"Fuck You" Chicago Tribune! Here's Why:

[NYC_SKP]

Obama's Air Force One flight to Chicago and back Monday to cost $236,000

Obama's Air Force One flight to Chicago and back Monday to cost $236,000

Secret Service protection, motorcades and helicopter transports not included

By John McCormick | Tribune reporter
June 15, 2009



Air Force One, carrying President Barack Obama, arrives at Andrews Air Force Base, Md. after a trip to Iowa in April. (AP photo by Manuel Balce Ceneta / April 22, 2009)

As President Barack Obama flies Monday to Chicago for a midday speech on health-care reform, the round trip on Air Force One will run about $236,000, according to government estimates of the operating costs for one of the top symbols, and perks, of the presidency.

But that does not include such expenses as Secret Service protection, motorcades and helicopter transports.

After landing at O'Hare International Airport, Obama is scheduled to spend about 2 1/2 hours here. To avoid snarling traffic on the Kennedy Expressway, he likely will be taken from the airport by helicopter to a location near the Hyatt Regency Chicago.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-air-force-one-15-jun15,0,2483578.story

Of course Bush never did anything like this, right? Did any news outlet EVER report the costs of Bush's trip???

"Fuck You" Chicago Tribune!

:mad:

[uponit7771]

1. The nit picking is at full steam now...

[Thrill]

2. Obama is the only President that the cost of his trips are a big deal.

I wonder why?

[Zavulon]

21. Not true, actually.

The media did the same thing to Clinton after the flap over his haircut.

Bush, on the other hand, got a pass.

[liberal N proud]

3. Did they say how much it cost us for bu$h's trips to the pig farm?

Where he did nothing!

Most of Obama's trips thus far have been business where most of bu$h's trips were vacation. The media never complained about cost then.

[Baltoman991]

7. This is from

a story I read on another site awhile back:

At a bare minimum, for the flights alone, Bush's 77 vacation trips to Crawford cost us $226,072 per trip. That's $17,407,544 so he could ride his bicycle in the woods and clear brush for the cameras.

Of course this will never be mentioned by the Democratic favoring MSM.

[NYC_SKP]

18. Thanks, good one. eom

[Wednesdays]

16. Bush didn't cost taxpayers anything, Doofus!

:spank:

He was perfect in every way. Just like Saint Ronnie and Saint Sarah Palin. Whenever any of them needed to go anywhere, magic doves came down from heaven and lifted them to their destinations.

[Nailzberg]

23. Crawford trips were covered in the article.

But the bill, White House aides say, is one that is largely unavoidable because of the security and communication needs required by the modern president. Perhaps aware of the costs of Air Force One, the Obama family has used the plane for just one recreational trip to Chicago in his first five months in office.

As expensive as that trip was, it is still roughly half the distance President George W. Bush routinely flew to visit his ranch near Crawford, Texas.

Thing is, this is a White House that shares information with the press pool. So we don't have numbers from Bush, but McCormick got the perspectivein on the Crawford trips.

[Empowerer]

31. You know why, don't you? It's mostly all about the press, not the Pres . . .

Many in the press - especially those in the White House press corps - are extremely coddled, lazy and self-centered. The WH press operation is largely devoted to keeping them happy and well-fed. The more downtime they have, the more comfy-cozy they are. The more comfy-cozy they are, the more slack they cut the Administration. Plain and simple.

The endless vacation commonly known as the Bush Years provided the press corps with LOTS of downtime. They loved those trips because there was very little work involved: They got a briefing in the morning, then the lid went on - and the press corps had the rest of the day and night to do pretty much whatever they pleased. What a great job!

On the other hand, Clinton drove them crazy because his trips meant WORK. And President Obama is following suit. Not only does he move from sunup to midnight - meaning the press corps has to keep up or miss the story - but he is constantly doing and saying complicated and nuanced things. Things that can't be boiled down to a one sentence soundbyte. Things that require some thought, analysis and synthesizing to report on. That's a lot of work. That drives them crazy.

But they can't say that. So, instead, during their rare downtimes, they put on their green eyeshades and calculate the cost of all of that work the President is doing - and then breathlessly spit out their numbers, which doesn't require any thought, analysis or synthesizing to report.

Plain and simple.

[closeupready]

4. You're right. This is bullshit.

n/t

[Nickster]

5. Oh it wasn't just the Trib. I heard this "news" on NBC Channel 5 this morning as well. My reaction

was the same as yours.

[Cha]

6. I don't give a shit, Chicago Tribune.

Go investigate how the corporatemedia and cheneybush got us into the war on Iraq and how bush stole the election in 2000 with the help of Florida and the 5 supremists.

[Ilsa]

8. Just wait until someone tries to make up some shit about Obama getting

a haircut and making everyone wait. Of course the masses will believe it.

[FrenchieCat]

9. My letter to this asshole

sent to [e-mail]

Dear Mr. McCormick,
I read your story on the cost of the President's trip to Chicago to speak to the AMA, and I'm just wondering if you have written similar stories about the cost of trips President Bush made (even just one) while he was in office?

This President may be the Janitor-in-chief cleaning the last resident's mess over at the White House, but Barack Obama is not a slave, and therefore does not have to be chained to his desk at the office. In fact, I'm encouraged that he should travel to various venues to speak about important issues such as Health Care reform.

