How could the media forget this ?

[ShadesOfBlue]

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0111/47521.html


John Boehner turns down Air Force One ride to Tucson

By JOHN BRESNAHAN | 1/12/11 6:44 PM EST

Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) turned down an offer by President Barack Obama to travel on Air Force One to Arizona for a memorial service on behalf of the victims of Saturday’s shooting, a decision that has upset some Democrats.

Boehner is instead scheduled to attend a reception on Wednesday night on behalf of Maria Cino, a former top House GOP aide who is seeking the Republican National Committee chairmanship. Boehner is backing Cino’s challenge to current RNC Chairman Michael Steele

Boehner’s reception for Cino was first reported on Wednesday morning by POLITICO.

Senior Democrats - who to date had been impressed with Boehner’s response to the Arizona tragedy - expressed surprise at what they saw as an unmistakable misstep by the new speaker: appearing at a partisan political event on the same night as the the president, first lady Michelle Obama, Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and the Arizona congressional delegation come together at the memorial service for the victims of an attack that nearly took the life of a member of the House. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) was critically wounded in Saturday’s attack, while six other people died and a dozen more were wounded.

“It is disrespectful for Speaker Boehner to skip joining the President’s and bipartisan congressional delegation to the Tucson Memorial so he could host a Washington D.C. cocktail party for RNC members,” said a Democratic leadership aide, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

Boehner’s aides noted that the speaker will complete his remarks on Cino’s candidacy before Obama’s speech at the University of Arizona-sponsored memorial event.

The Boehner staffers also insisted that, as speaker, Boehner’s place is on Capitol Hill, not in Tucson. They noted that Boehner had opened an hours-long tribute on the House floor Wednesday to Giffords and the other shooting victims and attended a bipartisan prayer service afterward. Because Air Force One left at 1 p.m., Boehner couldn’t have flown to Arizona and also attended the Capitol prayer service.

Michael Steel, a Boehner spokesman, said: “Today, Rep. Giffords’ colleagues on both sides of the aisle honored her and mourned those who were lost. The speaker felt his place was here in the House, with them.”

A senior GOP aide called it a “very misleading claim” to suggest that Boehner was somehow slighting Giffords or the other shooting victims by remaining in the Capitol, even as Obama and Pelosi made the trip to Arizona.

It amazes me that with the media going over the different times that Boehner and the Republicans have turned down opportunities to spend time with Obama, that this incident has been forgotten. That struck such a sour note with me when Boehner made that decision.

Here's another link:

[link:http://wonkette.com/435109/john-boehner-refused-to-go-to-arizona-on-air-force-one-so-he-could-go-to-party]



I also recall during the first weeks in office as Prez Obama invited some Republicans to the White House to watch the Super Bowl. They turned him down. Maybe one showed up. In other words this has been happening from the very beginning. So great that the media is paying attention. Not.

If only that uppity Obama could be more personable.

[Jenoch]

1. It's likely you haven't seen anythng

about this in the media recently because it happened more than two years ago.