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DNC Chairman McAuliffe Statement on President Bush's Taxpayer-Funded Carrier Photo Opportunity
DNC Official Web Site ^ | Terry McAuliffe/Democratic National Committee

Posted on 05/03/2003 4:10:06 PM PDT by TaRaRaBoomDeAyGoreLostToday!

DNC Chairman McAuliffe Statement on President Bush's Taxpayer-Funded Photo Opportunity

Washington, D.C. -- Democratic National Committee (DNC) Chairman Terry McAuliffe issued the following statement:

"The 341,000 Americans who became unemployed in April had the honor of watching the president land on an aircraft carrier yesterday afternoon, no doubt wondering how the costs of this extravagant photo-op would affect their pocketbooks. Instead of watching his dramatic sea landing, I am sure they would rather have been at work.

"The president seems to want to focus all of his attention on military success rather than his complete lack of success on the economic front. He is presiding over an economy that is losing jobs rather than creating them."


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Constitution/Conservatism; Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; Front Page News; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: carrierphoto; dncchairman; mcauliffe; notfair; onpresidentbushs; opportunity; rats; statement; taxpayerfunded; terrymcauliffe
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To: TaRaRaBoomDeAyGoreLostToday!
Hmmm?? If the Senate would get a GRIP and pass the TAX CUT, there wouldn't be so many unemployed people!

But ... I don't suppose McAwful will bring that up!!

And ... as a matter of fact, the trip to the carrier and the President staying overnight was cheaper than providing security at a hotel during the President's trip to CA.

But ... I don't suppose McAwful will bring that up either!
21 posted on 05/03/2003 4:37:07 PM PDT by CyberAnt ( America - You Are The Greatest!!)
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To: fish hawk
EXCELLENT POEM!
PROUD TO

YOU!!!

22 posted on 05/03/2003 4:38:07 PM PDT by TaRaRaBoomDeAyGoreLostToday!
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To: TaRaRaBoomDeAyGoreLostToday!
Keep it up!

This kind of mean-spritied, nastiness just to be nasty will turn voters off and turn them to the Republican candidates.

23 posted on 05/03/2003 4:38:12 PM PDT by jimkress
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To: TaRaRaBoomDeAyGoreLostToday!
This bilge from the party who gave us bombing the aspirin factory, $200 haircuts, the stealing of White House property and the vandalizing of White House offices as they exited, the extended tour of Africa with Chelsea in tow, Haiti, Mogadishu, etc.,etc., etc.....

&*#$%^&#$%^&*!!!*&#$%!!&*!!!

McAuliffe, NO ONE takes you seriously anymore.
24 posted on 05/03/2003 4:41:30 PM PDT by Cordova Belle ("America is great because she is good. When America ceases to be good, she will cease to be great.")
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To: TaRaRaBoomDeAyGoreLostToday!
The cost was almost nothing because (as I understand it) this flight was already scheduled to happen. At least, that's the Republican spin.
25 posted on 05/03/2003 4:42:57 PM PDT by xm177e2 (Stalinists, Maoists, Ba'athists, Pacifists: Why are they always on the same side?)
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To: Nick Danger
They are scared crapless. And the late night showing of their frontrunner Sharpton is what they want, they will prime time savior Hitlery's announcement as a Presidential savior victim..."ya know...Katie... I am sacrficing my Senatorship and running for the Presidency because there is a vast right wing conspiracy nationwide, taking away women's rights and poisoning eveyones water, that pregnant chads can't even steal away."
26 posted on 05/03/2003 4:43:05 PM PDT by TaRaRaBoomDeAyGoreLostToday!
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To: TaRaRaBoomDeAyGoreLostToday!
Well... Terry and his band of Democrapic thugs got slapped around last November and he has no one to blame but us big "bad" Republicans. Ha!

