Bush motorcade leaves other folks fuming

[MaineDem]

One hundred Brentwood kindergartners, many dressed in costumes, were all set to go see "The Wizard of Oz" on Friday when their first-ever field trip was blocked by the nation's 43rd president.

They never got to see the wizard.

President George W. Bush, his Marine One helicopter grounded by fog, brought morning rush hour to a standstill while his motorcade proceeded from West Los Angeles through the San Fernando Valley to Simi Valley for the dedication of the Air Force One Pavilion.

...

Bush's traffic jams - Westside to San Fernando Valley commutes Thursday night took up to three hours when traffic was rerouted because of a presidential fundraiser - added to the lore of a city notorious for its gridlock.

http://www2.dailynews.com/news/ci_3140261

[murielm99]

1. Those children will never forget.

A new generation of Democrats is born.

[No Exit]

2. Way to "conserve gasoline", asshole. n/t

[crankybubba]

5. they are not

important enough for * to worry about. They are not big oil or big business so they don't matter to him at all. not even on his radar screen.

[No Exit]

47. I'm sure he and Laura'll make it up to the little tykes...

they'll invite them to the White House, and as they enter, the recruiters will, of course, take down each child's name, address, phone number, likes and dislikes, and grades.

[Gman]

3. Another "who cares what you think" moment

[hippiechick]

4. Compassionate Conservatism only cares about children

... when their parents can pay $100k a plate to meet with the pResident.

[Bluestar]

9. Ha Ha--the Joke's on Bush

Children from Brentwood have parents who COULD pay $100,000 per plate at a fundraiser!

[alcibiades_mystery]

6. To dedicate an "Air Force One Pavilion"?!?

And they went maddog over the false story of Clinton's runway haircut!

This asshole blocks up a whole city to dedicate a pavilion, basically to himself. What a bagiagaloop!

[Hong Kong Cavalier]

7. Well, at least he didn't stop to get a haircut on the tarmac

:sarcasm:

[spooked911]

12. exactly what I was thinking.

[ellenfl]

37. from what i have heard, that was mis-reported. eom

[Hong Kong Cavalier]

38. Yeah, but it's still repeated by the RWNM

(Right Wing Noise Machine) all the damn time.

[barbaraann]

8. The Wizard of Oz is not appropriate for kindergartners.

In my opinion it is too scary.

[hootinholler]

33. Obviously an attempt to keep the kids from seeing

Flying Chimps!

Oh the humanity!

-Hoot

[newspeak]

39. what do you mean?

as a child Bambi was far more devastating to me than the Wizard of Oz

[barbaraann]

41. I know a couple of kids who were devastated by the Wizard of Oz.

n/t

[politicat]

44. That doesn't excuse the Idiot son of an oilman for causing gridlock.

Especially when the country needs to be preserving and conserving our oil supply.

Besides, they're not your children. It's the parents' decisions.

[unblock]

10. the externalities of this -- for a FUNDRAISER -- really bug me.

if a public official HAS to get somewhere -- say, to give a speech as the u.n. -- and it causes a traffic problem, ok, fine.

but a fundraiser? how much inconvenience is piled on to millions of lives just so he can rake in some political contributions?


i don't mind sitting in traffic if that's part of the cost of letting our public officials do their just. but i'll be damned if i'm gonna quietly sit in traffic so that some insensitive politician can line campaign coffers.

[Maat]

11. Grrrr ..

:grr: !

I hope that they get to go another day!

"Have I told you how much I hate these **** (bleep)!

[Straight Shooter]

13. Well, not his fault that the fog prevented his helicopter from landing.

But he needs to be working in his office on a Friday, just like the rest of us, instead of gallivanting around the country extracting money and wasting our taxpayer dollars on fuel and security.

[Roland99]

31. He decided to spend some of that political capital in order to raise more.

[...of J.Temperance]

14. It's OFFICIAL - Fuckhead IS THE ANTI-CHRIST

This outrage has FINALLY sealed it for me. I HATE ALL musicals, but I ADORE 'The Wizard of Oz' (it's not REALLY a musical anyhow) How can someone make a group of little kids miss 'The Wizard of Oz', UNLESS Satan was in control of that cold, black-hearted bastard.

We're not in Kansas anymore.

[pnorman]

15. "The kids did not see the wizard."

