Price of photo-op with Bush keeps dropping.

[kpete]

And For Five Thousand Bucks More, You Can Get Your Picture Taken Without Me In It

Gas prices may be up, but there's something that's apparently a little cheaper these days: A photo with President Bush. Yesterday, Bush headlined a fundraiser for the New Jersey state GOP, where donors could pay $5,000 to pose for a photo with the Commander in Chief. Expensive photo op, right? Well, that's actually cheaper that what donors paid just a year ago for a grip and grin with Bush. Last summer, GOP officials around the country charged at least $10,000 a pop for presidential photo op, a bargain compared to the $25,000-a-flash Bush commanded during some Republican National Committee fund-raisers back in 2000 and 2004. Maybe it's just a Jersey thing. Although Bush's poll numbers are low nationally, the president is particularly unpopular in New Jersey, where his approval rating is just 25 percent according to one recent poll. In fact, Bush hadn't campaigned in the state since 2005. Last summer, the GOP relied instead on other administration emissaries like Karl Rove, Vice President Dick Cheney and former President George H.W. Bush. They all campaigned for Tom Kean Jr., who ran for (and ultimately lost) New Jersey's U.S. Senate seat. For the record, a photo with Rove cost donors $1,000, while pictures with Cheney and Bush's dad were priced at $5,000. But that's peanuts. In June 2006, donors at a Kean fundraiser paid $10,000 a piece for a photo op with First Lady Laura Bush. At least President Bush can feel good about one thing: Wednesday's event took in about $675,000 for New Jersey Republicans, not a bad haul in a state where most people would rather get a souvenir pic of the president walking out the door.

http://bailey.talk.newsweek.com/default.asp?item=611352
via:
http://thinkprogress.org/2007/06/04/price-of-photo-op-with-bush-keeps-dropping/

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. They'd have to pay ME. A lot.

[sojourner]

15. i hear that!

(me too......a LOT!)

[rodeodance]

2. silly expense crapola

[rodeodance]

3. silly expense crapola

[rodeodance]

4. silly expense crapola

[AlCzervik]

5. Thats just the freemarket at work.

[City Lights]

6. I'd pay $5000 for one ball to drop junior in a dunking tank.

But you'd have to pay me a lot more than $5000 to have my pitcher taken with that poser.

[rurallib]

7. OK well I would take $5,000 for a pic with Bush but only if I can

wear a sack on my head.

[underpants]

8. I was just about to post this---too funny

No one wants to be his friend anymore.

[lpbk2713]

9. Next thing you know ....

Smirky will be doing infomercials for RonCo products. :rofl: :rofl:

[tandot]

10. They are people who are willing to pay for a photo with that moron???

:wow:

They'd have to pay me at least $10,000 to sink so low to allow him to pose with me.

[Enrique]

11. and those savings will trickle down

thanks again Mr. President!

[Buns_of_Fire]

12. Dropping? Hell no, not a penny!

My price has always been $25k to be seen with that putz. Maybe it's the fact that I won't accept credit cards or personal checks that scared them off.

[eppur_se_muova]

13. HA ha! nt

[Lisa]

14. a top-notch Bush impersonator charges more than $18k

... but you get more value for your money (different celebrity voices, magic tricks, etc.) -- plus, since you're dealing with a trained professional, you don't have to worry about him running amok and groping the German Chancellor or any other dignitaries!