Michelle Obama To Enter Campaign Fray

This is one of eight vacations Mrs. Obama will take this year. To justify US taxpayers picking up any of the costs of this trip, a private lunch with the King of Spain and his wife has been scheduled, making this an "official visit".



The criticism aimed at Michelle Obama is that she chose to visit a foreign country rather than remain in the U.S. and support its fragile economy. Just last month in the Florida panhandle, hit hard by the oil disaster in the gulf, Michelle Obama urged parents "looking for things to do with their kids this summer" to vacation in the Florida panhandle.



The opulence of the European trip also has drawn scrutiny as the resort Michelle Obama and her friends are staying in boasts two golf courses, a posh spa with Turkish baths, views of the Mediterranean Sea and a high-end restaurant specializing in avant-garde fare. Room rates are as high as $6,500 for a two-bedroom villa with a private pool and 24-hour butler service.
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Michelle Obama To Enter Campaign Fray

Michelle Obama flew to Spain on Air Force Two, which costs the government $11,555 an hour to operate, according to the Air Force. Assuming a nearly eight hour flight to nearby Malaga, the total round-trip cost of the flight is about $178,000.



The Obama family will reimburse the government an amount equal to two first class tickets - for mother and daughter Sasha, Air Force officials said. A round-trip first-class flight to Malaga costs about $7,400 apiece, without discounts or restrictions. Michelle Obama's office said the first family will pay for personal expenses, but won't reveal the taxpayer cost for the government employees.



This does not include the costs for round-the-clock Secret Security, which is three shifts of security detail per day, along with the transportation of special armored cars and so on. An unspecified number of Secret Service agents and aides are staying at government expense. A spokesman declined to say how many agents are with the first lady in Spain.
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Michelle Obama To Enter Campaign Fray

In addition, none of the published reports include the cost of the cargo planes that tag along and which carry ground transportation and other equipment for security needed during these trips.



Are Michelle's friends paying for the ground transportation that's been cargoed to Spain by the Secret Service for Mrs. Obama and her daughter? Or are they taking public transportation and will meet up with her and Sasha at the public beach and other sightseeing destinations?



The cargo planes that accompany Air Force One and Two are pricey. When Barack Obama flew back to Illinois for one night and flew back to Washington DC for one night and back again to Illinois (2 round trips in one long weekend), Air Force One cost $214,768.00 and the cargo plane that flew with him cost another $32,140. A total of $246,908 for two round trips to Illinois over a five day period.



The costs published are for the planes alone. They don't include the costs of the personnel required to fly and operate the aircraft, or inflight services, such as cooks, stewards, maintenance and repair personnel.
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Michelle Obama To Enter Campaign Fray

You have no facts to back what you say up; you are guessing. You don't know how much Michelle Obama paid for and how much she didn't; you are guessing.



=========================



Read it and weep:



http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/08/us/politics/08vacation.html

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-michelle-spain-20100807,0,4606035.story

http://www.sacbee.com/2010/08/06/2942733/michelle-obamas-spanish-vacation.html



On examination of CBS' numbers, they have been through a spin cycle.



The $95,550 for Secret Service is a $273 per diem per agent. Seventy are estimated to be on this trip.



CBS claims $146,000 is "for the round trip, not counting four to five days' ground time".



The NYT, LAT, and SacBee included how they came up with their published costs. According to them, the Air Force jet Mrs. Obama flew costs $11,351 per hour to operate, meaning a 14-hour round trip would cost $160,000 to $178,000. That does not include the four to five days of ground time, which can be pricey. After every flight, the plane is completely serviced before it goes back into the air.



According to official government documents on the costs of flying and maintaining Air Force One and Two, all of the news organizations' figures have been low-balled. In 2004, it cost taxpayers $60,000 an hour to operate these planes.



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Michelle Obama To Enter Campaign Fray

Laura's trip to Africa was not an official visit.

=========================



Yes, it was.



http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2007-06-26-laura-bush-africa_N.htm
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Michelle Obama To Enter Campaign Fray

Of which Obama did not create, nor his wife.

Laura Bush went on a safari. With her two girls. In Africa.

Didn't seem to care about it then.

Wonder why this particular First Lady is different?

Skin color, perhaps?

============================



I can't f*ck!ng believe that you 0bamabots are putting liberal Democrats in the position of defending anything about the Bushes, but, Laura Bush's trips weren't vacations. They were official trips representing the US and visiting US government programs and aid going to malaria and HIV/AIDS programs in Africa.



How did we get id-jits like you on our side?
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Michelle Obama To Enter Campaign Fray

The trips that you're talking about that Laura Bush took were official visits and not vacations.



All good liberals did criticize Bush's excessive amount of time off in Crawford, as did the media.



It's more exasperating now, being that we're in a Depression and an entire region of our nation that relies on tourist dollars to survive has been destroyed, and both Obamas made appeals to Americans to spend their vacations in that region and support the American economy.