Hey Terry... take your big bag of nothing and don't go away mad... just go away (I loved that line from Clint Eastwood's flick "Heartbreak Ridge" (credit to Stitch Jones, the Earl of Funk, the Duke of Cool, the Iatola of rock and rolla.

Trajan88

27 posted on 05/03/2003 4:44:13 PM PDT by Trajan88
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To: TaRaRaBoomDeAyGoreLostToday!
Whenever they start going on like this just ask if they were on Clinton's last trip to Africa. That little beauty cost some ungodly amount. Ungodly. Bush could have gilded that jet and not touched Clinton's waste. Or bring up those stones on the beach at Normandy. Hey, Terry, was Bill really crying at that memorial for Ron Brown?
Hey, Terry, you know what, just sit down and shut the $(^%~^#$*@ up!
28 posted on 05/03/2003 4:45:42 PM PDT by thegreatbeast (Quid lucrum istic mihi est?)
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To: TaRaRaBoomDeAyGoreLostToday!
This is a good time to be a Republican. Everything's going our way. We have all the power. We're the heroes and the ones with the common sense. The Left just seems petty and disillusioned. Bush is leading, we're supporting, America is following, and liberals are on the side trying weakly and failing at stopping the march.
29 posted on 05/03/2003 4:46:50 PM PDT by jagrmeister
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To: McGavin999
"Let's see now, how much did that trip to China cost us, you know the one, where Hillary had to have a specially constructed portable bathroom carted alone in a military transport?"

Not sure about the China trip but one of the trips to Africa involved travel for about 1100 people and cost $13 million. The USAF had to defer other airlift requirements in order to operate C-5 missions to support Clinton's trip.
30 posted on 05/03/2003 4:47:32 PM PDT by Ben Hecks
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To: oldironsides
I finally sold my dog Global Crossing for pennies (loss of $2,750 on 100 shares).

Hey Terry Mc & Gary Winnick... I hope you enjoy the new golf bag you bought with the ill gotten gains (aka my money).

I'm still waiting for Ashcroft's Justice Department to put these two frauds in nickle-plated bracelets and having them do a perp walk.

I won't hold my breath though.

Trajan88

31 posted on 05/03/2003 4:49:16 PM PDT by Trajan88
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To: McGavin999; Always Right
Ah, memories.... /sarcasm


32 posted on 05/03/2003 4:53:21 PM PDT by Fraulein
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To: Fraulein
The self-rightious DNC Extravagance and the DNC leaders- the Clinton's Extravagance boggles the mind when the democrats claim they are for the poor and the minorities.

The DNC boat has steered of course in it spin, they are reeling and spinning themselves dizzy.

33 posted on 05/03/2003 5:03:09 PM PDT by TaRaRaBoomDeAyGoreLostToday!
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To: TaRaRaBoomDeAyGoreLostToday!
The Democrats really can't help coming across sounding bitter and tormented....

All their icons and heros are clymers....and could NEVER be presented as a true and loyal American hero to the THINKING public...

Could you see ANY of their current crop of "Presidential Candidates" being received as President Bush was on the USS Abraham Lincoln?

See what I mean.....the poor bastards are on the verge of slitting their wrists in abject horror....

Many of Clinton's "arrivals" and "heroic image building" scenarios were STAGED by bib wearers from Hollywood ...

Semper Fi
34 posted on 05/03/2003 5:09:28 PM PDT by river rat (War works......It brings Peace... Give war a chance to destroy Jihadists...)
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To: Fraulein
Here is a photo of a $10 million dollar camel ride. Hilary and whats her name took on the taxpayers nickel


35 posted on 05/03/2003 5:19:18 PM PDT by chainsaw
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To: river rat
And... Hollywood is mostly ignorant and leftist and they are mostly pi$$ed because the war was an embedded number one in the ratings mini movie, that they can't touch. What kills them even more is the fact that Bush showed true leadership in going on his own against polls and bullcrap opinions. He has what they will never grow=gonads. Clinton tried to wag the dog and debute with so much hollyweird fake crap and it is all old and figured out,now.

