I looked it right up:
A strong, long 7.9 earthquake with an epicenter in Guerrero state shook central southern Mexico on Tuesday, swaying buildings in Mexico City and sending frightened workers and residents into the streets.Let's see, Malia's in Oaxaca. Google maps... Oaxaca, Guerrero... 375 miles (by somewhat indirect roads).
I hope everyone is safe, and I wonder what it says about us — or, specifically, Meade — that we think first of the one American we know is in Mexico right now.
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Malia was in Mexico? I had no idea.
It is nearly impossible to overestimte the tone deafness of the Obama administration. The man. Mr Obama, simply has no understanding of his role as President. In the things that Mr Obama has screwed up, this is a fairly small issue, but it does seem to characterize his stupidity.
I would like to tell you what I thought about Malia.
On second thought, never mind. Her parents decided to send her to Mexico and to saddle us with the huge bill. Let them worry about her.j
Oh yes. And keep their infernal kids out of American politics, when it helps them and when it does not.
I never knew the name of either of Obama’s daughters until I learned that they allowed one of them to go to Mexico unaccompanied by either parent.
That US taxpayers who are working while they’re partying during “Spring Break” are expected to pick up part of the cost for yet another Obama foreign vacation is just par for the course.
Hopefully this will be the last one any of them get to take on our dime.
I would have thought she'd have been someplace like Quintana Roo.
My sympathies would go to the average Mexican, who would be really screwed in such a big quake.
But, again, what the Hell's a 13 year old doing alone in Mexico?
(and I know about the 25 gunslingers)
I could never afford spring break.
What Florida Steve said. No, my first thought wasn't Malia, but I get Meade's point. If you have a daughter, it's instinctive to be protective of the daughters you know (even if only through TV and interwebs). (Not sure if Meade has a daughter.)
"... It is nearly impossible to overestimte the tone deafness of the Obama administration..."
Well he could have sent her somewhere in this country. You know, stimulate the American tourism community.
Chelsea is probably available for comment.
When did they start fracking in Mexico?
Follow the earthquakes
It might just be drug violence.
Having kids as part of the first family has always been an engaging experience for most of the country. Piss about the dad's politics, but this family is a pleasure. So were the Bush girls -- fake IDs and all.
I actually did think of her safety first, but then I wondered why simple bitter-clinger me would give a flip when her parents obviously don't.
Yeah, I'm judging. I'm a mom. One of my prerogatives.
It is nearly impossible to overestimte the tone deafness of the Obama administration. The man. Mr Obama, simply has no understanding of his role as President.
Agree it looks terrible--unless he's deliberately trying to stir up resentment.
Unfortunately, when I hear of these large earthquakes, the first thing I think is "uh-oh...we're next".
No. I didn't think of Malia at all. Frankly, while I wouldn't wish harm to her, her friends, or her mother, I think it would have been great if the earthquake had struck close enough to make her being there at all a huge story splashed all over the front pages of every newspaper in America.
@Ellie. What you said.
-XC
But, again, what the Hell's a 13 year old doing alone in Mexico?
It's been reported that she took an entourage of 12 friends. But that still begs the question, why Mexico? Why not Universal Studios or Disneyland?
Maybe this earthquake explains the booming & banging noises they've been hearing the last several nights in Clintonville, WI?
Clintonville waits for answers as booming, banging continues
Follow the earthquakes
Cool link. Thanks!
I wonder what it says about us — or, specifically, Meade — that we think first of the one American we know is in Mexico right now
-----------
That is called proximity effect -- can be applied to physical distance or emotional .. A stranger you don't know does not engender the same consideration as someone you know. In fact Google/Facebook are using this logic to selectively distribute info. They will tell you what is relevant to you.
Just listen to the first sentence in this video:
Eli Pariser: Beware online "filter bubbles"
"A squirrel dying in your backyard is more relevant that people dying in Africa..."
Malia is there with 12 friends and 25 secret service agents and maybe Michele Obama -- not sure about Michele Obama being there, but it's so hard to find a complete story about her spring break trip....hmmm...
It's been reported that she took an entourage of 12 friends.
Church-related mission trip?
Spring Break in Mexico. I remember those days.
Is she on birth control? Who is paying for it?
My first thought was how many taxpayer dollars were spent to pay for 12 friends to accompany her,& the 25 secret service agents to protect them. My second thought was the rules don't apply to Obama & his family because there is a travel warning on Americans going to Mexico as a matter of fact I think there is a ban on personal travel there. Maybe Malia was on a business trip?
Yeah, I'm judging. I'm a mom. One of my prerogatives.
If I’m working to pay for someone else to take a vacation, I think it’s my prerogative to judge as well.
I wonder if the decision to allow a thirteen year old to have a Mexican vacation without either parent was motivated by the concern about the optics of either the President or the First Lady taking another foreign vacation so soon after the last one and that much closer to the election.
I suspect that the thinking may have been that they could hide behind the “don’t talk about my children” and it looks like for some of the MSM that may have worked. However letting a teenager travel to a foreign country without either parent – a bodyguard is NOT a parent or a babysitter – is unlikely to play much better.
Melia is on a school trip to Oaxaca, MX. I am not sure if she is in Oaxaca city or in one of the beach resorts. If the former then she is in one of the most beautiful of Mexico's colonial cities and is near one of the great ruins at Monte Alban. Much to do and much to learn. If, on the other hand, she is at one of Oaxaca's beaches she is on a beach trip and not so much to see or learn.
Melia, for you progressives, goes to a private school in Washington, DC., the Sidwell Friends School. The Friends part of the school's name comes from The Religious Society of Friends or, for you progressives, Quakers. That would, in some circles, make Melia's private school a religious private school though I think the religion is well played down.
This is tremendously funny. They went around scrubbing all articles about her being there and now..
I'm guessing that her friends are having to foot the bill for their own trip.
Agree it looks terrible--unless he's deliberately trying to stir up resentment.
By letting his kid go on vacation? LOL. That's some serious ODS you got going on there.
Um, no.
But it is cute that the Obama Admin has the time to try and push the scrubbing of her trip from news outlets.
Too lazy to include a link, but the United States Geological Survey has a link that identifies all earthquakes everywhere on the planet. They include Richter scale. It is really the go to place for earthquake information.
Hoosier Daddy: I think this is a school sponsored spring break trip. I am sure that all the kids are paid for by their parents including the Obama child. We pay for the Obama child's protection as we should.
This is no big deal. An earthquake in Mexico does not make the entire country shake and there are no buildings in Oaxaca taller than six or seven stories, if that.
Conservatives should chill out on this. A president's kid should be able to have a life and we should be happy enough to pay for her safety.
Must be great to be that rich.
Go wherever you want, whenever.
If I had more of my own money, I might travel.
But the gubmint takes half of everything I make, when all's said and done. So, very little travel.
This must some of that free stuff all the Obama womyn have been talking about.
Malia Ann Obama (MAO) is in Mexico on a school tour of historical sites. Her mother, Michelle, is not in Mexico with her. The 25 memeber personal security detail is a mix of Secret Service agents and US Marines. There are also hundreds of Mexican police - Federal and local - handling the street, road, and building security.
