Good mid-summer ranting everyone. Way to go Scott

IMHO this is all crap. The first lady has a right to take a vacation where ever she wants and as a result of her husbands job, the US govt must spare no expense to protect her and her family. What would happen if they were kidnapped by some thugs? How much would that cost us then? Not only in $ but in credibility?
There are much bigger things we should be focused on. All presidents families take vacations and we pay to protect them. This is nothing, move along

You had me going there for a second:rotf2:

im actually serious!

Well now I hope you all feel bad...According to the Chicago Sun-Times' Lynn Sweet, the first lady made the trip because she wanted to spend time with her best friend, Chicago physician Anita Blanchard, who lost her father this summer

What.. common sense in the political forum. blasphemy!

She's still a CHUMP :hee:

this is funny...

The story being circulated is that Anita Blanchard, Michelle's obstetrician, lost her father recently, and supposedly, "Mrs. Obama was not able to make the funeral at the beginning of July."

Does Michelle Obama rearrange the calendar only for vacations, but not for funerals?

Dr. Blanchard purportedly promised her daughter a trip to Spain for her birthday and invited Michelle and Sasha to tag along to spend post-funeral time together. So let's see...Michelle left Barack with Oprah Winfrey on his birthday to travel with baby doc Blanchard to one of Europe's poshest resorts.

How did the conversation unfold? "Oh Anita, I'm so sorry about your dad's untimely death. Let's assuage the grief by spending some girlfriend time eating tapas and chatting inside a canvas beach hut beside the sunny Mediterranean Sea."

Sorry, but Michelle strutting through Marbella in a one-sleeved, black and white Jean Paul Gaultier top and oversized Chanel sunglasses doesn't exactly convey the message of a woman consoling a bereaved friend. Maybe it's just that Middle America is unacquainted with the Chicago funerary tradition of flamenco dancing a month after burying a parent.

The White House is also saying that Mrs. Obama did not travel with three dozen close and intimate friends, as reported in the press. So why were sixty rooms reserved in the Villa Padierna for an average of $2,500 a night?

According to Mrs. Obama's spokeswoman Catherine McCormick Lelyvel, the grief getaway included "six White House advance staffers and two East Wing staffers, Deputy Chief of Staff Melissa Winter and Mrs. Obama's personal assistant, Kristen Jarvis."

In addition to the 250 security personnel supplied by the Spaniards, Mrs. Obama employed "three shifts of uniformed and plainclothes agents and military personnel flew with her on a big Air Force 757."

In addition to attempting to clarify Michelle's trip, Lynn Sweet asked the obvious question: "So why did Mrs. Obama go to Spain at this time? She's not tone-deaf politically." Does the Washington Bureau Chief for Chicago Sun Times mean politically "tone-deaf" on the style of President Obama?

In the article, entitled "Inside story of Michelle's trip," a probative Lynn Sweet inquired even further: "What was behind the 'mother-daughter' vacation?" You mean besides perusing exclusive shops, strutting around town in strappy Maison Martin Margiela sandals, sunning on a balmy beach, dining in exquisite restaurants, and paying homage to Spain's "cultural tribute to Muslims," the Alhambra Palace?

Presently, presidential spinmeisters are submerged in a campaign to head off trip-to-Spain flack and are answering Sweet's inquiries by saying Michelle "felt it was important as a dear friend"...to do what? Travel to a five-star resort, barricade off large swathes of a public Marbella beach, and flaunt the privileged perks of the elite in the face of struggling Americans?

Presidential apologist, shameless lackey, and White House press secretary Robert Gibbs was asked at a briefing if there was any concern about "the appearance" of Mrs. Obama's Spain trip.

With a straight face, Gibbs actually made the following, very private statement: "The first lady is on a private trip. She is a private citizen and is the mother of a daughter on a private trip. And I think I'd leave it at that."

Wrong! The day Michelle Obama launched the Let's Move governmental task force and became America's spokesperson/monitor for BMI and CEO of the fatty food patrol, the First Lady officially became a very public figure.

This week, that same public figure expects America to swallow the story that $75,000 a day was spent on the Costa del Sol to console a bereaved friend, when overdue hugs and tears could have been shared in Washington, D.C. at no cost to the American taxpayer.

If it really was 60 rooms at $2500 a day wouldn't that be $150,000 and not $75,000?

Sure, fact checking is hard, but we're only talking a few sentences apart.

I wonder what else was made up in your post.

-spence

I think the point was the 60 rooms .....perhaps the 75,000 per day was the cost for security...or Michelles food bill...who cares...you should apply your close scrutiny to the bull %$%$%$%$ that you roll out on a daily basis...you'd have a field day with yourself....:uhuh:

HuffPO..where she has come under fire for her lavish break on the Costa del Sol with 40 friends, which has been estimated at costing U.S. taxpayers $75000 a day.


yes taxpayer cost 75,000 per day......they were paying for their rooms themselves and some other things were they not ?

