AL is a red state. WA is a blue state. you do the math. as bad as this thing got last time, you would have thought that it was best for all concerned to play this one straight.
Sen. Richard Shelby on new Air Force tanker contract bid process: "I believe it's a sham."WASHINGTON -- Yesterday it was a dry letter of protest, but today the bulk of the Alabama congressional delegation cranked up the volume on their complaint that the Air Force's rewritten request for bids on the new refueling tanker is unfair to the Northrop Grumman/EADS partnership.
In a news conference on Capitol Hill being broadcast back home via satellite, six of the nine took turns finding unique ways to say that they think the bid process is now rigged in favor of Boeing.
"I believe it's a sham," said Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala.
"We're seeing politics poison a process that should be immune from politics," said Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Saks.
"Every call they make is going in Boeing's favor," said Rep. Spencer Bachus, R-Vestavia Hills.
"This new draft (request for proposal) puts the same emphasis in terms of priority on the amount of water in the toilet of the airplane as the amount of fuel that can be offloaded," said Rep. Jo Bonner, R-Mobile.
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