Taxpayers pay for Bush's campaign travel

[leftchick]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060830/ap_on_el_ge/bush_campaign_travel_1

WASHINGTON - Bankrolled almost entirely by taxpayers, President Bush is roaming far and wide on Air Force One to help Republicans retain control of Congress and capture statehouse contests in high-stakes midterm elections.


In 15 months, including back-to-back fundraisers Wednesday in Little Rock, Ark., and Nashville, Tenn., Bush has collected $166 million for the campaign accounts of 27 Republican candidates, the national GOP and its state counterparts across the country, according to the Republican National Committee.

High-dollar Washington galas headlined by the fundraiser-in-chief brought in a big share of the total. The president also has scooped up campaign cash in 36 cities, travels that have taken him as near as McLean, Va., in the Washington suburbs and as far as Medina, Wash., 2,800 miles to the west. On Thursday, Bush adds yet another locale to the list: Salt Lake City.

<snip>

When Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, first lady Laura Bush or any federal official helps a candidate, Federal Election Commission guidelines say the campaign must reimburse the government only the equivalent of a first-class fare for each political traveler on each leg of the trip. Typically, that means paying a few hundred or at most a few thousand dollars to cover the president and a couple of aides from the White House Office of Political Affairs.

The White House deems staffers from any other office "official," eliminating any need for campaigns to cover their travel.

:grr:

[MercutioATC]

1. EVERY President does this.

It's one of the perks. Bush is no more guilty than any of them...

...and yes, it sucks that we have to pay for it regardless of who holds the office.

[maseman]

2. It sucks but they all do it

Look, if we had a Dem in office we'd be happy he was flying all over the country campaigning.

Maybe look at it this way. We might be paying for him to fly all over, but if it actually hurts a candidate then sign me up to send even a few more bucks to his travel campaign.

[Rose Siding]

4. The last time a dem did it, things weren't quite so tight

I think there's a little more to be sore about these days. Also, the press ragged on the dem about it non-stop. George has skated on way too much.

[leftchick]

7. what was the price of gas back in Clinton's day?

less than a buck if I remember correctly. I also hardly think clinton had even a quarter of the entourage bush takes with him every fucking place he goes. Someone really need to crunch the numbers for a fair comparison.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

13. Entourage?

Oh, you mean his audiences.

:rofl:

[leftchick]

15. I mean the Helicopters, AF1, US Military escorts with soldiers

and god knows how many SUVs, the stage directors and backdrops, not to mention the hundreds of people he drags around to every fucking phot-op.

[KAZ]

10. And when a Dem did it, all hell broke loose on 9000 am

radio stations across the land. Save your empathy for the deserving. Your ability to see both sides of the argument serves only one.

[w4rma]

11. Thank you. (nt)

[pa28]

12. And that's the key thing.

When Clinton did this it was treated as a scandal. Profiled on NBC news, fodder for talk radio rants.

Yea, the old double standard. Hypocrites.

[yellowcanine]

14. Yes but that isn't any reason it should continue. Congress could remedy

this. Trouble is, half of them want to be President themselves so they do nothing. There is no reason why taxpayers should pick up the cost of presidential travel to political fundraisers - even if an "official" stop is tacked on.

[jasmeel]

3. But it's on Yahoo's homepage! That's awesome. Vote it up!!

[Barrett808]

5. done n/t

[UpInArms]

6. $60,250 per hour to fly Air Force One in 2005

Flying Air Force One cost $60,250 per hour

Thursday, April 7, 2005

In 2000, when jet fuel prices were lower, the GAO estimated that flying Air Force One cost $54,100 per hour, or $60,250 in today's dollars. So far, the president has traveled to Indiana, New Jersey, Kentucky, Alabama, Louisiana, Tennessee, Florida, Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Iowa and West Virginia. That is enough, by commercial schedules, to take at least 30 hours, or $1.8 million.

A C-137C, which the vice president generally travels on, cost $10,300 per hour to operate, or $11,470 today. Cheney's travels on the Social Security tour have taken him to Bakersfield, Calif.; Reno, Nev.; Battle Creek, Mich., and Pittsburgh, enough to keep a commercial flight in the air 14 hours, at a cost of $160,580.

Excluding security and aircraft costs, the White House has estimated that staff costs on presidential trips average between $22,000 and $59,000, the Associated Press has reported. Staff costs for Bush's 16 Social Security events thus would range from $352,000 to $944,000.

[leftchick]

16. WH estimates

multiply by about 1000!

[Thor_MN]

8. Don't forget the lost productivity and wasted gas by the traffic jams

when Dickhead or Dimson roll into town, shutting down roads. * was in town recently and raised $500K for a true waste of oxygen, Michele Bachman. Add up them time that he wasted for everyone sitting in traffic jams and the extra gas he caused and it easily tops what he raised....

[Olney Blue]

9. Why would anyone give a dollar to this regime voluntarily?

:banghead:

[4_TN_TITANS]

17. Since there's nothing we can do about it...

let the moron use his reverse Midas Touch on the candidates. I'm guessing that he's signing death warrents everywhere he goes.