This was originally only a small story about the frequent vacationing of the Obama's and the cost to the public. But, yesterday's censorship and intimidation by the Obama White House to quash the story has created a much larger story and concern. However, it may be easier now to convince fence sitters that it is possible for powerful people to scrub large amounts of personal historical information from public access in a short amount of time.
Surprisingly, Malia's safety was my first thought when I heard about the earthquake.
What is humorous here is that we weren't supposed to know about her being in Mexico. As you may know, yesterday several sites posted stories about her trip to Mexico, and then the White House apparently had them scrub or cleanse their sites of those articles. So, for a lot of us, the big story yesterday was not the Mexico trip with 25 Secret Service, but rather the cleansing of story about the trip from those sites (and, I think maybe they thought from the Internet).
Drudge has some links to the story.
Thorley Winston: Only the parents of geeks go with their kids on school spring breaks. This is not the kind of spring break that the kids of progressives go on where they get tattoos and pregnant. This is a school trip, I am given to understand, with plenty of chaperones other than the Secret Service.
What Jay said re scrubbing websites covering this.
As far as covering presidential kinder, I think the Clinton's did a good job keeping Chelsea out of the limelight. It seems clear to me that the Obama's use their children as political props when it suits their purposes. But what would expect from the bozo currently in the office.
Is she on birth control? Who is paying for it?
Hey! Malia is 14, for crying out loud. This isn't a spring break trip in the sense of a college spring break. Pick on her parents all you like, but leave the girls out of it. Seriously. I don't have a problem with criticizing the trip or questioning why her parents let her go, but the personal stuff hinting that she's down there having a wild college-girl time...that's not cool.
The lawyers said that there were two earthquakes, with the first one being a "warning quake" that proved that the second one was in cold blood.
Now the White House has had to issue a statement:
'In light of today's earthquake, we can confirm that Malia Obama is safe and was never in danger' - Kristina Schake, Communications Director to First Lady Michelle Obama; Malia Obama is currently on a school trip in Mexico
So that's kind of embarrassing, after they made everyone erase the story yesterday.
Michael: given construction standards in Mexico, even a one story structure that is not base isolated is a potential death trip.
But if you go carrying tales of First Kid MAO,
You're gonna get spiked on the internet anyhow.
Dont'cha know it's gonna be, alright...
ABC as of now - http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/03/white-house-malia-obama-safe-from-earthquake-in-mexico/
First sentence..."where the President's eldest daughter is on vacation."
Might have been an excellent time to point out that it was a school-based educational outing.
Just saying.
I don't follow the lives of celebrity children. But whenever I hear of an earthquake I think about National Lampoon Magazine's parody of Jehovah's Witness publications and an article that asked "Are earthquakes famines and floods part of God's plan? Or is he just plain clumsy?"
Good for the president to allow his daughter to go on this trip and that the trip is in Mexico. As you might know, Mexico's tourism has suffered greatly because of the violence on the northern frontier. American's are afraid of Mexico and most other foreign places, but Mexico now in particular because of this violence. Permitting her to go shows the Mexican Govt. that we support travel to that country. The security detail for Malia is doubtless beefed up for the occasion but in general this is a good thing.
As to the scrubbing I am of two minds. In the old days the news people would have honored a president's request to keep such a trip quiet. Today, of course, the press is peopled with progressive scumbags who can't help themselves. There is no "need to know" about a kid's trip to Mexico. At least not in real time.
. I don't have a problem with criticizing the trip or questioning why her parents let her go, but the personal stuff hinting that she's down there having a wild college-girl time...that's not cool.
I could tell you stories about what my middle school friends did when they went on a school trip to Mexico (for Spanish class).
My parents didn't let me go.
I will say the pictures of the trip that were on the web showed Malia with a lot of white girls. That's probably the real reason the WH wanted to get rid of the story, considering Obama killed the voucher program.
Ellie--a good point; however, it begs the question about why a school trip takes students to a country on the Department of States watch list, does it not?
Roger J: You are right, of course, but the Mexican's are realistic people and do not want to create a society like ours where we are afraid of people slipping on banana peels. You can bet they do not want their dwellings falling around their ears and you can bet that the colonial buildings in Oaxaca have withstood more than one temblor in their time. But they do not have legions of people dedicated to making each other safe for this or that potential calamity. Thus it is that you see smiling people crammed into the back of pickup trucks hurdling down the highways without a seatbelt in sight.
Now, I would want a well engineered building were I in Mexico City.
A president's kid should be able to have a life and we should be happy enough to pay for her safety.
We should be?
We should be happy to pay for 25 secret service agents to accompany a 14 year old on a trip?
Happy?
RogerJ: The State Department's website indicates that there are no warnings or advisories in effect for Oaxaca.
Michael: thanks
Boil the water, so Malia doesn't get Malaria, down there'ia..
MayBee: Grow the fuck up. Be a sad sack if you want but I am happy we live in a country where we are willing to protect the families of our senior elected officials. Whining about securing the lives of kids on a school trip is unseemly. Get a better job. Divorce your spouse. Do what you can to get rid of the chip on your shoulder. Save up and send your own kid to Mexico.
garage mahal said...
By letting his kid go on vacation? LOL. That's some serious ODS you got going on there.
I can tell I really hurt you with my WDS comment last week, garage. We'll have to chuckle about it at a beer summit this summer.
But now that I find out she was just factfinding on a school trip, and not on a Holiday in Cambodia,* I want to scrub my comment from this thread. :)
______________
*There's always room for Jello.
I think we need to give the president a budget for travel. He and his family can use that and only that.
As the security apparatus has become ridiculous, the price for each trip has soared. There's no reason they should travel as if that isn't true.
It's only 4-8 years, and life not being normal is part of the job.
Let them live in a budget like the rest of us do, especially since it's our money they are spending.
Puh-leeease...You cannot be serious.
Thanks for your advice, Michael.
You sure demonstrate well how not to be a sad sack.
Micahel, Prez. candyman wants to give away all sorts of shit to everyone of his friends, from Goldman-Sachs to the freeloaders looking for more Obama bucks and never intending to work, ever.
More, because of this administration's repeated energy failures, gas is increasing in price every day. With it will go other prices.
So don't lecture us on what we can or can't bitch about, when it's on our dime.
A hearty Go to hell! from me, if you please.
I'm tired of paying for their goddamn vacations when my kids are struggling to make ends meet because Obamanomics is totally fucked.
She should be allowed to participate in school trips, and the Obama family should be able to take vacations. However, they have to know that, during these hard economic times, their choices will be scrutinized, especially since they've been telling us all to tighten our belts and make sacrifices (something we already know how to do but they obviously don't).
It also doesn't help that they put pressure on media outlets to scrub the story. Now, of course, in light of this natural disaster they couldn't foresee, the story is completely out of their control, and that they tried to control it i the first place is the bigger portion of the story.
Had they exercised discretion from the start by choosing fewer vacations, or opting for vacations that would put money back into this country, there would be less criticism.
