Vice President Joe Biden made a surprise visit to Iraq on Thursday, and people on Twitter couldn’t help but point out the name of the aircraft he arrived on: The Spirit of Strom Thurmond.
Photos of Biden descending the C-17 military transport plane quickly made their way around the Twitterverse, with many pointing out the optics of having the vice president fly on an aircraft named after the senator who filibustered the 1964 Civil Rights Act.
.@VP has arrived in Iraq, touching down on the Spirit of Strom Thurmond as AF2 pic.twitter.com/17fUM72tj2
— Mike Memoli (@mikememoli) April 28, 2016
The name of the plane: The Spirit of Strom Thurmond. Not sure that’s a spirit I’d want leaving the country. https://t.co/JExGCLYcPK
— David Solimini (@CommsDirector) April 28, 2016
nice… nice… oh god why? pic.twitter.com/krmRmtnpgG
— southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) April 28, 2016
Aboard “The Spirit of Strom Thurmond”. #optics https://t.co/kf7vgoSpei
— Kevin Swanson (@KBAYSWAN) April 28, 2016
@xeni Flying in the spirit of Strom Thurmond would make me feel very, very dirty.
— Adam L. Cox (@adamlcox) April 28, 2016
According to an Air Force news story, the C-17 Globemaster III was christened in Thurmond’s honor in 2002 to commemorate his 100th birthday.
Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. John P. Jumper at the time called it “a great honor that both the name and the spirit of a great American resides with this airplane.”
Biden is not the first politician to catch flak for flying on the Spirit of Strom Thurmond.
(Photo courtesy Joint Base Charleston)
Then-Vice President Dick Cheney rode the same plane during his overseas trip in 2007, earning mockery from Jon Stewart on “The Daily Show.”
