m$nbc 'who's paying for their great adventure in spain and is it too expensive'

[spanone]

i'm not in the news business, but i've heard several times that the Obama's are paying for the trip.

you think m$nbc would fucking know this by now.

[gateley]

1. I'm amazed at all the attention this is getting. It's really pissing me off. nt

[malaise]

9. Just ignore them n/t

[The Wielding Truth]

2. They grab the Fox gossip and run with it. P-poor journalism!

[spanone]

3. norah o'donnel 'the cost of security will be borne by the american tax payers'

who the fuck else would pay for it?

they are now itemizing the trips cost

[GoCubsGo]

5. Noron was harping about it on NBC this morning, too.

It was sickening to watch. We should all write this twit and ask her if she'll itemize the Tequila Twins' trip to Argentina. You know the one--when they were asked to leave the country because they were behaving so badly.

[treestar]

10. I had forgotten that!

Thanks for the reminder! Did the media look at that so closely? :rofl: I bet not.

[gratuitous]

36. Apparently the First Lady wouldn't have needed security otherwise?

Good heavens, these people will gin up a controversy out of anything, won't they?

[Bitwit1234]

4. And I can find nothing on Laura Bush's FIVE TRIPS TO AFRICA

other than the fact she took them. Google sure censure anything really negative republican. Just go to any of the search engines either, and try to find all the trips she took.

[peaches2003]

6. Obamas need a new PR person

No matter that the Obamas paid Michelle and Malia's personal expenses. With this economy and all the other criticism going on, the whole trip was stupid to do now. Taxpayers are paying a huge cost of the security and travel. Michelle is not a private citizen. So many Americans are suffering and just trying to keep their homes and food on the table. A trip of this scale is elitist and that is the last image Obama needs to show now. Sorry, I love Obama, but this was an idiotic move. Image is everything, like it or not, and this is a bad one for so many reasons.

[treestar]

7. Curious, do you then agree with firing Shirley Sherrod?

When they did that, they were accused of being cowardly and bending to Faux Noise. Yet by your analysis, the image that they come down hard on "reverse" racists would have been more important.

Like the other posts point out, the Bush twins and Laura made trips.

[peaches2003]

12. Of course they shouldn't have fired SS like that

without investigating the whole thing- entire speech, her history, how the story was given out, etc. Has nothing to do with this trip.

[spanone]

8. there is no good time for the Obamas to do anything and she IS a private citizen.

[peaches2003]

13. MO is not a private citizen

She's FLOTUS and with that title she is no longer a private citizen. Doesn't matter where Laura Bush went and how it was reported, though a trip to Africa is seen in an entirely different light than a trip to the Med coast of Spain to a lush resort, etc. It's all in the image and this trip is not a good one for either of the Obamas. That's just life. Doesn't mean it's fair.

[BeFree]

14. Right

She should be tending bar at soup kitchens and working to educate kids.
Oh wait, she's been doing that.

If she wants a vacation she should do it on the cheap and stay in slums around the US? Would that make you happy, peaches?

[peaches2003]

16. There's a happy medium

between slums and a 5* resort on the Costa del Sol with part of the cost being borne by the American taxpayer. Perception is everything and right now is not the time for this image for the Obamas. Didn't say it was fair. It just is what it is.

[BeFree]

18. My perception is...

...that as a representative of the US (not a private citizen anymore) she should be treated with the utmost of dignity by her caretakers.

And she will be entertaining the Spanish heads of state while there... should she stay at the motel 6? Don't be silly... She, and the US, deserve the best.

[peaches2003]

21. She is not representing the US

at all on this trip. She has been invited for a visit with the King and Queen because she is there vacationing, not representing the US at any function.

Funny, but the WHITE HOUSE is agreeing with ME today. Said the trip should have been rethought and the "optics" are unfortunate. Of course they are at this particular time. Now it's not just my opinion, but the WH's also.

[BeFree]

22. Heh

All the problems in the world and you are focused like a laser beam, along with fox snooze, on Michelle's vacation.

Wanna know what my perception of you, right now, is?

[peaches2003]

24. Not particularly

I don't like the Obamas putting themselves in a position to be criticized and this trip has unnecessarily done so. You can't miss the criticism if you even even partially listen and read what is going on in the world. Evidently you don't. Haven't watched Fo in so long I can't even remember when, btw. Mostly read the NY Times and listen to Keith O.

[BeFree]

25. Eh?

The only criticism I read is from you. You are spreading it quite well.