Many liberal Democrats consider Obama's a tone deaf presidency. I don't think it's as tone deaf as it is arrogant and deceptive. The Obamas are DINOs and not as sympathetic to We The People as their most ardent supporters have believed them to be.



Are those who are defending Obama really having such a difficult time understanding the issues involved here? Or are you political operatives paid to try to confuse the issues for the reading public?
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Michelle Obama To Enter Campaign Fray

Media Matters says "Not true" to a tape it has up at its site of Rush Limbaugh's show, and gives no citations to support the contention. Nor do you. Nor does the White House. Because the White House refuses to give info, saying it was a "personal" trip. Yet in order to justify the taxpayer picking up the costs, by law, the White House squeezed in a lunch with the King of Spain.



The facts are that the American taxpayer spent, MINIMUM, $95,000 in per diems for the SS, or who knows how much in per diems for staff accompanying her that wouldn't have been spent had she stayed home. The American taxpayer would not be spending over $200,000 for her transportation to and during her "personal" vacation, nor over $10,000 per day for hotel accommodations for her vacation. We also wouldn't be paying for her friends' land transportation, as we are for this trip in Spain.



Michelle is only reimbursing $15,000 for the plane trip.
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Michelle Obama To Enter Campaign Fray

The only people who compared her to Laura Bush were Michelle Obama's defenders.



I'm an old liberal Democrat who condemned Bush's excessive time off. One has nothing to do with the other. And it's not Michelle taking time off (although she's got 8 vacations set for this year) that I find troublesome; I don't want to pay for them, and I think in this Depression, no American should be subsidizing her "private, personal" trips.
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Taliban Stone Couple For Adultery In Afghanistan

Rhetorically, I ask why are we being told about this?



Isn't this something that the Afghan people should be told?



If we're not leaving Iraq and Afghanistan until the Iraqis and Afghans are able to stand up and protect themselves and their governments, and the Afghans and Iraqis aren't stepping up to the plate to protect themselves, why is this story about the Taliban committing heinous acts on Afghans being reported to Americans? For them to get angry, and want to fight the Taliban and prevent their return to power.



No western nation has EVER gone to war for humanitarian reasons, to protect people from atrocities. It's always about resources. We are in Afghanistan for the oil and gas.
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Gibbs: Obama Still Wants To Feel Pressure From The Left

Going after Limbaugh and Palin is not a bad thing, but not by anyone in the White House. When the White House does it, when the White House goes after anyone, it's elevating that person or persons to its status as leader of the nation and the free world. You use surrogates, flunkies, for that. The cable networks have lists of evenly-weighted pairs that it calls upon to debate issues on air. For the same reason that they would never invite Al Gore to debate climate change with Heidi Harris, a presidential administration (not the president, not the president's CoS, not the president's spokesman, the White House press secretary) would never even acknowledge the likes of Rush Limbaugh or Sarah Palin: Because it elevates them, gets their opinions heard (for free yet) in a forum of legitimacy.



Obama, RahmEmanuel, all experienced politicians know this. The only reason they would ever do it is intentionally, for a purpose. And when you see that they're NOT extending the attacks on actual Republicans in power, the leadership in the Republican Party and in government, but keep up the bipartisan pitch (and making overtures to Republicans like Arlen Specter, and letting Joe Lieberman do whatever the heII he wants, keep a committee chairmanship despite one betrayal after another while slapping down HowardDean & DennisKucinich for insisting on a public option), the only answer is they're engaged in the DLC plan. Either that or they're inept and incompetent.



Which is it?
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Gibbs: Obama Still Wants To Feel Pressure From The Left

5/23/09 - Republicans turn on Dick Cheney over Barack Obama attack

Senior Republicans have turned on the former US vice president Dick Cheney after he launched a high-profile attack on Barack Obama over national security - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/barackobama/5374256/Republicans-turn-on-Dick-Cheney-over-Barack-Obama-attack.html



The pattern continued, and here it is again on 1/14/10, where Obama's press secretary is still trying to make Limbaugh (and this time Pat Robertson) the leaders of the Republican Party: White House Says Haiti Statements by Robertson and Limbaugh Are “Really Stupid” - http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2010/01/white-house-says-haiti-statements-by-robertson-and-limbaugh-are-really-stupid.html



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Gibbs: Obama Still Wants To Feel Pressure From The Left

Regarding the links you provide to substantiate your claim that Obama and "the others" (Rahm Emanuel) has "received (sic) a lashing from the WH on a number of occasions as well", they're not even glancing blows (much less "attacks"), all recent, due to the fact that we're in CAMPAIGN season.



HP doesn't provide much space in these comments to include an index; I clearly shorthanded too much for you. Here's a sampling of highlights that shows the pattern, of how Republican politicians attacked Obama, Obama & Rahm attacked Limbaugh, caves to the Republicans' position, rinse & repeat.