Michael memorialized:
MayBee: Grow the fuck up. Be a sad sack if you want but I am happy we live in a country where we are willing to protect the families of our senior elected officials. Whining about securing the lives of kids on a school trip is unseemly. Get a better job. Divorce your spouse. Do what you can to get rid of the chip on your shoulder. Save up and send your own kid to Mexico.
I can tell I really hurt you with my WDS comment last week, garage. We'll have to chuckle about it at a beer summit this summer.
Hehe. Pontoon Summit, I'm telling ya. You'll have a whole new appreciation for Madison.
Garage is very funny talking about ODS when he's afflicted with BDS.
That a well-placed earthquake undid the Obama news scrubbing of Malia's trip is just luck (or bad luck) for some.
I myself thank the Lord for His little joke.
Boil the water, so Malia doesn't get Malaria, down there'ia..
Malaria is not spread by contaminated water.
I just wonder why the President would ignore his own State Department's warning and have his own daughter go there in the first place.
Doesn't that sound like an unbelievably STUPID idea? Not blaming her because she's a kid and all...but, Obama, if you can't stand up to your daughter, how can you stand up to --- well, never mind. You've shown how that ends also.
Conservatives should chill out on this. A president's kid should be able to have a life and we should be happy enough to pay for her safety.
I should be happy to pay for his daughter to go to a violent hellhole and spend millions for her protection?
In what alternate universe?
His own State Dept says don't go there? Why should ANYBODY listen to them when HE won't?
Grow the fuck up. Be a sad sack if you want but I am happy we live in a country where we are willing to protect the families of our senior elected officials.
Can you explain why WE should be doing so?
Isn't that the job of their parents?
Is Obama spending the millions himself to protect her?
If not --- then she shouldn't go.
We're beyond broke. We're broke to a level nobody wishes to notice. We cannot afford this. Especially given the FREQUENT need to send security with the family for what is a LOT of vacation trips during these years where he ran up the debt more than anybody else before him.
MadisonMan said...
Malaria is not spread by contaminated water.
That's like saying the plague isn't spread by rats.
The insects thank you!
You're right about malaria, but "dysentery" isn't as easy to play off of "Malia"
I knew that Malia was in Mexico but I forced myself to forget as instructed by the White House.
Now I know again. Damn.
If you want to be President and accept the responsibility for sending hundreds or thousands of troops to their death on your orders, for causing the deaths of tens of thousands of our enemies,
for setting policy that will affect the lives and deaths of millions in the U.S and across the world; then you should be willing to accept that your family will necessarily have to live a somewhat sequestered life during your term of service.
If Malia's presence creates a security risk that requires Secret Service and military protection and hundreds of Mexican police in support, then her presence creates a life and death security risk for the other children on the trip.
Shared sacrifice is all about who makes the sacrifice. Malia should have passed up the vacation.
Thus it is that you see smiling people crammed into the back of pickup trucks hurdling down the highways without a seatbelt in sight
A pickup truck can do this?
I would not want my kids going on a trip with extremely high profile kids simply because of the potential for danger from crazy ideologues or fame-seekers. Sure, they have 25 guys who could probably defeat the Mexican army protecting them,, but that just reinforces the point.
While I am not in the Sidwell-elite class, so this would never happen to me, I would be pissed if my kids went on a school trip abroad with the president's daughter and the press ran with the story. If I was not already there, I'd do get them and take them home.
Maybe it's because I just watched that Liam Neesen movie where his daughter is kidnapped in Paris.
Spring break trips abroad for 13 year old girls is a new one to me. I thought the standard was wait til the 2nd or 3rd year of high school.
I imagine the girls' parents [who are probably in the 1%] had absolutely zero worries about safety since they knew, that whatever the destination, Uncle Sam and Malia's Dad would be providing security.
And thinking that makes me a no-good prick according to Michael.
That's like saying the plague isn't spread by rats.
Not quite. The Anopheles mosquito vector that carries Plasmodium-causing malaria will happily breed in clean water.
Rabel said:
"I knew that Malia was in Mexico but I forced myself to forget as instructed by the White House.
Now I know again. Damn."
LOL ! Insty should "borrow" this.
Pogo: So no school trips for the kids of presidents. Nice. I yield to no one in my radical right wingness but this is absurd.
Damikesc: I can see you are not a well traveled person or you would know that Oaxaca, Mx is not a "hell hole" as you describe it. The State Department has no warning and no advisory for Oaxaca, by the way.
Malia is not alone with 25 body guards, she brought a dozen friends. I only saw a picture of 3, but they were all white kids. Doesn't she have black friends?
AJ,
If Insty quotes me, I will departiculate and arise to commenter heaven on a swarm of nanobots.
Each of them will be carrying concealed.
"Was your first thought I hope Malia is safe?"
No, of course it wasn't.
Any reason at all as to why it would be?
Could someone please let Mitt know that a nice free trip to a warm climate with interesting historical sites would make me happy?
Can't these people just eat their waffles without everyone making a big deal out of it. Afterall, it's just the first of their four year freebies. Just wait until the next four years of travel/party time take place.
"Let me tell you again, how McCain lost me."
A J Lynch: You are not a no good prick. I am. I am a no good prick who has sent, and will send again, my kids to Mexico on supervised trips along with trusted chaperones and guides. As a no good one percenter I am doing my level best to make sure that my kids are as well traveled as I can afford and I send them to private schools to ensure that they get the best opportunities possible. You may not value your children in the same way and you may wish your children not to come in contact with foreign cultures or think that Mexico is a hell hole as some other commenter put it. Not me. I send them off to learn Spanish where they actually speak Spanish. Worrying about the cost of this trip relative to the debt levels, ObamaCare and other outrages is like worrying about the flyshit in the pepper.
Not quite. The Anopheles mosquito vector that carries Plasmodium-causing malaria will happily breed in clean water.
Are you implying that fleas don't like clean rats?
AllenS! Welcome!
I hope you're enjoying the early Spring. I sure as heck am!
No, it didn't occur to me until you brought it up. I find it interesting that you think of this first - in front of the general concern for the local population.
dunce: Of course she doesn't go to school with black kids, she goes to the most elite private school in Washington, D.C. Highly progressive, very Democratic, very select and very expensive. Do you think that Obama would send his kids to a public school in Washington, D.C.? Are you fucking nuts? D.C. schools are almost entirely black and are horrible.
Allen S: Good to see you back. You are the only sane person in Wisconsin. Thanks for reappearing.
From Harry S. Truman, who used his own stamps when mailing his personal correspondence, to Barack Hussein Obama, who puts every personal indulgence on our tab. Such has been the trajectory of the United States in my lifetime.
Are you implying that fleas don't like clean rats?
When you are in a hole, stop digging. That is my advice to you.
Yeah, AJ.
Let your kids out of the basement, would ya?
Or maybe throw someone from another culture down there with them.
Michael said: Not me. I send them off to learn Spanish where they actually speak Spanish.
I solved that one by sending my kids to public school. You must live in some sort of enclave.
@Madison Man:
Explain to me what you mean. Especially, what you think I "fell into."
I think you need to read my words more carefully before you make such comments.