So at $75,000 somewhere around 2500 people or more worked for an entire day JUST to send Hilda on vacation EACH DAY

Over 12,500 people paid taxes in the 5 days they were there and that money is gone forever. Figure in the COST of borrowing $75k a day.

Disgusting.

News Headlines

2 days after

No, she specifically says the 75,000 a day was being spent on the Costa Del Sol hotel, and that the American Taxpayer was bearing the brunt.

I don't believe the Whitehouse has released any numbers other to say that private expenses were being covered by the Obama's.

So how does she know how much it cost? Did someone look on the back of the room door where they list the outrageously inflated rates? Wouldn't one think that if there were 40-60 rooms booked that they'd get one hell of a discount?

Lots of accusations and little in the way of fact.

-spence

gentlemen -
Across the globe, ambassadors and their families are given protection at all times. Every time they leave the emabassy, dinner, dates, school, etc. They get security. Its in the countries best interest to protect them. Think how every dink country has an embassy, marines, security etc. It is EXTREMELY embarrasing to have something happen to high level US people in foreign countries. For people who serve this country, we have an obligation to do everything we can to protect their families abroad.
Now the Obamas are wealthy, they made their money and where I disagree with Mr Obama is that they should spend it any way they want as much as they want. If the choose to go abroad, they IMHO deserve top protection from the US government. US Citizens elected Obama, his family life is EXTREMELY impacted and I dont hold it against anyone for taking a vacation wherever they want. If you think protecting her was expensive just imagine the cost to both life and $ if she or her kids were ever abducted.

Rational, level-headed and non-partisan posts like this in the Political Forum make me feel like I'm in a Twilight Zone episode.

JD - its time to come out of the closet bud, you're a conservative. Just admit it.

As I've said many times before, JD is a self-loathing conservative. He knows deep down that he is one, but he hasn't come to grips with it yet. :)

RIJimmy, did you get my text this morning? Nothing changed between then and the time I left.

who fing cares? use whatever numbers that you want, it doesn't change the perception of the mini break

here, I'll put in in a way that even a democrat can understand...no lavish trip to Spain by the First Lady and her friends ever fed a hungry child.... get that Jimmy???? noone has suggested that they shouldn't get protection or that their kids should be abducted...it's not complicated....it's about the appearance of it all at a time when the American economy and Americans are suffering and juxtaposed against the rhetoric of these two aholes for the last two years....EVERY ARTICAL HAS POINTED THIS OUT...from the left and the right....tone deaf Obamas!!!...enjoying their own little world of opulence while they wreck the country, everything with these people has been over the top from the beginning, how many dollars do you think have been spent by, for or at the request of Obama since he began his campaign to present day...all told ? frightening thought.......even the leftwing media has coalesced around a message of "the optics" of the trip and how badly it has played out in the minds of average people....geeze...they're not feeekin' royalty...or are they?

BTW...I hear they're flying Bo to Hawaii for a session with a world renowned puppy groomer and a little canine R&R

I took a big swing toward the Right after the IRS robbed me of $7,500 direct from my bank account without notice earlier this year. That made for a fun day.

Welcome to the dark side.:gh:

I'm in the middle of a dispute over a tax bill I got this year for 2005. I swear they just send out bills and hope you pay it without questioning it.

The "perception" of the situation is a direct product of the numbers.

Had this story not had a price tag associated with it people wouldn't have thought much of it. Instead, there's manufactured outrage because it "fits" the image of royalty the Right has strained so hard to paint to serve their own needs.

Underneath everything, you have a daughter who was promised a short trip (4 long days) to Spain for her birthday, a few close friends who were brought along and a lot of hullabaloo because she happens to be the First Lady.

This isn't about being tone deaf, it's about a moment of sanity with your kid while everybody is trying to tear your down. Not an easy job if you ask me...

-spence

Well said Spence.... just a normal Birthday tradition that I feel we all should try. I'm thinking China for my daughters 12th....

well you wont need any security, they have this big wall down there......

Spoiled kids from spoiled parents

"don't cry for me..... America......the truth is I 've never liked you....."

they're all effin spoiled

daddy gets what he wants and if he don't he rants and raves til he gets it.

mommy gets what she wants too. Heck just look at this thread. Now it's ok to lavishly spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on a stupid vacation. Take me next time Hilda.

Spence for president :soon:

and the most over- hyped media darling first lady in history is apparently being torn down by "everyone"...TOO FUNNY

I don't think a quick trip to Spain is that crazy for a family with means as the Obama family certainly is. I could see them doing this even if Barak wasn't POTUS.

As for China, it should be a great growth experience. I'm all for kids traveling abroad when young to experience the world.

Hell, my 6 year old has been on well over 20 separate trips from Florida to Mexico to Seattle already! If it wasn't for the baby coming Europe would be on the radar very soon. And while we're doing fine we're certainly not rich even by Dem standards.

-spence

Michelle Obama popularity falls | Washington Examiner

Gee who woulda thunk it.

Wait til the next TWO vacations in the next two weeks.

:smash:

Spence can't stand up for her now he's busy changing poopie diapers :hee: