Urgent Fundraiser? Bush Wanted Carpool Lanes Closed

[IChing]

WASHINGTON -- Talk about political gridlock.

Secret Service officials confirm to The Washington Post they tried to get the Virginia Department of Transportation to close down the carpool lanes on a highway leading out of Washington Wednesday so President George W. Bush could easily get to and from a fundraiser for Republican Sen. George Allen.

State experts who monitor traffic predicted a commuting nightmare, because they would have had to close down the lanes for much of the day for logistical reasons, so they denied the request.

Vehicles using Virginia's high occupancy vehicle lanes must have three or more riders from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. Some hybrid vehicles and motorcycles are exempt.
The president traveled to the fundraiser by helicopter.>>>>snip

http://www.wsoctv.com/politics/9735828/detail.html

[maddezmom]

1. Good for VADOT

:D

[MountainLaurel]

8. Closing 395 for a day

Would have brought the metro area to a standstill, even if it was just the HOV lanes.

[rumpel]

2. Question: Is a fundraiser an official function by a prez for the People?

Who pays for this?

I hope this is not tax dollars!

[IChing]

6. United States citizens pay for the fuel for the helicopter

Of All Gas Consumers, Bush May Be Biggest
Aug 24 9:24 PM US/Eastern
Email this story
By JENNIFER LOVEN
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON


Getting President Bush from here to there consumes an enormous amount of fuel, whether he's aboard Air Force One, riding in a helicopter or on the ground in a heavily armored limousine. The bill gets steeper every day as the White House is rocked by the same energy prices as regular drivers. Taxpayers still foot the bill.

snip>>>

The White House declines to discuss travel costs related to the presidential entourage, and did not respond to a request for the overall effect of higher fuel prices on its budget.>>>>snip

In the air, Bush most often flies on a Boeing 747-200B laden with, among other things, an anti-missile system. Like gas for cars, fuel costs for the largest plane in the Air Force One fleet have gone up dramatically _ from $3,974 an hour in fiscal 2004 to $6,029 per hour now, according to the Air Force.>>>snip

http://www.breitbart.com/news/2005/08/24/D8C6HRS80.html

[rumpel]

12. put him on his tricycle!

[yellowcanine]

7. I am sure they managed to find an "official" function to justify the trip.

It is an old game. Visit a local school and then head to the fundraiser 2 blocks away. Taxpayers pay for the roundtrip between the school and the WH. The political party pays for the roundtrip between the school and the fundraiser. What a country!

[peacebird]

3. un-frigging-believable... what an arrogant prick.

I used to live in norhern va - the traffic is a nghtmare WITHOUT closing the carpool lanes...

What a selfish jerk.
Congrats to VDOT for saying NO.

:toast:

[0007]

4. Good for Virginia!

Now if junior could just trip on Allen's ego and break his coconut, I'd be happy.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

5. Doesn't he have a helicopter? n/t

[lyonn]

9. George has got to love all the attention,

closing down traffic, lights flashing, big black vehicles with tinted windows. Gawd it's good being the Leader!!! (sarcasm)

And the media was all over Clinton for being an attention getter?? Course we know what side the media is on.

[krispos42]

10. He screwed up Minneapolis traffic on Tuesday

Spend 4 hours campaigning for the candidate for the 6th District, Patty Wetterling. Came at 2:30, left at 6:30... just in time for the rush hour, which is kinda bad here in the Cities 'cuz our Republican governor tim "Pothole" Pawlenty won't fix the highways.

However, Bush and Wetterling's opponent Bachmann (who also, incidently, has had Rove and Cheney out here to stump for her as well), fundraised in Wayzata.

Which is in the 3rd District.

Hmmm...

[bdamomma]

11. What ???? they did not give into the Emperor's wishes!!

[Supersedeas]

13. Make way for the KING

[Rose Siding]

14. If Clinton had requested that, it would have made the nationals

[IChing]

16. it would have made the nationals

24/7

On MSNBC : Was Clinton uncaring about commuters and Americans? In the next 15 hours we will discuss that.

