Posted on 05/07/2003 8:56:02 PM PDT by Howlin
Every so often you come across evidence that a political party is losing its mind. Something like that is happening to Democrats over President Bush's fabulous "top gun" photo-op aboard the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln. It's a case study in how Bush and Karl Rove have left so many Democrats undone.
Rep. Henry Waxman of California has asked the General Accounting Office to provide a full accounting of the landing's costs, since the event had "clear political overtones." Sen. Robert Byrd, who, as longtime appropriations czar, is in no position to throw stones over dubious uses of taxpayer money, lashed out at Bush instead for "flamboyant showmanship," saying the White House had no business using the carrier "as an advertising backdrop" for the president's speech. Democratic staffers are working overtime to gin up media interest in the "scandal."
Let's be clear. Yes, Bush manipulated the timing of the Iraqi showdown to suit his purposes in last year's midterm elections. And yes, he's now hoping to put America's military success to his political advantage. But for all that, Bush's decision to take out Saddam was the right thing to do. And as for the news that Bush is now trying to use the result to help himself - well, do we really have to trot out the old Casablanca line about being shocked to find there's gambling going on here?
For foes of Bush's domestic agenda, like myself, the worst part of these Democratic attacks is how ineffective and tone deaf they are. The party's most idiotic argument (it's hard to find a gentler word that's also accurate) is that in staging this event, Bush showed disrespect for the troops, because he delayed their return to their families by an extra day after a 10-month deployment.
Isn't it obvious even to Democrats that, if you took a vote of the sailors on board, they'd have unanimously hailed the idea of a visit from their commander in chief to deliver the thanks of a grateful nation? It's a moment they'll cherish for the rest of their lives and tell their grandchildren about. Democrats, inspired perhaps by the trial lawyers who bankroll the party, are acting as if these troops are good prospects for a class-action suit.
The cost was puny anyway. Early Democratic salvos complained that the photo-op cost at least $100,000, as if we should be outraged. Reality check, please. Fifty million dollars for Kenneth Starr's investigation was an outrage; $100,000 to land on deck and welcome troops returning from war is patriotic pageantry.
Earth to Democrats: There is nothing wrong with a little patriotic pageantry. And the costs of presidential movements are always extraordinary. When a president changes where he eats a meal one afternoon, taxpayers probably drop $100,000. You know what? We give the head of the free world a budget for that.
Democrats, of course, know this. Which helps explain why as I write this I've already received fresh e-mails from a Democratic press office raising the cost estimate for Top-Gun-Gate to $1 million. Bet they'll get it to $10 million before week's end.
I know, I know - this is politics. GOP operatives routinely toted up the cost of Bill Clinton's trips to New York City and the man-hours lost to Manhattan gridlock in the service of Hillary's ambition. The right wing never tires of trotting out the size and cost of Clinton's entourage when he traveled abroad. Both sides perennially engage in this irrelevant nitpicking - like so many other depressing aspects of public life, this seems to be a political law of nature.
But this latest episode shows how demoralizing life in the minority must be. Henry Waxman is admired even by Republicans for having done more over his career to extend health coverage to poor and near-poor Americans than perhaps anyone in the country.
Now look: Ten years after Newt Gingrich's earthquake, poor Henry is sniping guerrilla-style over political sideshows. How depressing must that be?
This is no time for Democrats to go bonkers over the small stuff. If this is what they consider smart politics, it'll be a long wait until 2008.
Uh, Matt you forgot Clinton holding up air traffic at LAX(Los Angeles International Airport) for two hours while he was getting a $200 haircut in Air Force One from Barbara Streisand's hair stylist.
Ok, Congressman Waxman. If you want to start down this path, why don't we total up the costs of all those trips of King Billy Jeff I?!
Calling John Edwards.
LOL!
what's sticking in Dem craws, is that almost EVERYONE, in the entire nation, LOVED President Bush's going to the Abraham Lincoln and it showed. LOL
A White House memo, dated June 16, 1994, concerning preparations for President Clinton's trip to Normandy for the 50th anniversary of D-Day:
MEMORANDUM FOR ALL STAFF WHO STAYED ON THE USS GEORGE WASHINGTONRE: Reimbursement for Items Removed from the Ship
- FROM:
- ISABELLE R. TAPIA
- MICHAEL R. LUFRANO
- OFFICE OF SCHEDULING AND ADVANCE
The executive officer of the USS George Washington has relayed that a number of items were removed from Staterooms on the ship during the White House visit. The following items are unaccounted for:
13 Blue Towels with GW Insignia $11 each 4 GW Bathrobes with Insignia $35 each 12 Plain White Bathrobes $15 each 55 White Towels $1.80 each As you know, the ship and the U.S. Navy served as our gracious hosts during this trip. They provided these items for our use, not as souvenirs. They have requested reimbursement of $562 from the White House for the above items.