The democrats are debuting Sharpton and looking like they are begging Hitlery. They will stage some victim's rights sobby tragedy for Hitlery.

36 posted on 05/03/2003 5:21:52 PM PDT by TaRaRaBoomDeAyGoreLostToday!
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To: chainsaw
Those Clinton's diid travel quite lavishly didn't they, all on our nickle.
37 posted on 05/03/2003 5:23:25 PM PDT by TaRaRaBoomDeAyGoreLostToday!
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To: TaRaRaBoomDeAyGoreLostToday!
How much did that special trip cost compared to a trip to the nearest airport to where the port is, a motorcade to the port, and the security for the speech site?

I would expect the end piece of this one to actually be one of the least costly trips a President can make.
38 posted on 05/03/2003 5:30:39 PM PDT by lepton
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To: McGavin999
Let's see now, how much did that trip to China cost us, you know the one, where Hillary had to have a specially constructed portable bathroom carted alone in a military transport?

somebody said 50 millions,i remember.

39 posted on 05/03/2003 5:32:47 PM PDT by green team 1999
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To: lepton

Negligence: Bill Clinton's Real Legacy On National Defense

By Paul M. Weyrich
December 5, 2002

Bill Clinton is back where he wants to be -- in the news; no doubt intent on developing a post-presidential image as one who is a far-sighted, wise First Citizen. This Tuesday, he took it upon himself to dispense advice to his party at the annual meeting of the Democratic Leadership Conference.

Clinton told the DLC that his party had a "heavy responsibility to cooperate in uniting this country on security issues." Certainly, any desire that Democrats have to display true bi-partisanship by working with President Bush on improving our national security will be welcomed at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, but I think we must see it occur before we can really believe it to be a sincere sentiment. Just think about how the Senate Democrats were willing to tie up the legislation establishing the Department of Homeland Security because they did not want to grant President Bush and the Administration flexibility in terms of administrative matters. The Democrats did this simply to please the unions representing government workers. It does not follow that what is good for the Democrat Party's coffers is good for our national defense.

There's a whole side to the Clinton legacy on national defense that should not be forgotten, and I am not talking about his disgraceful effort to avoid serving his country in uniform during the Vietnam War. That is well-known and makes many military veterans turn red with anger whenever they think about how someone like Bill Clinton was ordering American troops into conflicts to brave the bullets that he once tried so hard to avoid. Clinton demonstrated that their distrust and anger was well-placed by his actions in office. Not only did he demonstrate his lack of character; he also demonstrated his lack of concern about our nation's armed forces. His short-changing our national security represents his legacy too.

Recall, if you will, how Clinton's constant travels that took a big chunk out of the Pentagon's budget?

Thanks to the work of the Senate Republican Policy Committee, the actual tab of Bill Clinton's globetrotting is not just buried away in government reports and microfilm boxes of old newspapers, and on tapes of old TV newscasts. It's all there in an easily readable form on the SRPC's website.

In March 2000, the President, with Chelsea and his mother-in-law, took a trip to Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Oman, and Switzerland. The SRPC noted that both ABC News' World News Tonight and the Air Force Times estimated the cost of the trip at $50 million, a record for the cost of an overseas trip by a president. Used on the trip were 14 C-17 Globemaster IIIs, 12 C-5 Galaxys, 3 C-141 Starlifters, and 2 C-130 Hercules. A large number of other Air Force planes were to deploy.

ABC News' John McWethy filed this report:

"Ninety percent of the costs [cited by the World New Tonight anchor at $50 million] are for airplanes, drawn from an Air Force that is already stressed meeting military and humanitarian commitments overseas. When a President travels, all the public ever sees is Air Force One, but consider this: Seventy-seven other Air Force planes are being used on this one trip, including 26 of the biggest transports, C-5s and C-17s."