In otherwords, the nit-picking in search of a story, any story that will make the citizenry mad at this President are becoming all too obvious. A story about health care, and how the AMA is nothing more than a lobbying group and how their actions in 1993 left us with no improvement, a situation which affects millions each and everyday would have been so much more worthwhile. Or better yet, an article about how Bush's brain fart, known as Medicare Part D is well on its way to bankrupting the government budget. But of course, that might have taken some thought about what is really important in the larger scheme of why the President even went to Chicago to begin with. Doh.

Signed,
XXXXXXXXXXX
Self employed Citizen who pays nearly $1,200 for health care premium,
excluding $75 co-pays each month, but really can't afford it. Oh yes,
and I pay taxes too!

[NJCher]

12. so glad you wrote that

and newspapers wonder why they are going under.

The funny part is they view stories like this as "content" and we should pay them for it, LOL.


Cher

[NYC_SKP]

17. Right On FrenchieCat! Thanks for doing that!

I'm about to follow your example, thanks for the link!

[mopinko]

10. i gave up on the trib the second time they endorsed bush.

at least back in the day they kept the editorial content separate from the news. they had an absolutely top notch foreign affairs staff. but any more, not only are they assholes on the editorial page, they are assholes on every page. i miss having a daily paper, but i just couldn't kill trees for their tripe.
fuck you again, trib.

[Arkana]

11. Goddamnit, it costs MONEY when the President goes places.

He's a prominent and important public figure and the LEADER OF THE GODDAMN FREE FUCKING WORLD.

Not to mention that there are fucking crazy people everywhere who would love to appease their lord and master Rush Limbaugh and put a bullet in his brain.

He needs every single ounce of protection they can give him, cost be damned. I won't lose sleep because Obama's Secret Service detail happens to *gasp* cost taxpayer money.

[Uzybone]

13. handcuff the guy to white house

how dare he spend money doing his job or entertaining himself like all the other presidents did? The double standard for the black man is in full effect.

[surrealAmerican]

14. Pretty typical of the Trib.

They always did have trouble distinguishing news from their own right-wing opinions.

[Life Long Dem]

15. uppp.... now we'll be seeing another cutback.

But I can't figure out why they think the cutbacks fall on us.

[riderinthestorm]

19. Anyone care to research when Bush's first vacation was?

If I can recall, Bush had already taken a fucking vacation 5 months into his first term regardless of the expense of any of his "trips".

I really hope someone points out the vacations discrepancies (WHEN they occur) between these two guys.

[firedupdem]

20. A certain group will never be able to stomach this black President...

that's all there is to it. I'm so sick of these fucks. They won't be happy until someone tries to hurt him or his family. I pray everyday that they are safe.

[incapsulated]

22. wtf? I never saw a running tally for Bush's trip's to the ranch

What bullshit.

[PretzelWarrior]

24. when you're not lying, breaking international treaties, and allowing terrorists to attack the US....

they gotta go after this low level shit. Pathetic right wing midwest ass wiping rag.

[democracy1st]

25. yep never heard these fools complain 1 time about the cost of another president's flights

[fortyfeetunder]

26. I suppose he should fly commercial

imagine the expense that would result! :sarcasm:

[quakerboy]

27. AAAAAA.... SOCIALIZED PRESIDENCY> PRIVATIZE IT QUICK.

Surely we could contract this whole presidency out to the lowest bidder right?

[and-justice-for-all]

28. oh realllllllllllllllllllllly Chicago tribune...???? FLASHBACK!

http://www.usatoday.com/news/politicselections/nation/president/2004-06-01-air-force-one_x.htm

Posted 6/1/2004 2:45 AM
Bush enjoys travel advantage on taxpayer-financed Air Force One

WASHINGTON (AP) — 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.

While Democratic rival John Kerry digs into his campaign bank account to charter a plane to roam the country, Bush often travels at no cost to his campaign simply by declaring a trip "official" travel rather than "political."

The 68,000 miles Bush has logged this year on Air Force One include five trips to Pennsylvania.

With rare exceptions, he confines his travels to the more than a dozen states he and Kerry are fighting hardest for, and to places where he is raising campaign money.

Even when the White House deems a trip as political, the cost to Bush's campaign is minimal. In such instances, the campaign must only pay the government the equivalent of a comparable first-class fare for each political traveler on each leg, Federal Election Commission guidelines say....

More: http://www.usatoday.com/news/politicselections/nation/president/2004-06-01-air-force-one_x.htm

I think the Chicago tribune needs to shut the fuck up about Obama's traveling and write about things that are relevent...like say: how many did in Iraq today, Dafur, our own domestic terrorist, the homeless, how many kids in this country do not get to eat, how many died because they did not have health care...etc.

but then again, I doubt those fucks could write a story that actually matters.

[Kokonoe]

30. Thats a nice piece of writing.

"Bush often travels at no cost..."
usa today made him look all mavericking, wringing perks. With rare exceptions, he confines his travels....:puke:

[PVnRT]

29. Yes, large planes are expensive to operate

especially when they have military escorts and heightened security. Dipshits.