Nope - my first thought was "those poor damned mexicans".
chickenlittle: I do not live in an "enclave." But I do not buy certain things I would like to have and instead invest that money in my children by sending them to private school. They would not learn Spanish in public school just because many of the kids are Spanish speaking and I seriously doubt your kids have learned it from their classmates. I have both taken and sent my kids to Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama and El Salvador. No problems. Ever.
My first thought was, "I hope their construction holds up well and everyone is ok."
Then I wondered about my friends' families.
I will admit that a little further down the list I wondered how the WH would handle the web they weaved.
Michael can tell you virtually everything you need to know about the 1% [and hillbillies] from Atlanta, to Wisconsin, to Washington D.C., right down to villages in Mexico.
First thing you need to do though, is shut up, and LISTEN, then relax and enjoy the ride!
Garage: Fuck off prole.
Whatever you say, poser.
Allen-great to see you again. You have been missed. Was saying that to someone just the other day.
Garage-I would like to come to the pontoon/beer summit too. I was just up in Madison last week for the Friday Solidarity sing-a-long.
It never entered my mind about Malia until I saw this post. I guess I am insensitive. However having done mission work in Mexico I did wonder how people fared in light of the type of houses I have seen and been in when I was there.
Thank you Michael and Madison Man, but I'm not going to stay that long. I don't want to get into a shouting match with anyone. I don't want to piss off The Althouse Woman, or The ...
"Pogo: So no school trips for the kids of presidents. Nice."
I lived without out-of-US school trips in grade school, high school, and college.
So can they.
Plenty of the USA to see for a 14 year old. Maybe she'll become proud of her country for the first time in her life, if she learned a little bit about it first.
Allen S: Well, you have been missed and I hope you stick around. I have greatly valued your comments.
@ Roger J - absolutely it does. What I was getting at is if that's the spin supporters are giving as the reason for the trip, education not merely a vacation, I don't see the information supporting that fact. Maybe part of scrubbed articles?
I'm with you. If education, heck even humanitarian, was the goal, there are plenty of safer places stateside. There's broadening horizons, and then there's just flat out idiocy.
Pogo: My parents couldn't afford to travel, much less send me off on excursions. I don't begrudge the children of the President of the U.S. (the current one I cannot stand but I do have some regard for the office)having a better childhood than I did, more experience than I did and I do hope that Malia will instill a love of travel in her children when she has them. Getting in a snit about this seems to me to be misplaced anger at an administration and president that does not have much regard for the financial condition of the country. I would not take this out on his children.
@Caplight
Anytime. Need to check how early I can put the lift in and then we're ready to go.
Only proles allowed though!
I do not know any details about trip to . Because every link I click has a 404 error message and the last one I got said "404 goddamnit I said there's nothing to see." And I'm over here thinking you don't have to drop a house on me, I can take a hint.
In fact, all your mentions are disappearing.
Michael, who is taking it out on his kids? Pointing out that we don't have millions to send his wife and kids on vacations all of the time (especially when HE calls for sacrifice) is reality.
We are broke. Saying it isn't much money isn't relevant when we are in debt to our eyeballs as is. If Obama ALONE paid for this, nobody would care.
Hey! Malia is 14, for crying out loud. This isn't a spring break trip in the sense of a college spring break.
uh, 14 is a high school freshman. If you think freshman aren't sexually active...
Pick on her parents all you like, but leave the girls out of it.
Obama brought it them into it when up he called Fluke:
"The reason I called Ms Fluke is because I thought about Malia and Sasha... I want them to be able to speak their mind in a civil and thoughtful way. And I don't want them attacked or called horrible names because they're being good citizens"
ie. demaninding we pay for your birth control = being a good citizen
but the personal stuff hinting that she's down there having a wild college-girl time...that's not cool.
Wild college-girl time? I simply asked if she was on birth control and who was paying for it. Why is it okay for Obama to use his daughter as a political prop and then browbeat those who respond to it?
Nope. I thought gosh I hope the damage and deaths aren't too bad. The Obama-spawn never crossed my mind.
Its not as if I called Malia a cunt like Obmama's big donors called Bristol.
BTW, the quake was halfway between Acapulco and Oaxaca, so it may have been near Malia after all.
Michael said"
"Allen S: Good to see you back. You are the only sane person in Wisconsin. Thanks for reappearing."
Dittos!
Maybee said:
"I will admit that a little further down the list I wondered how the WH would handle the web they weaved."
Wouldn't it be more accurate to say the "web they un-weaved". Heh.
Thought about Mexicans for a moment, then figured it would be out of my hands. Not a thought about Malia.
My first thought? Wow. That's a big one, and on this side of the rim. Been awhile. We're long overdue. Better get the 'earthquake preparedness' kit ready.
Second thought - mmmm, Yellowstone Caldera.
If I think of Malia at all, today, it's about the far-reaching censorship, and the memory hole.
For some reason, I keep forgetting how to pronounce Oaxaca. Fortunately, there is nothing the internet cannot do.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUeCRooeuH4
"Was your first thought I hope Malia is safe?"
My first thought on reading that was "What the hell is Malia?"
And I hope the significance threshold of my long-term memory formation process is high enough that the next time Malia is in the news, my first thought will again be "What the hell is Malia?"
Pogo,
I lived without out-of-US school trips in grade school, high school, and college.
So can they.
Amen to that. Since when do 13-year-olds routinely spend spring break out of the country without their parents? Is living a bit like the 99.9% a small price to pay for being the daughter of the frakkin' President?
It also doesn't help that they put pressure on media outlets to scrub the story. Now, of course, in light of this natural disaster they couldn't foresee, the story is completely out of their control, and that they tried to control it i the first place is the bigger portion of the story.
God has a good sense of humor and irony.
Patrick,
It had better be "wha-CHA-ca," because that's what I said to my husband yesterday morning.
wv: orsingl epostori. Oh, the places one could go with that.
"Bill Maher's a bigger douche than me" is not the world's most comforting thought.
MayBee: Grow the fuck up.
This profile in courage - swearing at a woman, on a blog - brought to you by Michael, Internet Tough Guy.
I am happy we live in a country where we are willing to protect the families of our senior elected officials.
Me, too! Because otherwise we'd be on Mars or something. (Is there a country on earth that is unwilling to protect the families of its senior elected officials?)
Do what you can to get rid of the chip on your shoulder.
Then you'll be in a better position to get rid of the log on Michael's.
So no school trips for the kids of presidents.
Nope. When the school goes on a trip, the President's kid should have to stay in a small steel cage. (And by 'small steel cage', I mean 'the continental United States'. But I had to change my wording to try to let Michael look like less of a jackass.)
I know a lot of Mexicans personally, and even the poor ones worry about kidnapping. I consider it a significant failure in national security to send the daughter of the President to that lawless place. Imagine the disaster her kidnapping would be. These people cut off heads enough to scare Al Quaeda formerly in Iraq.
Poor judgement...again.
Patrick,
[me:] It had better be "wha-CHA-ca," because that's what I said to my husband yesterday morning.
[watches Patrick's link]
Oh, crap.
wv: propeac onalin. Sounds like something I could use a prescription dose of right about now.
I lived without out-of-US school trips in grade school, high school, and college.
I couldn’t imagine expecting my parents to pay for an out-of-US trip when I was in high school much less middle school. Largely because I saw how hard they worked to keep a roof over our heads and food on the table.