"Military sources say that represents more than one-third of the Air Force's entire inventory of these planes that are ready to fly on any given day."

When the President took trips in 1998 to Chile, China, and Africa, the tab came to $72 million. Over sixty million came from the defense budget.

One could argue that Bill Clinton's trips were related to official business. But it appears that what he really wanted to do was to take his own taxpayer-funded Cook's World Tour at the expense of the Pentagon budget. Clinton press secretary Joe Lockhart said at a White House press briefing on October 19, 1999 that his boss had yet to visit Panama, then added: "There are a few places still left on the list he hasn't been, and we have 15 months to rectify that." If the defense budget was not so parched back then, then Bill Clinton's trips might not be an issue.

But people forget that we nearly ran out of smart bombs in Kosovo. The money that Bill Clinton took from the defense budget for his 1998 trips to Chile, China, and Africa could have purchased 3,000 smart bombs.

Senator Jim Inhofe (R-OK) is as strong an advocate for military readiness as he is a tough critic of the Clinton legacy of negligence on national security. A simple chart that he uses shows the true Clinton legacy. If defense spending had kept pace with inflation during his years in office, the budget would have reached well over $300 billion during FY 2001. Instead, the defense budget in real spending dollars during his years in office falls consistently below the budget level of approximately $270 billion (measured in real spending dollars) that he inherited in 1993. Bill was a consistent opponent of missile defense, and did nothing of consequence when weapons inspectors were ejected by Iraq, or to prevent missile and weapons technology transfers by Red China to such bad boy nations as North Korea, Iran, and Iraq.

And it may take some effort by Americans to recall that it was President Clinton who told the nation in a televised address in August 1998 that we needed to take on the bin Laden terrorist network. He ordered strikes against terrorist-related facilities after attacks on U.S. embassies.

"We will not yield to this threat," he proclaimed. But coming at the height of the controversy over Monica Lewinsky, the news media thought his actions resembled the scripting of the movie "Wag the Dog," staging military action to deflect attention from his personal problems at home. In retrospect, they were right because Bill's record on confronting terrorism -- or rather, his lack of one -- since that address, makes one wonder just how sincere and comprehending he was about the true threat of terrorism. Don't forget the attack on the USS Cole occurred two years after that address. Bill fired back words at our enemy, but failed to back up his talk with the only thing they would respect: real force. Perhaps Bill just lacked the "strength, courage, and endurance" to take real, hard-hitting action against our enemy. Those were the very qualities that Clinton said would be needed for our country to prevail over al-Qaeda.

Bill Clinton failed to take seriously one of his most important duties as defined by the Constitution; serving as the Commander-in-Chief of our armed forces. We became a softer, weaker nation under Bill Clinton's leadership. We had prosperity, but Bill Clinton failed to spend our money wisely, neglecting to provide the funds needed to upgrade our armed forces and improve our intelligence capabilities.

Bill Clinton is pinning his hopes on Americans having incomplete memories. He wants us to remember the good times, associating the prosperity of the late 1990s with the handiwork of his Administration. However, the farther we move away from the days that Bill, Hillary and the whole gang of Clintonistas were in the White House, the more apparent the glaring deficiencies in his record become, particularly on national security.

It would be nice to think that Bill Clinton has finally come to recognize the true importance of national defense. But the question remains: Why was he AWOL so often on issues involving national defense during his presidency? Maybe it's because he was so busy taking trips at the expense of our armed forces when not fighting to save his own skin from an enraged Congress during his scandal-ridden presidency.

Some legacy, huh?

Paul M. Weyrich is Chairman and CEO of the Free Congress Foundation

To find out more about the cost of Bill Clinton's travels, visit:

http://www.senate.gov/~rpc/releases/1999/df033000.htm


40 posted on 05/03/2003 5:35:05 PM PDT by TaRaRaBoomDeAyGoreLostToday!
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