Road To The White House Paved By Fund-Raisers

[Larkspur]

from Michele Jacklin, Hartford Courant political columnist, http://www.ctnow.com/news/politics/hc-jacklinopedwedsept24.artsep24,1,4731629.column?coll=hc-utility-news-politics

He came, he spoke and, with apologies to Clint Eastwood, he fled with a fistful of dollars.

All in a day's work, er, make that 17 minutes of work, for Vice President Dick Cheney. Such is the life of the vice president these days, as he and President George W. Bush stash their cash in anticipation of the 2004 campaign.

The vice president flew into Bradley International Airport Monday morning, scooted over to the Hartford Hilton, droned on for 17 minutes about terrorism, the allegedly resurgent economy and what an upstanding guy the president is, scooted back to Bradley and left for D.C.

At least Bruce Springsteen sneaked in a visit to the Mark Twain House during his sojourn to Hartford. Cheney, though, was content to leave the 260 lunchgoers staring at the vacated dais and seven oversized American flags while he slipped out through the parking garage.

The vice president's haul? About $300,000, according to the Bush/Cheney campaign, or about $17,647 a minute. Actually, his per-minute gross was a little less because the vice president set aside time for picture-taking with donors who kicked in an extra $1,000.

The speech itself was warmed-over boilerplate. The Bush administration's foreign policy can best be summed up as: We're gonna git them before they git us. More specifically, Cheney said the United States is committed to staying in Afghanistan and Iraq "until we've rounded up all of the weapons of mass destruction." That could be an eternity given that we haven't found any yet.
<SNIP>

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

1. Breathtaking contrast, ain't it?

[tsipple]

2. I Really Like the Hartford Courant

Just an all-around terrific newspaper. Connecticut should be proud. It's not always perfect, but it's right up there in quality with several big city newspapers.

(Full disclosure: I used to deliver it in my childhood. :-))