When you have to earn your way through life, you appreciate where money comes from and the effort that it takes to earn it. When you’re used to living at the expense of others, I guess not so much.
That fact that someone as rich as the Obamas expects working class taxpayers like my parents to pay for an extravagance like this for their daughter . . . words fail.
Is living a bit like the 99.9% a small price to pay for being the daughter of the frakkin' President?
That's weirdly phrased.
Normally we say "[cost] is a small price to pay for [benefit]". But "being the daughter of the President" isn't a benefit -- it is a cost. I mean, I'm sure the daughters are happy their dad is important and famous, but don't you think they would rather not be going through puberty under the critical gaze of Obama's tens of millions of enemies?
Hell, remember when the Bush girls got busted buying booze underage and it was on every channel? Who here would have wanted that kind of scrutiny when we were in college -- let alone high school or junior high?
That aside, as a taxpayer I'm not interested in paying for their luxury vacations. The Obamas are rich, they should pay for all this stuff themselves.
Was your first thought I hope Malia is safe?"
No because I guess I am a self centered prick (or should that be c*nt) who thinks only of herself first.
We have been having many rashes of small temblors in our mountainous area and the water tables in have been dropping precipitiously. Over 6 feet in some wells just this year. I am surrounded on all sides by huge volcanoes that are not completely dormant. There are hot springs and geothermal steam activity nearby.
My first thought was...... "Damn I hope this isn't a re-awaking of the ring of fire and we get creamed by a volcano."
Not one thought to Malia, except how much her trip is costing the taxpayers.....again!
I get the "wha" part, but for some reason, I see the X as "ts." Maybe that Youtube will help us remember it, Michelle.
Prounounced: Wah hawk aah
I spent many many years in Mexico as a child. My aunts/uncles went to junior high through college in Mexico City.
We pay for the Obama child's protection as we should.
It takes a contingent of 25 to protect one presidential daughter? No, we're paying for security for the group. Perhaps it's the only way to guarantee security for Malia, but that, in fact, is what we're paying for.
Mexico with all its current security problems seems a odd choice for Sidwell's "minimester" trip. And any 14-year old girl deserves a life, but the First Parents and First Daughters should take due care that their private lives don't come at an inordinate cost to their fellow citizens.
The (attempted) scrubbing of the story is another matter altogether. If the WH can't stand the heat from the Obama family's gallivanting, then maybe the Obama family should stay home.
"But "being the daughter of the President" isn't a benefit -- it is a cost"
True. When they graduate from College and apply for their first job, nobody will want to hire them.
Bgates. A defender of women! Thank god you stepped in. Are you a defender of conservative cunts or progressive sluts or both or what? Let us know, but use a megaphone so we can hear you from up there on your high horse.
True. When they graduate from College and apply for their first job, nobody will want to hire them.
Whereas children who have normal childhoods are unable to find work. That's why the unemployment rate among recent college graduates is 99.99997% -- only Chelsea Clinton and the Bush girls can find jobs.
"Whereas children who have normal childhoods are unable to find work. That's why the unemployment rate among recent college graduates is 99.99997% -- only Chelsea Clinton and the Bush girls can find jobs."
You are being obtuse after saying something foolish. Being the daughters of a former POTUS will open doors for them--and keep them open for a long time--that will take a lot of hard work and perseverance to a kid who had a 'normal childhood' to even get to.
What is it with 'normal childhoods' anyway? They have chauffeurs, butlers, and go to an elite high school. They have an automatic halo in being first daughters. To paraphrase the singer, you can take this normal childhood and shove it.
Normally we say "[cost] is a small price to pay for [benefit]". But "being the daughter of the President" isn't a benefit -- it is a cost.
Do you really think that whatever media attention they receive now (and it’s mostly been focused on the Obama parents not the kids) is going to outweigh the benefits they’ll receive when it comes to college and their careers?
Hell, remember when the Bush girls got busted buying booze underage and it was on every channel? Who here would have wanted that kind of scrutiny when we were in college -- let alone high school or junior high?
I don’t think that the Obama daughters will ever have to worry about that kind of coverage since they’re not the daughter of a Republican president.
A Romney win, and conservatives can go back to not giving a shit about the First Lady, her children, and their security detail. Until the next Democrat comes along.
Answer: No.
garage mahal said...
A Romney win, and conservatives can go back to not giving a shit about the First Lady, her children, and their security detail. Until the next Democrat comes along.
Damn, he's right. I can't even conjure the spirit of what Nancy Reagan was like in the White House. And Laura Bush? The drive bys treated her like a hit and run accident: nothing to even slow down for.
I don't recall liberals obsessing about Laura Bush or her kid's security detail. I could be wrong though. Maybe you could refresh.
Are you a defender of conservative cunts or progressive sluts or both or what?
I just like MayBee. And I don't like you.
use a megaphone so we can hear you from up there on your high horse
Says the guy who just told somebody he doesn't know that she should get divorced so she will become calm and mature enough to agree with him about a minor news story.
If you're having trouble hearing, it's because your head is so far up your ass.
Garage. They didnt. You are correct.
Patrick, Dust Bunny Queen,
Yeah, wha-HAWK-ah. Which I ought to have known. I'm afraid I was somehow thinking of the X as a Greek chi. Talk about geek screw-ups.
And speaking of geeks, here's the wv: evelobec eldionte.C'mon, "Evelobec" deserves to be the name of something.
I have always said WAH-HOCK-AH.
You know what? My first thought was for the Mexican who live there.
I hoped that everyone was OK.
That no one was hurt.
Malia is on a rich kids' school trip with a group from her rich kids school. The school takes some not so rich kids on scholarship but only the rich kids get to go to Mexico on spring break.
This is called inequality.
Sidwell has outstanding resources, terrific teachers, a solid academic curriculum and many opportunities for athletic and cultural activities. Classes are small, and each student has a teacher-advisor who advises no more than 12 students. You can be sure that if your child goes to Sidwell he or she will be exposed to one of best educational programs in the Unites States.
Not so much if your child goes to Washington DC public schools.
I am pleased that Malia has this great school to go to. It's great that she can go with a group of her wealthier classmates to Mexico. I understand that she should not be constrained because her father is President, and thus am glad that there are 25 agents there to protect her and her classmates.
I do wish that the rest of the kids in Washington had school choice, even the limited choice that the Obama administration scuttled. I also wish the President and his fellow liberals would stop hectoring "the rich" and stoo pretending that somehow more taxes on the rich would assure that all kids would be educated like Malia.
The path to that result is far more radical that the supposedly radical President would ever entertain, and might involve offending some of his favored voting blocs.
David. Well said.
Michelle,
Maybe an obec that's inherently bad.
Well, we *do* think in terms of those we know, first.
This is human nature, as opposed to first thinking of those we have no personal connection to. But thinking first of those disconnected to us is not a higher morality, no matter how often we slip into claiming to value altruism over self-interest.
Care for those we have a connection to *can* lead to an understanding of the situation of those unconnected to us, and to compassion, but you have to do the close caring *first*.
The spring break vacation thing is inexcusable, though. Not even most college students go on "spring break".