If you are responsible for removing one or more of these items from the ship, please remit payment to Michael Lufrano in Room 185 of the OEOB. Make any checks payable to the USS George Washington. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to call either of us at 456-7560 or Capt. Rogers at 456-2150.
We are in the third year of the Bush Presidency.....so shut up Democrats. Bush is lagging your boy, (but only in carrier visits!)>
John Tyler (1841-45) Steam sloop Princeton (1844)
Franklin Pierce (1853-57) Steam frigate Wabash (1856)
William McKinley (1897-1901) Yacht Sylph (1898-1901)
Theodore Roosevelt (1901-09) Yacht Sylph (1901-09)
Battleship Illinois (1902)
Yacht Mayflower (1905-09)
Submarine Plunger (1905)
Battleship Louisiana (1906)
Battleship Connecticut (1907; 1909)
Battleship Mississippi (1907)
William H. Taft (1909-13) Yacht Sylph (1909-13)
Yacht Mayflower (1909-13)
Battleship Arkansas (1912)
Woodrow Wilson (1913-21) Yacht Sylph (1913-210
Yacht Mayflower (1913-21)
Transport George Washington (1919)
Warren G. Harding (1921-23) Yacht Mayflower (1921-23)
Calvin Coolidge (1923-29) Yacht Mayflower (1923-29)
Battleship Utah (1928)
Battleship Texas (1928)
Herbert C. Hoover (1929-33) Battleship Maryland (1928-29)
Battleship Utah (1928-29)
Battleship Arizona (1931)
F. D. Roosevelt (1933-45) Yacht Sequoia (1933-36)
Cruiser Houston (1934; 1935; 1938; 1939)
Yacht Potomac (1936-45)
Cruiser Indianapolis (1933; 1936)
Destroyer Phelps (1937)
Cruiser Philadelphia (1938)
Cruiser Tuscaloosa (1939, 1940)
Cruiser Augusta (1941)
British battleship Prince of Wales(1941)
Battleship Iowa (1943)
Cruiser Memphis (1943)
Cruiser Baltimore (1944)
Destroyer Cummings (1944)
Cruiser Quincy (1945)
Harry S. Truman (1945-53) Yacht Williamsburg (1945-52)
Cruiser Augusta (1945)
Battleship Missouri (1945, 1947)
Destroyer Lansdowne (1945)
Submarine U-2513 (1946)
not yet identified (1946-47)
Dwight D.Eisenhower (1953-61) Yacht Williamsburg (1953)
Carrier Saratoga (1957)
Submarine Seawolf (1957)
Cruiser Des Moines (1959)
Cruiser Saint Paul (1960)
Submarine (unidentified)
Submarine Patrick Henry (year?)
John F. Kennedy (1961-63) Destroyer Joseph P Kennedy Jr (1962)
Coast Guard training ship Eagle (1962)
Submarine Chopper (1962)
Submarine Thomas A. Edison (1963)
Missile test ship Observation Island 1963)
Carrier Kitty Hawk (1963)
Carrier Oriskany (1963)
Lyndon B. Johnson (1963-69) Carrier Enterprise (1967)
Richard M. Nixon (1969-74) Carrier Hornet (1969)
James E. Carter (1977-81) Submarine Los Angeles (1977)
Carrier Dwight D Eisenhower (1978)
Ronald Reagan (1981-89) Carrier Constellation (1981)
Battleship New Jersey (1982)
Battleship Iowa (1986)
George H. W. Bush (1989-92) Carrier Forrestal (1989)
Guided Missile Cruiser Belknap (1991)
William J. Clinton (1992-2001) Carrier Carl Vinson (1993; 1995)
Carrier George Washington (1994)
Carrier Independence (1996)
Carrier Harry S. Truman (1998)
George W. Bush (2001- ) Carrier Abraham Lincoln (2003)As for policy, class warfare is a dead issue. Sooner or later even the stupid wonder why Ted Kennedy isn't living in a 4 bedroom cape in Nantucket if taxing the rich is such great policy.
In the end, one can only conclude at least half of those in Congress do not know what makes this great republic tick.
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