Rank hath its privilege... so the saying goes

...And in the case of Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), it becomes obvious that those who make the rules have little interest in following them.

Last Friday, Harkin, running late, rushed through Washington's Reagan National Airport and encountered a long line at the security gates (please note that the words "long lines" now seems synonymous with the concept of airport security). Invoking his rank as a member of the Senate, Harkin was hustled to the front of the line, in front of a number of upset travelers who aren't members of Congress, and managed to get on a flight that he would otherwise have missed.

Already taking flak for his use/abuse of "privilege," the spin control machinery is in high gear. Harkin's press secretary, Allison Dobson, claimed that Harkin was needed to cast votes for amendments to the Medicare prescription drug bill and his staying to do his job made him late. The result was that Harkin showed up at DCA with only 15 minutes to spare before the Midwest Express flight, the only one of the kind for the day, departed for Des Moines.

Had Harkin not jumped to the head of the line, an American Airlines flight would have been available a bit later... but would have caused him to miss three events that he was scheduled to attend.

Dobson claimed that, "Senator Harkin really wanted to get to Des Moines and really didn't want to disappoint everybody... When he got to the Midwest Express gate, he said, 'Boy, I'm really late,' and so they escorted him to the head of the security line."

Dobson did add that Harkin "felt bad" that other people were waiting while he left them in his 'six.'

"I think he was really concerned about disappointing people at three events," she added. Yeah -- and missing his flight, and standing in line, and taking off his shoes, and dumping out his wallet, and...

ANN has sent an inquiry to TSA to get some documentation on how important one must be, or how important one's appointments are, in order to circumvent the security apparatus at an airport like DCA. Mind you, this is the same airport where GA is pretty much banned from operating due to the perception of risk that they pose. Hmmm. We'll let you know if they respond...

FMI: www.tsa.gov, http://harkin.senate.gov