN or Fox. My opinion, clearly stated as such, came from her blog:

"Our tour may be over, but Claire’s work on veterans issues continues. Join her team by texting CLAIRE to 83224!

Until next time,

— BigBlue

Her blog pitches it as a bus tour to support veterans (for which I am one) and their issues. I think the article was probably an intentional trash job... go figure... but why have the PC12 trail? Her blog has lots of pics of and on the bus. My comment wasn't politically or trash journalism inspired at all.

So I applauded the use of an airplane, but the way she portrayed this tour with Big Blue makes her seem disingenuous if the PC12 was how she traveled. That's simply my opinion, which is worth exactly what you and everyone else paid for it.

https://medium.com/@McCaskill4MO/breaki ... 04b6336010

That's the question, *IF* she traveled by PC-12 and not on the bus generally.

The article was designed to take you to the precipice of concluding she had done so, without actually providing any actual evidence that she did.

If you find out that she traveled on 80% of the bus trips between sites, but then occasionally used the plane to visit another site and return to the bus route, a visit she would not otherwise be able to do, how is that being disingenuous?

There is plenty of evidence she got off and on the bus at various stops. Videos, pictures, press, etc. I find it unlikely she took the airplane to sites just to wait for the bus to show up. There would be videos, pics, posts of her at airports being picked up by the bus. Those don't seem to exist, and if they did, then the article is deficient in not using that evidence to make a much stronger case.

The whole airplane story is manufactured news to create what is likely a false impression. We don't have news any more, just bias reinforcement fed to a fractured public.

Mike C.

Simple solution any politician campaigning on MY dime should be forced to use a Yellow 1973 Pinto wagon with one snow tire on the right front.
If they use their money a G550 is OK.