There's been a lot of brouhaha over President Bush's decision to be flown to the USS Abraham Lincoln a couple of weeks ago while it was off the coast of San Diego to congratulate the troops on a job well done.

One of the complaints was that Bush's decision to use a jet, as opposed to the normal helicopter, was an example of wasteful spending.

Well, I just caught a couple of minutes of John Kasich's program on Fox News where he was interviewing a representative of Citizens Against Government Waste. The CAGW representative took note of the controversy and revealed that the jet that Bush flew on costs $7 more an hour to operate than the helicopter he normally uses -- and, he noted, the jet gets you there faster.

Of course the whole argument over what mode of transportation to use is silly. If the Democrats are really so worried about government spending, then why did they have Sen. Robert C. "Porker" Byrd give the denunciation? If money is the number one determinant of the mode of transportation that the president should use, then why didn't he go out in a dinghy? Why'd he fly to California? Amtrak could certainly have used another rider.

Anyway, remember -- all that outrage over $7 an hour.