A blast from the past...We’ve played this game before, but anytime the nation’s first black president spends more than a dollar, the right wing freaks out about Barack Obama “wasting taxpayer dollars.”

Back in 2011, the right claimed that First Lady Obama’s Africa trip would cost taxpayers millions, but even if you use numbers that the White House disagrees with ($424,000), they weren’t even close.

This time the right has whipped up the fake outrage over a leaked document showing that President Obama’s upcoming Africa trip could cost $60-$100 million. What these same people don’t tell is that George and Laura Bush loved to go to Africa on the taxpayers’ dime…a lot.

During Bush’s second term alone, Laura Bush made five “goodwill” trips to Africa.

President Bush made the trip twice during his presidency.

Here is former First Lady Bush at an event the night before their trip in 2008, “Tomorrow, President Bush and I leave for what will be my fifth trip to Africa since 2001, and his second trip to Africa since 2001.

I’ve seen the determination of the people across Africa — and the compassion of the people of the United States of America.”

Wow, that’s a lot of trips to Africa. In 2007, Laura Bush also took her daughters with her, and they went on a safari. You know, the same kind of outing that President Obama just canceled.

Why could the country afford to spend billions of dollars during Bush’s no growth economy, but they can’t afford to spend at least $60 million for the sitting president to travel today?

Giving aid to Africa to combat malaria and AIDS is a very noble cause. It literally saves lives, but 5 goodwill visits to Africa aren’t cheap. Laura Bush wasn’t flying all alone on a commercial flight.

Her trips cost the taxpayers a pretty penny.


 

Last edited by DollyLongstaff (2/20/2016 11:01 am)

[b]Limbaugh: (Mrs.)Obama is "taking 40 of her best friends and leasing 60 rooms in a five-star hotel -- paid for by you."

Punchy Tantaros: Michelle Obama's vacation with "40 of her 'closest friends.' [/b]


First, some numbers. Mrs. Obama did not travel with 40 friends, a number used by some news outlets.She vacationed with two women, one of them a longtime Chicago pal, Anita Blanchard, who is the obstetrician who delivered Sasha and Malia.

Blanchard is married to Marty Nesbitt -- President Obama's buddy and the treasurer of Obama's presidential campaign fund.

There was one other woman. Total: four daughters among the three women. They paid for their hotel rooms and other personal and travel expenses.The trip involved six White House advance staffers and two East Wing staffers, deputy Chief of Staff Melissa Winter and Mrs. Obama's personal assistant, Kristen Jarvis, according to Mrs. Obama's spokeswoman Catherine McCormick Lelyveld.

Dana Perino: Well, a couple of things. I think a lot of people were frustrated by reports that said that the American taxpayer were paying for 40 rooms at this exclusive resort. That's not true. I mean, she pays for her own way, her friends pay their own way, and we pay for the security. But I don't think any of us should begrudge her security, and I just think that it was a little bit off-limits.

Last edited by DollyLongstaff (2/22/2016 8:31 am)

NY Times: The first lady will pay "for her own room, food and transportation." The New York Times reported that Michelle Obama and her friends paid their own vacation costs. Additionally, the Tribune reported that Michelle Obama's family friends "arrived in Spain on their own" and that because Michelle Obama and her daughter flew on an Air Force jet, "[t]he Obama family will reimburse the government an amount equal to two first-class tickets." The government will pick up the tab for the Obamas' security, but it is the Secret Service -- not Michelle Obama -- that decides the amount of security needed.

From the August 6 New York Times article:

I must be psychic.
I just found this on Breitbart.

Persistent Information Surfaces That Michelle Obama Was Born A Man.

Last edited by DollyLongstaff (2/22/2016 8:53 am)

Even more proof...