LBJ Hit the Flight Deck Long Before Bush Did
All those Democrats attacking President Bush for landing on the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln seem to have forgotten that one of their own, President Lyndon Johnson, beat Bush to the punch by more than 35 years.
LBJ not only landed on a carrier deck, but even sent the ship to sea just so he could make a widely publicized carrier deck landing.
According to Rear Adm. Stephen Pietropaoli, the Navy's chief spokesman, LBJ ordered the USS Constellation to leave port in San Diego and head out to sea so he could take a helicopter ride to the ship and land in its flight deck. Like Bush, he spent the night aboard, mingled with the crew and made a speech.
That done, the ship went back to San Diego, having given LBJ the publicity platform he sought. Adm. Pietropaoli told USA Today: "The next day it [the carrier] returned to port."
By contrast, the ship upon which Bush landed, the Lincoln, was already at sea and heading for port when President Bush flew out to greet the returning warriors.
Bush wasn't alone in visiting a warship already at sea, either. According to Adm. Pietropaoli, over the years presidents, members of Congress and Cabinet secretaries have all visited Navy ships.
But Democrats, frantic to find any issue at all, to use against President Bush, ignore the facts and the precedent set by fellow Democrat Lyndon Johnson.