I am pleased that Malia has this great school to go to. It's great that she can go with a group of her wealthier classmates to Mexico. I understand that she should not be constrained because her father is President, and thus am glad that there are 25 agents there to protect her and her classmates.
It isn't so much about Malia as a person but rather the rank (and I do mean as in smelly rotting rank definition) hypocrisy of the Obamas.
They presume to tell us all what to do. That we should cut back....eat our peas....that gasoline should be $5 or more per gallon to support their green wet dreams despite the severe financial harm it is doing.
They posture and preen and never EVER show any signs of taking their messages personally.
So while they openly disdain the United States, denigrate the country, denigrate the people and hold low opinions of 'we the people'.....they take every advantage to go on lavish, frequent vacations that cost the taxpayer hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Progressing through the countryside and the rabble, dragging with them their entourage of lackeys, hangers on, body attendants and security to rival the Royal Progresses of European Kings and Queens.
In fact, this is what Obama and Michelle think they are....royalty....our King and Queen instead of temporarily elected office holders and they do NOT want to give up the privileges.
I would not be surprised to find that this upcoming election will be the last one that the United States will hold.
I see a bad moon arising.
"I don't recall liberals obsessing about Laura Bush or her kid's security detail."
I'm sure it had nothing to do with them not taking 5 or 6 vacations each year to the most elite spots on earth.
Hell, Bush quit playing golf because of the anti-war crowd. Zero has beat Bush's budget deficits and rounds of golf over 8 years in barely 3+ years.
LOFL @ 6:51
Just wow.
"Thorley Winston: Only the parents of geeks go with their kids on school spring breaks. This is not the kind of spring break that the kids of progressives go on where they get tattoos and pregnant. This is a school trip, I am given to understand, with plenty of chaperones other than the Secret Service."
Who, other than progressives, can afford to send high school students (junior high?) to foreign countries for spring break?
No one I know can do that. And even those who manage to do fund raisers for a couple of years and scrape together money for a special trip to a foreign country, take only one trip, their senior year.
Should she have to miss out on activities all of her highly privileged school-mates undertake? If she were deprived in other ways, maybe not. But the cost of her bodyguards is not equal if she stays home or if she goes. And it's not as though she hasn't gotten to see a lot of amazing foreign countries already.
garage mahal said...
LOFL @ 6:51
Just wow.
Which part was funniest?
Garbage,
I have no problem with Malia going to Mexico. I have a problem paying for it. Maybe you and Bill Maher can start up a fund.
BTW, Your trolling is really childish and tedious. I only responded because I felt like shooting fish in a barrel. Oh, what happened to your psych nurse alter ego?
I'm sure it had nothing to do with them not taking 5 or 6 vacations each year to the most elite spots on earth.
Michelle will be following in Laura Bush’s and previous recent First Lady’s footsteps all who visited South Africa during their respective terms as First Lady. During her husband’s presidency Laura Bush visited Africa 5 times and traveled to 10 different countries, the most visits than any other First Lady before her. Bush also traveled widely visiting Burma, Afghanistan and the Middle East.
-------------------------
Never mind that the Obama entourage paid for their swanky lodgings or that the trip included a goodwill lunch with Spain's King Juan Carlos, Queen Sofia and Princess Letizia.
Laura Bush was also a frequent flier who often brought her daughters along for the ride.
Her first foreign foray was a ten-day trip to Paris, Budapest and Prague in 2002 with daughter Jenna, who was then 20.
The White House made sure Laura Bush had at least one "official" event in each city, but she and Jenna spent the bulk of their time at each locale shopping and taking in the sights.
Being the daughters of a former POTUS will open doors for them--and keep them open for a long time--that will take a lot of hard work and perseverance to a kid who had a 'normal childhood' to even get to.
First of all it depends on what they want to do when they grow up -- having a President for a father does eff-all to secure you a job as a mechanical engineer or a kindergarten teacher.
Secondly, it will "open doors" with Democrats and close them with Republicans.
Thirdly, if they take advantage of those "doors" they will spend their entire careers -- long after any possible benefit has worn off -- fighting the perception that they owe their jobs to their contacts, not their ability.
Finally, the advantages you cite are due to Obama being rich and politically connected, not due to his being President. The daughters of the President don't have any advantages that aren't enjoyed by any other wealthy Washington insider. If he had lost the '08 election his daughters would be better off.
"Who, other than progressives, can afford to send high school students (junior high?) to foreign countries for spring break?”
I don’t know whether to laugh at the utter foolishness of the comment or revel in all this resentment of privilege. And you attack Obama for class warfare.
He doesn’t attack anyone for how they decide to educate their children.
@chickenlittle
Probably the part about the next election being our last.
I just love class warfare against the rich...coming against Republicans
Look and listen...if you possibly can...it isn't about who is rich.
It is about the hypocrisy of telling everyone else what to do, while you do the exact opposite. Kind of like Gore.
It is about the hypocrisy of constantly complaining that the "rich" don't pay their fair share, when YOU (Obama and Michelle) are among those rich and live the lifestyle.
Everyone should be able to aspire to and be able to actually achieve richness.
Just be fucking honest about it.
And for disclosure, my daughter spent one year of her very expensive private college experience in Salsburg: roaming around Europe, so there is nothing wrong with it.
The issue is that WE are paying for it.
Personally, I want to have value for my investment and investing in Michelle and Barack and his children's lavish vacations doesn't seem like a very good return on investment.
@garage: I thought you were laughing avwh's 6:51.
"It is about the hypocrisy of constantly complaining that the "rich" don't pay their fair share, when YOU (Obama and Michelle) are among those rich and live the lifestyle.”
There is nothing wrong with thinking that marginal tax rates should be 39% instead of 36% ... regardless of your level of income. You may agree or disagree. But there is nothing hypocritical about a rich person advocating for higher tax rates for rich people.
Do you really think that whatever media attention they receive now (and it’s mostly been focused on the Obama parents not the kids) is going to outweigh the benefits they’ll receive when it comes to college and their careers?
I grew up middle-class, went to a good state university, enjoy a good income as a white-collar professional, and have a decent house. All in all a nice American life.
So I ask myself: if I could, instead, grow up under a constant media spotlight, with millions of sleazebags like Fen attacking me for the crime of having the wrong parents and tens of millions more visiting constant hatred on those same parents (whom, whatever their flaws, I dearly love)... would I voluntarily do that, just so I could use my dad's contacts to score a better job?
Answer: HELL NO. No emotionally healthy person would choose to trade his or her childhood for a slightly better career.
Now add in the fact that Obama's kids were already the children of rich politically-connected Ivy Leaguers before he went anywhere near the Oval Office. What marginal gains are they getting from this? What, like some business will give a job to an ex-President's daughter but not an ex-Senator's? Please.
Synova. Me, that's who. I am as right wing as they come. I have been lucky in business. I can afford to send my kids on vacations at their spring breaks. This year, a few weeks ago, we were in London. Other kids have gone on ski trips, dive trips, climbing and hiking trips. I am seeing some ugly envy from conservatives on this thread that seems pretty leftyish. I am surprised.
xoxo, bgates.
