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Bush Takes More Vacations, But Clinton Was Away Longer, And Spent Much More (3 Trips Cost $72 mil)
United States Senate Republican Policy Committee ^ | 9/29/1999

Posted on 08/06/2005 1:18:47 PM PDT by John Robertson

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Indy Pendance alerted me to this source--and this Clinton abuse. Bill could eat snails with the "most fascinating people!" in the farthest reaches of any continent, and he was our "ambassador to the world." But Bush, jacked into every communications system our government has from his Texas ranch, is somehow negligent as our president. At least, that's what the MSM is not-so-subtly suggesting over the last few days, with Bush's "record number of vacations" for a president.

And I don't need a government accounting office to let me know "Wild Bill's" profligate travel habits cost a whole lot more than a few runs down to Texas.

Please pass this along to any and all sources that just might be professional enough to give the Bush weekends some perspective and context.

1 posted on 08/06/2005 1:18:47 PM PDT by John Robertson
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To: John Robertson

Bush earned his vacations.

Clinton wasn't always working when he was in the Oval Office.


2 posted on 08/06/2005 1:21:21 PM PDT by Senator Goldwater
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To: Indy Pendance

bttp


3 posted on 08/06/2005 1:21:22 PM PDT by John Robertson (Safe Travel)
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To: John Robertson
Don't forget the tax payer paid vacation by Hitlery and Chelsea to Vietnam. After all, it's just everyone else's money.
I guess they felt they needed a little rest and relaxation form Bill?
4 posted on 08/06/2005 1:22:43 PM PDT by concerned about politics ("A people without a heritage are easily persuaded (deceived)" - Karl Marx)
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To: Senator Goldwater
Clinton wasn't always working when he was in the Oval Office.

ROTFL

5 posted on 08/06/2005 1:23:47 PM PDT by ncountylee (Dead terrorists smell like victory)
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To: John Robertson
George Bush may spend a lot of time on his ranch in Texas, but I would hardly call it a "vacation". He is home, getting in touch with his roots, contemplating the war and everything else on his plate. It's good for him and the American people that he is away from Washington and in a place where he can think clearly. Clinton, on the other hand, loved Washington and probably couldn't wait to get back. Think about it...on vacation with Hillary or in Washington with Monica and company?
6 posted on 08/06/2005 1:24:50 PM PDT by ladiesview61
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To: John Robertson
LOL...what a joke...trailer trash hillbillies...lived off the government almost all their adult lives...they didn't even own a home...their home was the WH...so between the WH and Camp David...both of these creeps took plenty of time off...

Now President Bush actually has his own home, therefore, he has a place to go during vacation time...the 'toons' had nothing...I mean look at the 'toons' library, they've even got an apartment built in it...so the seldom times they are in Arkansas they have a place to stay....

7 posted on 08/06/2005 1:26:08 PM PDT by shield (The Greatest Scientific Discoveries of the Century Reveal God!!!! by Dr. H. Ross, Astrophysicist)
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To: John Robertson

bump


8 posted on 08/06/2005 1:30:40 PM PDT by God luvs America (When the silent majority speaks the earth trembles!)
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To: concerned about politics

are you forgetting their taking everyone they ever knew to China ? And Africa ? HRC's royal throne ?

And, let us not forget all the "ambassadorial" junkets Hillary and Chelsea took every time the kid was on school break. Every last time!

Their domestic vacations were freeloading from Martha's Vineyard to Southhampton to SPielberg's place in CO or UT. Then, on retirement bought two multi-million dollar homes?

So glad those days are over!!!! (or are they?)


9 posted on 08/06/2005 1:31:22 PM PDT by EDINVA
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To: John Robertson

Good old Billy, in search of international BJ's.


10 posted on 08/06/2005 1:33:06 PM PDT by Brett66 (Where government advances – and it advances relentlessly – freedom is imperiled -Janice Rogers Brown)
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To: EDINVA; John Robertson
Thanks for the post, I'm out of here for the day. EDINVA, the link discusses that exact point.

