"So I can get to stompin in my air force ones" this guy cracks me up: http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/05/31/bush.travelcosts.ap/index.html " President Bush is using Air Force One for re-election travel more heavily than any predecessor, wringing maximum political mileage from a perk of office paid for by taxpayers."
If it is a problem then they should regulate to stop its being exploited. I don't see this as a major issue though, aside from the rhetoric of it. It's a freakin plane. Why doesn't he just use the Enron jet? I'm sure no one's using it...
Hmmm. I always thought Air Force One was supposed to fly the President around. Maybe you would prefer he flew Southwest?
I don't care that these campaign trips end up costing the taxpayers since I'm not sure how to otherwise handle the situation without causing headaches and potentially more cost to the taxpayers. But since the use of the plane for campaign trips was made an issue by Republicans when Clinton did it, it's only fair it become an issue when it's Bush doing it.
EVERY sitting president running for re-election uses it. They don't just use it for re-election either. They'll take senators or lobbyists on trips. It is completely and totally common whether it is a republican or democrat.
Ohhhhhhh, now I understand. Next, you'll tell us that the President has the unmitigated gall to actually live in the White House....at taxpayer expense! What an evil b*stard!
It's only bad I guess considering he's got so much damned money in his campaign funds. A record sum for a campaign? Kind of seems like he's leeching off the govt when he could be paying his own way. Unless that's not cool anymore.
Honestly, I wouldn't. It's the President. He's supposed to use Air Force One. I don't really care if he has an R or a D by his name.
i was posting here during the clinton administration. i remember it well. i would have been one of the jackasses pointing it out and posting it saying, "look at big bad Bill Clinton...look what he's doing." i feel like i personally have learned enough about politics in the last 8 years to understand that if you're complaining about the other guy doing it, chances are your guy is doing it, too. as for this particular issue. come on. the guy has no choice. when the president flies anywhere for any purpose he's using Air Force One. the Secret Service can't lock down southwest airlines, so as much as we want him to take fun fares....it ain't gonna happen. the life of the president...any president...has national security implications...and you don't jack with it. this is more a testament to how ridiculous presidential campaigns have become than anything else.
I agree -- it seems so wrong for taxpayers to essentially fund Bush's re-election campaign. But I don't know how else it could be handled -- I'd rather the monkey fly around in Air Force One than Enron One again.
well not exactly Bush is taking more politcal trips than anyone every has he refuses to disclose how much he pays the gov back he refuses to disclose who is coming on his politcal trips (that gov is paying for) he refuses to disclose how they determine which trip is official and which is political like the article says, he has raised over $200 million and has paid less than 1% of that back to the gov to cover the travel expenses for his fund raising trips I think all of these points are valid and open to questions and debate personally, he can use AFO all he wants, as long as he is open, fair and honest about it and pays for political trips according to the law bush is never open and honest about anything, so of course people will be suspicious
If you think it's SOP, the only issue is whether Bush's doing it 'more' than others raises any issues with you. If you feel it's a wrong to begin with, then to what degree Bush is doing it 'more' might affect your perspective. But until I know what, exactly, 'more' means, than I find it hard to have an opinion about this specific to Bush. Is it 1% more than, say, Clinton or others? 3%? If so, big whoop. If it's 15 or 20 % more, than maybe you have an issue.
if we work with the numbers the cited article has: Since Jan 2003 Bush makes 6.71 trips per month Jan 95 - Oct 96 Clinton made 5.59 trips per month
