Posted on 08/05/2010 6:38:00 PM PDT by kristinn
Well knock me down with a feather! On tonight's broadcast of the CBS Evening News, Katie Couric covered the controversy over Michelle Obama's luxurious 60 room Spain vacation during the continuing economic crisis.
The report, which clocked in at a lengthy 2 minutes and 29 seconds, was made by Sharyl Atkisson from the White House and included graphics showing the cost of Michelle Obama's round-trip airfare to Spain on a government plane and the per diem cost for the estimated 70 Secret Service agents on the trip:
• Transport on the Air Force version of a 757. That's $146,000 for the round trip, not counting four to five days' ground time.
• Expenses for the first lady's support staff
• Mandatory Secret Service detail, which could number 70 agents. At the $273-a-day federal per diem for five days, that's $95,550 for Secret Service room and board.
Atkisson noted that while Michelle Obama will supposedly pay her way, the taxpayers will pick up part of the cost because Obama tacked on a meeting with Spain's king and queen during the vacation.
The report mentioned today's New York Daily News column by Andrea Tantaros that compared Michelle Obama to Marie Antoinette.
Atkisson twice mentions, including at the opening of her report, that Michelle Obama got slammed for hypocrisy for vacationing in Maine, and now Spain, after she told everybody else they should vacation at the oil-damaged Gulf Coast.
There isn't much room to defend Michelle Obama's extravagance in these hard times. Even the Washington Post's Ruth Marcus, featured in the report to defend Michelle Obama, conceded that the trip not "politically very smart."
Visitors to the CBS News page where the Atkisson report is filed have denounced Michelle Obama's trip as "improper considering the poor state of the U.S. economy" by a 79% to 21% Internet poll.
The text and video of Atkisson's CBS Evening News report can be seen here.
The report concludes by mentioning the Obamas plan to spend a weekend vacation on the Gulf Coast after Michelle's Spanish vacation, but fails to mention that they'll be spending ten days right after that in Martha's Vineyard--far from the Gulf and the jobless peasants.
Wookies are known to do that.
i was reading something on wiki 2nite about Michelle Obama and there is a photo entry to accompany. I think she would look way better is she shaved her head
i was reading something on wiki 2nite about Michelle Obama and there is a photo entry to accompany. I think she would look way better if she shaved her head
Could have went to Florida, and saved a bundle
It’s on a similar latitude, and many of the locals speak the same language.
What did she have to do with the King of Spain was this a wink wink nod nod type of deal? It’s kind of like a screw the man type of deal but the man is the public.
Why don't they know how many SS agents are there? I used to be a humble typing-drone for the Civil Service (Army Corps of Engineers, Air Force), and we counted *everything* and filled out a form for anything anybody did.
I saw the photo.Her forehead could use a good shave.
Who is on the guest list?
“Let them eat cake!”
Katie Couric got flak for making fun of Sarah Palin’s kids, so she went after Michelle Obama tonight.
Michelle Antoinette
Katie got the memo: Abandon the sinking ship. Next week: A look at the hard-working, no-nonsense Hillary Rodham Clinton.
I feel so much better. She’s taking a vacation for me.
Imagine the stinkeroonie if Laura Bush had taken the twins on a luxury junket like that, at such a price. Doesn’t bear thinking, but then, Laura Bush never had delusions of grandeur, and wouldn’t have been caught dead in a boob belt.
Aunt Esther says, “let them eat lobster.”
Pray for America
It’s good to be the Queen.
lol just the salaries of her attendants makes my head spin.
Marie Obama
And still almost half of the people in this country support these arrogant pieces of ......
They sicken me.
Nothing but the finest in luxury for our guilded Wookiee... er First Lady.
Could you JUST IMAGINE the outcry from the left, and by their friends in the media if Laura Bush had behaved anything like this.
I remember how they used to raise total hell when Bush went on vacation to his ranch in Texas every year. Seems like just about every time you turn on the TV, you hear about the 0bamas going on a luxury trip or vacation of some sort, with hardly a negative word from those same people in the media that bitched so much about Bush working on his ranch. Their hypocrisy knows no bounds....
That forehead really does need a shave.
Since Michelle never cared too much about America before Barack’s candidacy for POTUS, it’s probably safe to say that she doesn’t care what Americans think about her extravagance. She’s gettin’ hers while the gettin’s good.
Nice catch.
I doubt that the SS is getting per diem for traveling with Mrs. O. They have to stay in the same hotel that she stays, thus the hotel bill will be substantially more than the average government worker’s hotel, which can be the normal Holiday Inn.
Also, CBS forgot the cost of transporting all the security vehicles by another plane.
Mrs. O’s visit to the King and Queen of Spain reminds me of the errant taxpayer who visits a customer for lunch in order to write off his vacation.
Poll at link:
What Do You Think?
Is Michelle Obama’s trip to Spain improper considering the poor state of the U.S. economy?
Yes = 78%
No = 22%
Total votes: 1171
Cast your vote
IdiotKatie still has a job.....surprising given her viewership is lower than whale $hit at the bottom of the ocean.....
Wookies have problems washing their fur after mixing with the common folk in the pool (of oil-soaked) taxpayers .....
Exceot fir her “royal family” daughter? Give me a break!
Exceot fir her “royal family” daughter? Give me a break!
Except for her “royal family” daughter? Give me a break!
Spain is closer to the latitude of Montreal .... Not Florida!
But “Spain” sounds better than the “redneck riviera” of FL’s coast ...
Third time’s the charm!
“the Obamas plan to spend a weekend vacation on the Gulf Coast after Michelle’s Spanish vacation, (then) they’ll be spending ten days right after that in Martha’s Vineyard”
Marie Antoinette Obama & her Buttocks: Recently took a post-vacation vacation from their European vacation to prepare for a grueling provincial vacation. Then they will resume their battle against hood-rat fatties at the nearest Baskin Robbins.
Wookiepedia entry 08/18/2010
The problem is whether a trip to Spain right now, coming right after some other trips and vacations, isn’t a little over the top.
But with regard to the travel expenses of the first family... I don’t automatically have a problem with that. Toting around the first family is always going to be an expensive proposition. That’s just the way it is. It’ll be the same nomatter who’s in office.
I’m not upset. In fact I would rather see her and hubby spend next two years seeing the world on our dime. It would be a major net savings.
Lets not forget what happened to Marie Antionette.. JUST SAYING!
Seriously though, isn’t it a sign of marriage problems when couples take separate vacations?
What's so confidential about ‘friends’ traveling on the taxpayer's dime?
I just read Antonia Fraser’s biography of Marie Antoinette and comparing Michelle to her is very insulting to Marie.
Amazing that this was from CBS.
Why does Michelle insist on going around half dressed in public all the time ?
It was bad enough with the arms,
now we have to see her chest.
Can going out in public topless be far off ?
And she was photographed in Spain eating an ice cream cone.
After all Michelle’s lectures and edicts on fruits and vegetables,
the Soeteros are always photographed eating ice cream cones .
No sweat. 0’s Rasmussen ratings have been improving this week, from -20 to -14. The 0 family must be doing something right :)
she would do better having it threaded rather than shaved
mommy, isn’t it so fun we have our own 757?
Just to keep everybody current on the deepest conspiracy theories:The King of Spain is the AntiChrist
“Let ME eat cake!”
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.