On Fox news: Is Clinton is responsible for gridlock on our nation's highway? We report you decide.

[Lindacooks]

23. Yeah, like that alleged 'haircut' on AF1 that delayed traffic

in California, which got almost constant airplay for about a week.

But it didn't happen.

God, I hate the MSM.

[KamaAina]

15. I guess they'll have to build a "macaca lane"

so President George W. Bush could easily get to and from a fundraiser for Republican Sen. George Allen.

Of all the cockeyed reasons they could come up with to try to shut down a highway, a "Vote for Macaca Man" fundraiser is about the nuttiest. :eyes:

[rocktivity]

17. Motorcycles are exempt from having more than three riders in VA HOVs?

What a relief!

:rofl:
rocknation

[Blue_Tires]

18. k+r

[badgerpup]

19. Stop with the jokes for a minute and THINK about this...

1). The sheer arrogance, thoughtlessness, and that would disrupt thousands of lives and workhours (paychecks, anyone?) for its own convenience.

The utter obliviousness to the fact that shutting down a major highway for 6 hours, INCLUDING rush hour, would be a problem for thousands of people.

The attitude that those in power have that We the People are merely an inconvenience to be swept aside or put on hold...unless we have big $$$.

2). How do we convey this to those who ARE being disrupted, dissed, ignored...
but also have the potentially purple finger vote?

[wakeme2008]

20. Reagon was a KING too, he sent a whole hospital ship to Barbados for

his trip down there.

Besides the fact the Queen and British PM always go to Barbados for vacations and it has a great medical center, Reagon need his own ship.....

I could understand taking your doctor but shiiiiittttt.

[tblue37]

21. Frankly, I wish they would have done it.

And then I wish they would have shown the gridlock on the news for days on end.

I think such an incident would have conveeyd to people better than almost anything else the way His Simian Majesty looks at the commoners he rules.

Remember how up in arms people were about Clinton's supposed delay of other people's flights while he got a $200 haircut on the tarmac? (It turned out not to be true, but the political damage was done nonetheless.)

[Ian David]

22. And unlike the Clinton Haircut story, this one is real. n/t

Wednesday, April 28, 2004
DEBUNKED: Clinton's Haircut at LAX Delayed Flights

Yesterday a republican friend of mine and I were talking about Drudge’s latest slur against John Kerry, that he spent $1,000 for a haircut before his appearance on Meet The Press. The story, like all of Drudge’s crap, is of questionable provenance, heavily larded with quotes from unnamed sources and “insiders.” I told my friend it was apocryphal.

More:
http://politus.blogspot.com/2004/04/debunked-clintons-haircut-at-lax.html

[mrdmk]

24. I did a Lexis-Nexis, every-time the Clinton's got a haircut it made the ne

Either is was to expensive or a bad cut.

This is a sort-of redaction from USA Today (I could not find the LA Time redaction, as matter of fact most news stories about this has been pulled. Of couse the airwave media was jumping all over this with no redaction.)

<snip>
Copyright 1993 Gannett Company, Inc.
USA TODAY

July 1, 1993, Thursday, FINAL EDITION

SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 1A

LENGTH: 210 words

HEADLINE: Clinton coif story clipped

BYLINE: Bill Nichols

BODY:
Just when President Clinton's infamous $ 200 haircut seemed to be fading from national debate - it's back.

But this time, the media, not Clinton, is getting zinged.

Newsday Wednesday reported Clinton's coif by Beverly Hills stylist Cristophe didn't significantly delay travelers in Los Angeles, despite an avalanche of news coverage to the contrary.

The paper, citing Federal Aviation Administration records secured through the Freedom of Information Act, found no circling planes, no backed-up runways - and only one 2-minute delay.

Most media accounts, including USA TODAY's, were based on wire service stories quoting an unnamed FAA spokesman who said one flight was delayed 25 minutes, one 17 minutes and several others 10 minutes.
<end of snip>

For the most part I remember this being stupidity as usual from all sides.