I used to think being president was the hardest job in the world, and any perk was worth the cost.
But now I just don't see it being so hard. The only tough decisions being made are about our soldiers in combat, but even then the generals do the heavy lifting. Other than that, it appears to be a lot of going where you want to go, talking about what you want to talk about, and blaming someone else for what isn't getting done.
With a budget, it would stop being an issue. If the president wants to use up the budget flying to New Mexico for a photo op, that's fine, it just means less money for a spring break trip.
We could stop fighting over how much Laura Bush spent vs how much Michelle Obama spends. We would know they both got the same budget.
What's the justification for footing the bill with no limits?
MayBee. The president cant produce a budget for the country. Nor can Congress. Good luck with the president's children's travel budget.
"With a budget, it would stop being an issue. If the president wants to use up the budget flying to New Mexico for a photo op, that's fine, it just means less money for a spring break trip.”
I’d rather not make constraints on the Presidency that make worthy candidates less likely to run.
But there is nothing hypocritical about a rich person advocating for higher tax rates for rich people.
There IS something hypocritical when you use all the tax tricks in the book to avoid paying taxes yourself......just look at Buffett.... while chastising everyone else.
You are talking to someone whose job for 20 years was to game the game.
Nothing wrong with that......just admit it. Don't be a hypocrite
I said: (in response to, "this isn't your progressive college students getting pregnant and a tattoo spring break: "Who, other than progressives, can afford to send high school students (junior high?) to foreign countries for spring break?”
Meaning yes, it is (joking) a "progressive" spring break.
"I don’t know whether to laugh at the utter foolishness of the comment or revel in all this resentment of privilege. And you attack Obama for class warfare."
Lets be clear. It *is* privilege. It's incredible, massive, overwhelming privilege with a capital "P".
Now, do I *resent* privilege? When it's tax dollars, maybe a little bit, yeah. When it's someone lecturing about how the rich people are bad, maybe a little bit, yeah. Yes, Obama tends to the "class warfare" side of things, so it's also screaming hypocrisy. When I have a headache, screaming makes me cranky.
In all likelihood the vast majority of Malia's classmates are children of people who work in government, rather than children of the private, productive, sector. If so, it's all tax money in the end. I resent private sector success not-at-all, but I might, if a company was going under and laying people off and cutting pay for the poorest workers, suggest that a series of flashy vacations taken by the CEO or her family members was going to torque off those scraping by.
So, privileged, yes. Ruling class, yes. Class warfare hypocrisy, yes. Bad optics, yes.
What else do you want?
A president's kid should be able to have a life and we should be happy enough to pay for her safety.
Anybody who wouldn't run because the country won't pay an unlimited amount on his travel whims is someone we don't need as president.
I want someone who is more interested in serving the country.
"There IS something hypocritical when you use all the tax tricks in the book to avoid paying taxes yourself......just look at Buffett.... while chastising everyone else.”
I don’t have any inside knowledge as Buffett’s tax preparation. There is nothing hypocritical about taking deductions that the law allows...while advocating for higher rates.
Lots of rich people send their 13 year old kids on fancy spring break tours. Not just lefties. Certainly not just the Obamas.
It's their money. They can spend it as they like. I imagine the trip will be educational for Malia (though any notion that she has "seen Mexico" should be avoided.)
As to the cost of all the security, that's just the world we live in. I don't think Malia should stay home just because it's costly to keep her from being murdered. The President and the President's family should not have to hide out in the WH because it's dangerous outside, and the only way to protect them is to incur that cost.
What bugs me is that while enjoying the fruits of his personal wealth and the national wealth, Obama demonizes the capitalists who create the wealth, and spends the wealth of an entire future generation because he simply can not imagine a world in which the government is not deeply and expensively involved in everything.
As to the school, I'm glad Malia can go there. It's a bubble in a number of different ways, but its safe and she will get a good if conventional education. She will not have to be too challenged by ideas that challenge the world view she is being fed, but some day she will have a chance to think for herself. Whether she uses that chance is up to her. For now she is simply a child.
Meanwhile Obama avoids the biggest issues in his passion to be reelected, and runs a campaign of fear and demagoguery. This after running as a new voice in politics. This in one of the most dangerous times our country has ever faced.
"When it's someone lecturing about how the rich people are bad, maybe a little bit, yeah.”
I’m sure in your mind, this happens every day. I’ve never seen anything close to this. Advocating for higher marginal tax rates is not class warfare. If it were, Reagan would be the king of class warriors.
I am a no good prick who has sent, and will send again, my kids to Mexico on supervised trips along with trusted chaperones and guides.
Are you asking OTHERS to foot the bill? If not, then your situation is not remotely comparable.
You may not value your children in the same way and you may wish your children not to come in contact with foreign cultures or think that Mexico is a hell hole as some other commenter put it.
That Mexico is a hellhole is not really a debatable point. I can cite crime statistics, murder stats, income stats, etc. Feel free to pick one.
North Korea has an interesting culture. Doesn't make N Korea a non-hellhole. Iran has an undeniably fascinating culture. Also --- a hellhole.
And, again, unless you are asking ME to send your kids on trips, then it is not comparable.
Worrying about the cost of this trip relative to the debt levels, ObamaCare and other outrages is like worrying about the flyshit in the pepper.
Don't worry. Every expenditure has the exact same level of defense as this does. I'm sure others will give up things when people like you are so interested in defending the Executive Branch wasting millions upon millions of family vacations.
I do hope that Malia will instill a love of travel in her children when she has them.
Will she pay for them?
If Obama was paying it ALL out of his own pocket, nobody would care. He is not, however.
Normally we say "[cost] is a small price to pay for [benefit]". But "being the daughter of the President" isn't a benefit -- it is a cost. I mean, I'm sure the daughters are happy their dad is important and famous, but don't you think they would rather not be going through puberty under the critical gaze of Obama's tens of millions of enemies?
Outside of Obama parading them for political benefit whenever possible --- who even notices his children?
And given that Presidential offspring with no discernible talents can get jobs at NBC in spite of a lack of talent, the benefits FAR outweigh the costs.
A Romney win, and conservatives can go back to not giving a shit about the First Lady, her children, and their security detail. Until the next Democrat comes along.
Number of international trips the Bush family took without the President is...what?
I don’t have any inside knowledge as Buffett’s tax preparation. There is nothing hypocritical about taking deductions that the law allows...while advocating for higher rates.
His firms owe the IRS over a billion dollars right now.
My first thought was actually about Jesus saying there would be wars and rumors of wars and famines and earthquakes. Then I prayed for the people of Mexico. And then I wondered if my friends planning a trip to Cancun next week would be able to go.
As for Malia and her 12 friends - what parent lets their 13 year old go to a foreign country without them? And what school sends a group of 13 year olds and chaperones to a country where drug cartels kidnap people on a daily or nearly daily basis? Terribly irresponsible all around I think...They could have taken a cultural trip to the Navajo reservation in the Four Corners or to Boston or Gettysburg or any number of SAFE historically significant places.
" Obama demonizes the capitalists who create the wealth”
I put the “Obama hates rich people” in the same trashbin as “Obama hates white people”, “Obama hates America”, “Obama hates capitalism”, “Obama hates Israel”, and “Obama hates the constitution”.