1/21/09 - Rush Limbaugh Attacks Obama-Friendly Republicans: "They're Drinking The Kool-Aid" - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/01/21/rush-limbaugh-attacks-oba_n_159868.html



2/27/09 - Republicans In Congress Get Behind Limbaugh's Call For Obstructionism & Failure - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/howie-klein/republicans-in-congress-g_b_161329.html



4/30/09 - House GOP Leaders Accuse Obama of Making Nation Less Safe [Republican leaders cite Obama’s decision to close the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay and the recent release of information regarding U.S. interrogation programs, which included methods that the administration and human rights groups consider torture; Obama then reneges on photo release and backs away from closing Gitmo.] - http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2009/04/30/house-gop-leaders-accuse-obama-of-making-nation-less-safe/



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Gibbs: Obama Still Wants To Feel Pressure From The Left

Having been on the crusade and doing the research for the better part of 4 years now i'm going to have to again call you out for your BS.

=======================================



A whole 4 years?



I've been at it for more than 40.



I (and others) have been writing about the DLC and its plan to move the Democratic Party to the right for about 20 of them. What we're talking about is not a great secret; The DLC has said it itself, that it wants to move the Democratic Party to the right in order to be able to govern "from the center, for 100 years". You might want to expand your research to studying the DLC, its history, members, and plans for the future.



I'm also not the only one who has written about Obama & RahmEmanuel trying to make Limbaugh & Palin the face of the Republican Party instead of the actual elected Republican politicians who are running the RepublicanParty, although I may have been among the first, if not the first. Here's Carville and Begala on the subject - http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0309/19596.html



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Gibbs: Obama Still Wants To Feel Pressure From The Left

Call it insulting all you like, i took no personal swipe outside of noting your atrophic conspiritorial rambling with absolutely no sourcing and no historical account.

=====================================



You accused me of Iying, and more than implied that I'm paranoid/crazy when you wrote, "Your last paragraph is pure speculation and reeks of the need for tinfoil headgear and contains a handful of outright lies as McConnell and Boehner have come under direct attack by the president and the others have recieved a lashing from the WH on a number of occasions as well."



When confronted, you compounded the insult, accusing me of "rambling" (HP doesn't actually provide the space for anyone to "ramble") and "BS" for stating facts like the number of Tea Party members nationwide (600) and that Rush Limbaugh and Sarah Palin are not in the leadership of the Republican Party, they hold no positions or posts in the Republican Party, they haven't been elected to any office in the Republican Party, and they don't speak on behalf of anyone in the Republican Party or for the Republican Party.
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Kucinich Hits Back At Gibbs: You've Read Liberals Wrong

Jonathan Turley says, "Obama is obstructing justice" - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tG9Nj0OizCA



Another clip with Jonathan Turley expressing astonishment about Obama's DoJ's report & refusal to prosecute Bush administration crimes - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxoiaBHT3Hw



John Dean, in one of the more interesting clips, shows how with the benefit of time (more than a year and a half) to observe the Obama administration, we see that our suspicions & skepticism about Obama (which Obama's most ardent supporters assured us wasn't the case, "Just wait, you'll see, he's playing 3-dimensional chess") was justified:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsHkPlXTDe8



Dean states here, quite clearly, that the only "problem" hindering prosecution of Bush is Obama's capricious decision barring it, in the face of overwhelming evidence of Bush's guilt:

Part 1 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LZtHYtQd6o

Part 2 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMYPa5DJKnM

Part 3 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FotQL27V84A
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Kucinich Hits Back At Gibbs: You've Read Liberals Wrong

Turley on all the very straightforward, unambiguous ways that Bush and Cheney have broken laws: On KeithO-Professor Jonathan Turley Talks About The DIfferent Ways Bush&Cheney Have Broken Laws - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_eXLW6aRz1Q



Here's another Jonathan Turley clip which directly refutes your contention about him:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-j5gFavjZ8



Here's Turley with Rachel Maddow. This one is most interesting because it allows you to revisit Obama's early comments and pledges with your now-experienced ears (and the actual actions he did and didn't take) and see just how deceitful Obama is. In this clip, Obama waxes poetic on banning torture, when, in fact, he hasn't ended torture or rendition. The man is a real piece of work:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3w65Q2XFGA



More substantiation of Obama's deceit: Rachel Maddow & Jonathan Turley - "Is Obama Keeping Bush's & Cheney's Secrets?" - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4JphqRbT0E



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Kucinich Hits Back At Gibbs: You've Read Liberals Wrong

Unraveling Bush's tangeled mess of deception has proven to be much tougher than I ever realized it would be.Obama's legal team has failed to take on judicial matters as strongly as I have wanted.My patience wears thin until I hear from those like Jonathan Turley or John Dean unpack the problems involved in doing so.



We don't know half as much as we think we do and only a 10th as much as we need to know about Bush's busy little helpers like John Yew and David Addington.



But its so much easier to sit on the sidelines and dismiss Obama as worse than Bush.

Hey, I am lazy too. I like easy too.

====================================



Except that according to Turley and Dean (and many others), the only "problem" to unpack is Obama's perplexing refusal to perform his Constitutionally-mandated job: The straightforward task of upholding the law and prosecuting crimes.



Here's Turley with Keith Olbermann:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4v2Z8RF_Dc



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