Clinton's Foreign Travel:
Excessive or Abusive??

The President's foreign travel is well reported, but its costs are largely unavailable. Because this president has set records as the most traveled president in American history, three U.S. Senators requested the government's official auditor to examine some of the recent travel expenses he has incurred. Senate Republican Policy Committee Chairman Larry Craig, and Senators Jeff Sessions and Craig Thomas last year requested the General Accounting Office (GAO) to examine the costs of just three recent foreign trips taken by President Clinton in 1998 -- his travel to Chile, China, and to six countries in Africa. The results of this study, released today by GAO, suggest that Clinton's travel has gone past the level of excessive to that of abusive.

Just those three trips cost the American taxpayer at least $72 million -- with the Africa trip alone accounting for $42.8 million. Not only did they seriously affect the taxpayer's wallet, these three trips seriously affected America's defense. Fully 84 percent of the $72-million price tag came from the DOD budget. For example, the cost per hour to fly Air Force One, the president's personal plane, is $34,400. Of course, the $72-million price tag paid for a lot more than just flying President Clinton. It also paid for 297 military missions largely for the ferrying back and forth of some 2,400 people and necessary equipment working -- sometimes months in advance -- to assure smooth travel for the President. The trip to Africa alone involved 10 advance trips by military planes and the travel of 904 DOD personnel -- the equivalent of a U.S. Army battalion. [Note that GAO generally defines a "mission" as including either a round-trip flight between the home base and the foreign destination, or travel that includes multiple flight segments, such as from points A to B to C and back to A.]

As costly as the tab for these three presidential trips is, it does not measure the full cost to the taxpayer. GAO did not tabulate the additional costs of President Clinton's security out-of-country -- these were not requested for security purposes. Neither were the agency planning expenses included. Nor did GAO add in the cost of paying the military and other personnel who accompanied or prepared the way for President Clinton (despite the economic fact that these personnel would have been doing some other job if not on travel). Rather, only the additional, or "incremental," cost that the President's travel entailed is represented by the GAO figures. It is, then, by any description a conservative estimate.

At the same time that President Clinton was using the Pentagon as his personal travel agent, he was also cutting back its budget. Every year he has been in office, President Clinton has cut the military budget. Simultaneously, he has broadened the military's role beyond the traditional one of defending America to peacekeeping and "nation building."

It is not an exaggeration to say that President Clinton's travel has been excessive: he already holds countless records for presidential foreign travel -- Most Countries Visited (59), Total Foreign Travel Days (186), and Most Days of Foreign Travel Per Year (27.6). A synopsis of GAO's report follows.

Africa: March 22 through April 2, 1998

President Clinton visited Ghana, Uganda, Rwanda, South Africa, Botswana, and Senegal. Ten separate advance trips were required over a three-month interval and 1,300 individuals traveled either with or in support of President Clinton. According to GAO, "the purpose of the trip was to (1) help reshape the way Americans think about Africa; (2) show U.S. support for emerging democracies; (3) promote U.S. investment, trade, and economic growth in Africa; (4) promote education; and (5) promote conflict resolution and human rights."

Chile: April 16 through April 20, 1998

President Clinton visited Chile (according to GAO) "to attend the second Summit of the Americas and hold bilateral meetings with the President of Chile . . . . Agenda items at the summit included a discussion of the establishment of a Free Trade Area of the Americas, the promotion of democracy, and the eradication of poverty in the Americas."

China: June 25 through July 3, 1998

The GAO reports that President Clinton visited China "to conduct bilateral talks with the President of China and for other purposes. . . .Issues discussed were security, nonproliferation of weapons of mass destruction, economics and trade, energy and environment, science and technology, and law enforcement."

More Trips: "Never found a place in the world he wouldn't want to go."