DamIkesc. Have you been to Mexico yourself?
Don't worry. Every expenditure has the exact same level of defense as this does. I'm sure others will give up things when people like you are so interested in defending the Executive Branch wasting millions upon millions of family vacations.
That's just it.
Obama did his one big initiative for the year when he got $40/paycheck in SS tax withholding deductions.
To put the pressure on, he asked Americans to let Republicans know what $40 meant to them.
If Obama understands that $40 is good money to some people, he surely understands that spending the equivalent of several families' yearly tax bill on every trip he (or his family) takes is using up someone's dear money for no real benefit to the country.
The other option, of course, is Obama doesn't think $40 is worth jack and he'll do anything to try make it look like he's accomplishing something.
"I put the “Obama hates rich people” in the same trashbin as “Obama hates white people”, “Obama hates America”, “Obama hates capitalism”, “Obama hates Israel”, and “Obama hates the constitution”."
When I want to ignore unpleasant things, I just put my fingers in my ears and go "la la la la la la la."
It really works.
The Obama hatred here is telling. I’d want any and all members of Romney’s/Santorum's family kept safe anywhere in the world and I would never bitch about the costs of Secret Service protection.
Both Romney and Santorum have Secret Service protection now. Do I get to start scrutinizing the family comings and goings?
No. And thank God I’m not that petty.
A rule of thumb for commenting about about the first daughter..
If you are compelled to say something, say something a father would be proud of ;)
"I’m sure in your mind, this [Obama advocating class warfare] happens every day. I’ve never seen anything close to this."
Have you been living under a rock?
Or do you just toss those things in the trash bin?
How long was he even in office before that infamous remark about not going to Las Vegas for a fun vacation?
Because it seemed totally reasonable for him to lecture the people about not spending their money on fun vacations.
No. And thank God I’m not that petty.
Good on you. But you can bet your buddies are already savaging Santorum and trying to sully Romney.
"When I want to ignore unpleasant things, I just put my fingers in my ears and go "la la la la la la la.””
I want you to feel free to air your views as loudly as possible. They will win more voters over to Obama than you can imagine.
Kchiker said...
" Obama demonizes the capitalists who create the wealth”
I put the “Obama hates rich people” in the same trashbin as “Obama hates white people”,
I said he "demonizes" them, not that he hates them. He probably likes rich people as well as most other people and (based on his distance from his Kenyan relatives) a bit more than the poor. Demonization is a manipulation, a deliberate technique to advance his own interests by painting certain groups of others as selfish, unpatriotic and (quite often) evil.
Demonization is a deliberate lie to advance a self interest, and it's quite ugly, especially coming from the President of the United States. You heard damn little of it from George Bush.
"Good on you. But you can bet your buddies are already savaging Santorum and trying to sully Romney.”
Attacks go petty. On both sides. But I bet you I’m not going to read attacks on Republicans based on the costs of Secret Service protection for Romney or Santorum. This is a new low.
Have you been living under a rock?
Are you not reading Ace? Hello!
I love the fact that of the many GOP'ers around the country literally comparing the poor to animals, simply for being poor, that is not demonizing another human being. But asking for a 3% marginal tax rate hike, somehow is.
I’d want any and all members of Romney’s/Santorum's family kept safe anywhere in the world and I would never bitch about the costs of Secret Service protection.
I'm sure you realize wanting someone kept safe need not be the same thing as being willing to pay any price tag.
"Both Romney and Santorum have Secret Service protection now. Do I get to start scrutinizing the family comings and goings?"
Heck, Santorum got hammered for sunbathing during a spare moment in Peurto Rico.
Palin got hammered because the campaign bought her kids clean underwear.
If Calista jaunted off to Belize while Newt was giving a lecture on fiscal responsibility, I'd point out the bad optics.
You're inventing double standards where none exist.
Bush vacationed in secure places that didn't require much security nor travel expense.
Did you have a point you were attempting to make?
Kchiker. In my view Obama is the worst president in my lifetime. That has nothing to do with his children and their right to be protected. Obama would do better to extoll the joys of getting rich than demonizing the rich and better to make it possible for more to get rich than to make it harder. But he hasnt and wont.
That said, he is a rich guy now who has sent his daughters to a rich person's private school in DC. Doubtless there are security people who take them to and fro and who observe the school and protect it on a daily basis. Why should we care? We shouldnt. I would worry more if he sent his children to DC public schools. That would suggest he cared less about their education than his own optics.
Meade's first response: "I hope Malia is safe."
BWWWAAAAA-HAAAA-HA-HA-HA!!!!!!!
Jesus, are you guys for real?
Wait - don't answer that:
After everything I've experienced over the last few years, I don't want to know,...
Garage. 3% or do you mean 10%. See the difference?
@Kchiker: Like I told garage weeks ago about Michelle: you say the vacationing is not excessive...but do you have limits? Is there such a thing in your mind as too much?
Because if you say there's not, then there's no reason to argue with you.
"Obama would do better to extoll the joys of getting rich than demonizing the rich and better to make it possible for more to get rich than to make it harder. But he hasnt and wont. “
Obama has repeatedly extolled the joys of living the American Dream. And yet he’s accused of hating America.
He recently stated that in tomorrow’s America, education would be the key to prosperity:
“Tonight, I ask every American to commit to at least one year or more of higher education or career training. This can be community college or a four-year school; vocational training or an apprenticeship. But whatever the training may be, every American will need to get more than a high school diploma.”
Santorum’s response was “What a snob”.
I agree that people use a lot of hyperbole when they pick on Obama and Michelle for being self-indulgent spenders of the "let them eat cake" variety, but hyperbole or not, it only works because of the element of truth in it. The vacations seem constant and excessive, as Michelle and the girls go to Europe or Aspen or where-ever the heck they're off to *this* time, while the rest of us are told not to frivolously spend our money on trips to Vegas.
I think that presidents *themselves* should only travel when absolutely necessary, and I've said so reliably and without partisan bias ever since Reagan was president. It disrupts everyone else when the president arrives, and it's expensive.
And now we've got a financial crisis on top of that.
Of course, knowing Democrats (like the ones in California) any government expense will be spun as job creation. Because, you know, 25 secret service people need jobs, too.
"Obama has repeatedly extolled the joys of living the American Dream. And yet he’s accused of hating America.
He recently stated that in tomorrow’s America, education would be the key to prosperity:"
When he says "get a business degree" or "be a banker" or "start a company", or "manufacture something commercially useful," wake me up.
The only specifics I've heard from that quarter are that graduates should get public service jobs to give back to the community. (ie., not productive occupations, but service, tax funded, professions.)
He (and those around him) *are* snobs.
Actually... you know what bothers me about that quote? It's pushy. Like everyone should commit to a year or more of post secondary training for him, because he asked them to. Like they're doing it for someone else, like a service to other people or something.
It's more of Michelle's, "Obama won't let you..."
Bleh.
Palin knows how to cheer-lead. Obama scolds.
The scolding sounds snobbish. The cheer-leading sounds white-trash to the intellectual elite.
I like the cheer-leading.
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