Posted on 09/05/2001 11:00:01 PM PDT by Libertarian_4_eva
XXXXX DRUDGE REPORT XXXXX WED SEPT 05, 2001 22:31:58 ET XXXXX
FIREWORKS FOR THE FEW, WHITE HOUSE FEARED CROWD; COST ESTIMATED IN SIX-FIGURES
Taxpayers may have footed the bill, but White House officials wanted no pre-publicity for a massive fireworks display on The Mall Wednesday night celebrating President Bush's first State Dinner.
The common man was not invited to view the 20-minute fireworks display launched from The Ellipse, described as one of the most dazzling in the city's history.
Officials feared tens of thousands of residents and visitors would gather to watch the show if word leaked out, creating a "security concern" around the executive mansion.
The president and his guests watched the fireworks from the White House's South Balcony.
The cost of the display is said to be $175,000 to $250,000.
A source connected to the Pennsylvania pyrotechnic company responsible for lighting the fireworks, Zambelli Fireworks Internationale, told the DRUDGE REPORT show fees ran into "six figures".
With just 136 invited guests at the White House -- the price tag for the fireworks alone was well north of $1,200 per attendee.
A White House spokesman refused comment on the financing of the fireworks.
The secret fireworks show caught residents by complete surprise.
One local e-mailed: "From my apartment, I just witnessed the most amazing fireworks I have seen in my twenty years in Washington."
A second eyewitness described the show as being "one of the very best fireworks displays I've ever seen.
"The display I saw tonight had many, *many* fancier fireworks than the ones used on the Fourth of July. Tonight there were fireworks that shot up, in three colors, a sort of planet, with a ring around it in another color; a firework that shot off a central band of white explosion and a sort of wheat-sheaf of fireworks in other colors both above and below the band; a firework that shot off hundreds of massive white streamers each of then exploded into five more small streamers. I go into this detail only to say how fancy and beautiful the whole thing was."
Park police estimated less than 100 people quickly gathered to watch from public space surrounding The Ellipse.
END<<<
DUH! So why WASTE OUR TAXPAYER DOLLARS ON THE FIREWORKS AT ALL?
You are making this to easy.
Because it's so darned easy to do when you have no conscience.
Why not backyard T-Ball?
Like I said, let's just have a good ol' trashy state dinner.. maybe serve some red kool-aid, some of Velma's "Out of the World" bologna casserole..Maybe watch an episode of Sanford and Son, and play a game of bones for entertainment. That's not how you host a state dinner.
Yes, I do make this easy. Good taste and etiquette is not hard to learn.
Our guys, no doubt, had the Reagan China.
Who?
A SIX FIGURE (taxpayer expense) fireworks show is needed for elegance and good taste?
Tell the truth, GOPyouth, your a Bush intern, aren't you?
They want to blast off some works for a meeting between two hemispheric giants as a celebration without causing a security nightmare in the most dangerous city in America and all these posters can think about is me, my money, my hurt feelings. Life ain't fair get over it. When you are the president, or dictator, you'll have plenty of time to show us how great you are. In fact, I'm a worthy cause, give Me your money because your car pollutes. Geesh, 12 trillion dollar economy and Bush can't throw a party. Liberals suck.
Sorry, but Bush is turning out to be exactly what I long believed he was: a favored feckless child. God Poppy must be near delerious from the joy of getting his little poppinjay in the White House, as if his own administration - which threw away the heritage of the "Reagan Revolution" wasn't enough. But then, Poppy as Veep, was David Rockefeller's "compromise" with Reagan all those years ago. Sad.
may have footed the bill
let's wait until all the facts are in....and even if we did, compare the cost of this dinner to any of Klinton's and you'll probably find this pales in comparison..if the money had been used for entertainment indoors instead, do you expect to have been invited too?
Lousy treatment of John Q. Public and our tax money.
Dear Mr. GW Bush -- that money y'all used el noche pasado was our money. Not yours.
You are begging the question. The question is why this expenditure was deemed appropriate in the first place.
The President has taste, along with his wife.
Sorry, but this is OTT. Such garish and wretched excess, such conspicuous consumption, may be impressive, but expenditures of this magnitude are frankly indecent and insulting not only to the taxpayers who footed the bill, but to any sensitive and discerning guest. It's about as far from "good taste" as you can get.
All it takes is $100 from one million Americans, and you've got $100 million -- more than the average presidential campaign gets, and more than enough to counter the effects of 'Big Money.'
There are 270 million Americans. Americans spend $100 a year on basic cable. They spend $100 a year on espresso and/or cigarettes. Come on, are you saying there aren't even one million patriotic Americans who can afford to sacrifice just $100 for a cause to save the country?
Well, if they can't afford to spend $100, how can they afford to lose their country?
If even just a million Americans can't be found to donate a mere $100 to the right cause, then we deserve whatever Big Money Contributors give us.
It's ridiculous that a handful of namby-pamby moderates with zero constituency are able to make the Republican Party jump through hoops, while millions of supposedly God-fearing, patriotic Americans seethe about being 'shut out' of the political process. The only thing that's shutting us out is our own sense of defeatism! Let's just sit back and wait for the Rapture, huh? And if you don't believe in the Rapture, then I guess you're just waiting for the Gestapo to take you away without a fight. Or what are you waiting for, that you always find an excuse not to lift a finger to defend the cause of liberty?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.