And more to come: According to the Associated Press (Terence Hunt; 9/7/99), President Clinton will make his fifth presidential trip to Canada on October 8, and "a four-nation swing just before Thanksgiving to Turkey, Greece, Bulgaria, and Italy."

Next year will be just as scenic for the President. "The hottest speculation is that he will visit Vietnam, a place he struggled to avoid when he was draft-age," reports Hunt. China is also a possibility, as "aides note that the president told the Chinese women's soccer team he would like to go to China again." The President has visited (by RPC's count) 59 different countries and territories (many of them more than once), but new to his "Places I've Visited" list mentioned as possibilities by the Associated Press would be India, Pakistan, Brunei, Kosovo and Antarctica, as well as Vietnam, Turkey, Greece and Bulgaria. To date the President's record of 186 foreign travel days is more than double that of any other U.S. president.

11 posted on 08/06/2005 1:34:11 PM PDT by Indy Pendance
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To: shield
LOL...what a joke...trailer trash hillbillies...lived off the government almost all their adult lives...

Typical democrats - parasites feeding off their productive hosts.

12 posted on 08/06/2005 1:34:44 PM PDT by concerned about politics ("A people without a heritage are easily persuaded (deceived)" - Karl Marx)
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To: Senator Goldwater

Clinton's activities in the Oval Office were often recreational.


13 posted on 08/06/2005 1:36:44 PM PDT by Brilliant
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To: John Robertson

The longer Bush stays away from DC the more in-touch he is with real Americans.


14 posted on 08/06/2005 1:37:28 PM PDT by Liberty Valance ( Howdy!)
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To: John Robertson
Bush Takes More Vacations, But Clinton Was Away Longer, And Spent Much More (3 Trips Cost $72 mil)

A moot issue for the POTUS is ALWAYS working. It's just a matter of how effective each individual potus is in doing their job.

The real issue that stands out is how the MSM conveys the issues via their edited and biased journalism when it comes to the sitting POTUS.

15 posted on 08/06/2005 1:37:34 PM PDT by EGPWS
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To: John Robertson
The press core just hates to spend August of each year in the metropolis of Crawford, Tx. Can't say as I blame them but crap comes with most jobs.

It is funny they never mention the fact that when the President takes some time off and out of DC it is most likely the rest of the elected contingent such as Senators/Representatives are doing the same.
16 posted on 08/06/2005 1:46:52 PM PDT by deport (If you want something bad enough, there's someone who will sell it to you. Even the truth your way.)
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To: ladiesview61; SortaBichy
99% of the people have long forgotten about the Santa Barbara, California mansion that producer Harry Thomason purchased with the intent of it being a 'Western White House'....the Clinton shenanigans, as well as the exposure of the Thomason's relationship queered that deal real quick.

Bill and Hill, of course, never ended up staying there...when they came to southern California, they probably bunked in with Barbra Streisand - and that also came to an end when Hillary found out that Bill was REALLY "bunking" with Babs.

17 posted on 08/06/2005 1:46:56 PM PDT by ErnBatavia
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To: John Robertson
And after seeing a news video of him with Evita, er ahh Hillary, she has her head held and facial expression exactly that of a royal queen. If she ever gets elected, she'll make Bill look like a piker!
18 posted on 08/06/2005 1:54:25 PM PDT by Humidston (No Racial Profiles = Proof liberalism is a mental disorder)
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To: Senator Goldwater
Bush earned his vacations

Testified, Bro, T-E-S-T-I-F-I-E-D!!!

President George W. Bush has truly carried more responsibility, and carried it dutifully too.

19 posted on 08/06/2005 2:06:50 PM PDT by ExcursionGuy84 ("I will Declare the Beauty of The LORD.")
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To: John Robertson

I was in Little Rock last week and went past the Clinton Library.

the River Market area down the block was packed.... there were only about 3 people in the Clinton library.


20 posted on 08/06/2005 2:12:18 PM PDT by adam_az (It's the border, stupid!)
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