The AF might have shot themselves in the foot by waiting so long on this competition. Waiting til last week, with election year politics, and congress getting into a protectionist mood……..it is a real possibility (especialy when the Dems win the election) that this deal will be axed and the 767 foisted on the AF. They should have finished this deal last year.

In this election year political climate,,,,,all the logical arguments in the world simply will not matter. The Dems are jumping on this issue as the “Bush admins outsourcing US jobs to Europe”. It isnt true, but, hey! Its an election year! What does truth have to do with it?!

The politics of this are gonna be fun to see. http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2008/03/05/221995/us-congress-to-hear-today-why-boeing-lost-kc-x-contract.html

IIts gonna get nasty. http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=39432&dcn=todaysnews

The next US President comments. http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2008/03/02/obama-expresses-disappointment-over-air-force-tanker-deal/?mod=googlenews_wsj