As for what's going on in the world, this vacation is like number 1 gazillion on the list. For me. For you? Seems to be number 1 !!!

But feel free to get your panties in a twist. It is a free country.

[HipChick]

27. Link?

[Hangingon]

30. If WH agrees this is a private trip, I would like to see what the

Obamas pay. She and Malia are private citizens but are entitled to secret service protection. That is a major fact. For protection reasons, the SS would not be too happy if Michelle and daughter flew commercial. That means a military Special Mission aircraft. (I think the Air Force 2 call sign is actually for Biden). I expect the Obamas will reimburse the government on a formula based on commercial first class same as congressional junkets - far below acyual cost. Protection also means excellent baggage handling. first rate ground transportation (no one has mentioned how the SS Suburbans got to SPain), and a staff. Undeniably, Michelle got a good deal but it goes with the position - and FLOTUS is not a government position

[HipChick]

31. Did Bush reimburse the government? ...the Biden's take AF2 to the Hamptons .nah a peep

[Hangingon]

32. I do not know.

Seems like it would have been an issus if he didn't. We heard so much about Crawford. If he didn't reimburse, they would have been a rationale.

[spanone]

15. she was not elected to any offcie. private citizen.

[peaches2003]

17. Not when traveling on AF 2

in the company of 70 SS agents.

[spanone]

38. yep! an airplane does not make you elected official.

The position of the First Lady is not an elected one, carries no official duties, and receives no salary. Nonetheless, first ladies have held a highly visible position in U.S. government.<2> The role of the first lady has evolved over the centuries. She is, first and foremost, the hostess of the White House.<2> She organizes and attends official ceremonies and functions of state either along with, or in place of, the president.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Lady_of_the_United_States

[HipChick]

19. At least try and get the names right...Malia isn't even on this trip..

FFS

[peaches2003]

20. My mistake, it's Sasha.

[MoonRiver]

11. The days of investigative reporting on television are OVER.

In addition to this non-story, we're treated to hourly discussions about the orphaned otter now being cared for in the Monterrey aquarium. Now don't get me wrong, I LOVE otters, and that baby is incredibly cute, but why is this such national news that it must be "reported" every hour on the hour. :eyes:

[rurallib]

23. M$NBC is liberal for 3 hours a day.

[ejpoeta]

26. today show went through a list of cost for agents for this trip. and they make sure to emphasize

tax payers are paying for the plane and the secret service blah blah. then they go on to say how she should have vacationed here.


here's a question, not sure if anyone would know. did laura never leave the US? she never travelled? and did the media do this assessment of cost analysis everytime they went anywhere? because bush went on vacation for a month at a time. and i don't remember anyone saying anything.

[HipChick]

28. Laura Bush was different ..White Caucasian FLOTUS..so no need to examine costs

:sarcasm:

[GoCubsGo]

37. They claimed Laura Bush spent her vacations "hiking in national parks"

They never mentioned her African safari with both daughters, or the numerous trips she took to the South of France (with at least one daughter) and other places in Europe. Nor, did they bring up any of the trips their daughters made to Europe and South America. No tallying up the cost of security there. Nope. Nuh uh.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

29. Only paying direct personal costs or equivalent. Gov is doing the rest

Right or wrong, she is playing into the Marie Antoinette meme they have been trying to hang on her since the campaign (remember the room service lobster order?). Giving the repukes ammunition is not the wisest thing to do.

[peaches2003]

33. Thank you.

That was my only point for which I got flamed. Costa del Sol is one of the most exclusive and elite resort areas in the world. An image she didn't need to exploit right now. Should have stayed in the U.S. Even the White House agrees now.

[rbrnmw]

39. Where do you get the WH agrees? Can you provide a link?

not that I do not believe that I just want to read the statement

[tammywammy]

40. Michelle never had the room service lobster

http://www.nypost.com/p/pagesix/item_AXXCKlN1Ae6R2ogohVFKRN;jsessionid=654F565E368B42B9C979D40954E00978

[rbrnmw]

34. MSNBC are sounding more and more like ignorant fux news everyday

Liberal Media my ass. Don't they know that they are akin to Satan himself in the eyes of the ignorant fux news viewer's? Quit pandering MSNBC!!!!

[GoCubsGo]

35. They've always been that way

Except for their nighttime line-up, they're really MSRNC, as they have been from the start.

[underpants]

41. I'm paying for it and I am just fine with it

actually looking back in hindsight it was probably best that the Bush's didn't represent us much outside of the news bubble that is the US