But they got a few hour's glimpse of The Man Behind The Curtain. In the long run, it'll be a most rewarding learning experience.

pnorman

[...of J.Temperance]

16. That was a good one

Well done :)

[cliss]

20. Good point.

I was about to say, "they didn't get to see the Wizard of Oz, but they got to see another Wizard".

[jobycom]

21. Nice! nt.

[ck4829]

24. Wow. Simply Wow.

Well done.

:D

[bbernardini]

17. What (if anything) do the Freepers have to say about this story? n/t

[...of J.Temperance]

18. Nothing as yet, they're waiting to see what Brit Hume and Baby Jesus say

And then they'll just parrot that...same old crap.

[JoFerret]

19. The interesting thing really is

that the story is getting such coverage. The perfect storm is just blowing and brewing.

[jobycom]

22. More votes for us. nt.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

23. My sister got stuck in this yesterday morning

She called me and even SIGALERT.COM had a warning that Bush might cause 3 hour traffic delays.

[benddem]

25. Where is the media on this

remember the lies about Clinton's Haircut? Faux news??? CNN???
Why isn't this 24/7 news?

[MO_Dem]

26. No child left behind, UNLESS..........

they get between a repig and his campaign megabucks.

[CatWoman]

27. Tell me again about Bill Clinton's haircut?

you know, the imaginary one that shut down runway traffic?

[LibDemAlways]

28. I live 20 minutes from the Reagan Library,

where the chimp was participating in a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a new exhibit of the Reagan-era Air Force One. There were fighter jets flying over my house all morning. I assume this is routine procedure, and this gigantic waste of taxpayer money travelling road show follows chimpy around. In the words of my dad, he ought to "sit on his ass" and "stay home - be home."

[PATRICK]

29. You mean

the kids never got to see Cheney's talking head routine?

[dkofos]

30. Only a truly PARANOID person would need such a security entourage

[yorkiemommie1]

32. nice picture of the protesters in LA Times

front page of California section. Picture of * on the INSIDE.

[Helga Scow Stern]

34. My daughter's flight was delayed because of *.

[orwell]

35. A Man of the People...

...protected by a small army of secret service agents, image consultants, advance people, local law enforcement, highly paid staffers, assorted flunkies, and political manipulators.

Can't you just feel the love...

[anitar1]

52. Don't forget the private mercenaries who are with

his group when he travels. I read about them during the Repug convention. He has many of them Scared little wimp.

[LeighAnn]

36. My dad got his leg broke over a * motorcade

This was in the early days of the * residency. They made the cars stop, but nobody told the big truck coming up over the hill and he smashed into my dad's car. Could have been a lot worse.

[xchrom]

40. we close in on 2000 war dead -- and bush isn't working again.

how much time off does one president need in the middle of a ''war on terror'' that he self admitedly claims will take many years and is one of most important struggles ever?

[elehhhhna]

42. he's pacing himself.

[lumpy]

43. 100 disappointed kids plus

how many other people negatively affected by Bush's 'very important mission'?

[Erika]

45. W cares more about campaign cash than ANYTHING else

Poor kids.

[ManiacJoe]

46. How quickly everyone forgets about the other side.

Speaking from personal experience, it does not matter who the President is or from what party he comes, any travel of his on streets and freeways always creates localized gridlock. As a Seattle resident, I was never happy when Clinton or Gore came to town for the exact same reasons. The real problem is the Secret Service and the police being far too aggressive on what gets closed and for how long.

[Art_from_Ark]

48. I remember when Clinton came back to Arkansas for a visit in 1993

There were two planes that arrived at the Springdale airport. Clinton got out and immediately went over to the crowd and shook hands until they practically forced him into the terminal. Then he went with a rather small group out to Beaver Lake-- no need for a major funeral procession.

[truthisfreedom]

49. but they get to watch this, and it's far more entertaining...

[cap]

50. Other presidents have not done this to other people

even in DC.

I saw Presidential motorcades whiz through an intersection. Stopped us all for about 5 min.

[shance]

51. It was a nightmare.

They had Sunset Blvd. shut down for almost an hour. We parked and got outside their cars and waited for a half an hour.

I'm curious to know how many millions of dollars this cost all of us as taxpayers to pay for the Administration to attend what apparently was a $100,000 a plate fundraiser. That is at least the amount I have heard quoted. Someone feel free to correct me if I am incorrect.