As if the Boeing vs. Airbus controversy on the Air Force tanker deal wasn't political enough already, with Obama and Clinton criticizing the decision to award the contract to a group that includes Airbus, now there's this:
Angry Boeing supporters are vowing revenge against Republican presidential candidate John McCain over Chicago-based Boeing's loss of a $35 billion Air Force tanker contract to the parent company of European plane maker Airbus.
...... Boeing supporters in Congress are directing their wrath at McCain, the Arizona senator and nominee in waiting, for scuttling an earlier deal that would have let Boeing build the next generation of Air Force refueling tankers.
Whoever the Democratic nominee is, it seems likely that this will be an issue in the Presidential campaign, with the Democratic candidate criticizing McCain for "outsourcing" U.S. military aircraft. Something along these lines, I would guess:
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., echoing the thoughts of many congressional Democrats, sees McCain's role in a less positive light. She said the earlier tanker deal was "on course for Boeing" before McCain started railing against it.
"I mean, the thought was that it would be a domestic supplier for it," Pelosi told reporters. "Senator McCain intervened, and now we have a situation where the contract may be — this work may be outsourced."
When you combine this with McCain's uncompromising support for NAFTA, trade and globalization could be as big a deal in the general election as it has been in the Democratic primaries.
ADDED: And now there's this:
The Associated Press reported that some of [McCain's] current advisers lobbied last year for the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co., the parent company of plane maker Airbus. EADS and its U.S. partner Northrop Grumman Corp. beat Boeing Co. for the lucrative aerial refueling contract.
...
Two of the lobbyists working on the EADS account gave up their lobbying work when they joined McCain's campaign last year. A third, former Texas Rep. Tom Loeffler, lobbies for EADS and serves as McCain's national finance chairman.
