Air Force One... Read This And Weep

Discussion in 'Politics' started by Scataphagos, Jun 2, 2011.

  1. Wouldn't want Air Force One to crash and kill everybody onboard due to "aircraft fatigue". The pilot, co-pilot and crew... and their families... wouldn't deserve such a fate.
     
    #11     Jun 3, 2011
  2. OP's point was not about "who is in control"... it was about Odumbo BEING ON VACATION A WHOLE LOT... AND WASTING TAXPAYER MONEY FOR HIS OWN PLEASURE. Seems his vacation and recreation schedule doesn't leave much time for work.
     
    #12     Jun 3, 2011
  3. Nice way to say you think the President deserves to die
     
    #13     Jun 3, 2011
  4. I bet you weren't complaining when Bush was taking his trips to his Ranch


    http://mediamatters.org/research/200906010027

    Drudge, NY Post report Obamas' NYC trip cost, ignore Bush's Crawford vacations


    On June 1, Internet gossip Matt Drudge linked to a May 31 New York Post article using the headline, "THE $24,000+ DATE...," suggesting that the cost to taxpayers due to the Obamas' May 30 personal visit to New York City is somehow unusual. In the article, the Post reported that "[t]axpayers footed the bill for the big night on the town, which included a total of at least $24,000 for the three aircraft used to ferry the Obamas, aides and reporters to New York and back," adding that "[t]he White House declined to say how much the trip was costing taxpayers." But neither Drudge nor the Post noted that such use of taxpayer funds for private travel by the first family is typical; former President George W. Bush, for example, reportedly used Air Force One for trips to his ranch in Crawford, Texas, which he reportedly visited 77 times over the course of his eight years in office.

    As Kenneth T. Walsh noted in a June 1 U.S. News & World Report article about Republican criticism of the Obamas' trip, "For many years, presidents have used government transportation, and spent taxpayers' money, for personal trips." Walsh continued:

    George W. Bush, for example, traveled frequently to his Texas ranch for vacations and R&R. Bill Clinton went to Martha's Vineyard for vacations in the summer. George H.W. Bush often traveled to his retreat in Kennebunkport, Maine, for breaks from Washington.

    The opposition party sometimes jumps on these trips and argues that the president is being extravagant or sending the wrong signal of self-indulgence to the country. That's what's happening to Obama now.

    Similarly, during a discussion of Republican criticism of the Obamas' trip on the June 1 edition of MSNBC Live, Joe Conason, national correspondent for The New York Observer, said of the trip: "[T]his is what the presidency is." He continued: "When the president travels -- as George Bush did, as Bill Clinton did, as presidents have, you know, throughout history -- the government pays to keep them safe, to keep their communication secure. This is just -- this is part of the job."

    As Media Matters for America documented, several media outlets and figures advanced false comparisons of the total costs of President Obama's inauguration and Bush's 2005 inauguration, misrepresenting Obama's as more expensive. Those outlets used figures that excluded security, transportation, and other incidental costs to federal, state, and local governments incurred in conjunction with the events in 2005, while including them in the projections for the 2009 event.

    Numerous media reports throughout Bush's presidency indicate that he used Air Force One for his vacation trips to his Crawford ranch. The Los Angeles Times' James Gerstenzang reported in an April 28, 2001, article, "For Bush, All Roads Lead to Crawford," that Bush himself said he was about to take Air Force One to his ranch. Gerstenzang reported that Bush said:

    "I like to get outside of Washington. I like to go to where the space is open, where I can walk around with Spot and Barney, the two family dogs. My wife loves our country, the country house we've got, and so do I, and so I beg your forgiveness for not eating dinner here tonight. ... I'm fixing to get on Air Force One and take it to Crawford, Texas."

    In a December 27, 2001, Fort Lauderdale (Fla.) Sun-Sentinel article (accessed via Nexis), national correspondent Jeff Zeleny reported "[a]fter spending Christmas at the Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland, the president and first lady boarded Air Force One to travel to their ranch near the village of Crawford."

    An August 4, 2006, report from Bergen County, New Jersey's, The Record, "Bush begins his vacation" (accessed via Nexis), similarly reported that Bush took Air Force One to Texas for his "10-day summer vacation at his Crawford ranch."

    And on December 26, 2007, The Associated Press reported that Bush took "Air Force One to fly from his Maryland mountaintop retreat to his Texas ranch here to see in the new year." The AP included a photo with the following caption:
     
    #14     Jun 3, 2011

  5. http://factcheck.org/2010/01/president-obamas-vacation-days/


    Q: Has President Obama taken more vacation time than his predecessors?

    A: According to one count, Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush spent more time on "vacation" during their first year than President Obama did. Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton spent less time on "vacation."


    President Obama has spent all or part of 26 days "on vacation" during his first year as president, according to CBS News White House Correspondent Mark Knoller.

    Knoller, who has covered every president since Gerald Ford and is known for keeping detailed records on presidential travel, counts the following among President Obama’s "vacations" in 2009



    A four-day holiday weekend in Chicago in February where the president played some basketball and treated First Lady Michelle Obama to a Valentine’s Day dinner date.
    An eight-day stay with his family at a rented house on Martha’s Vineyard in August.
    A trip out west to the U.S. states of Montana, Wyoming, Colorado and Arizona that combined both business and pleasure. The president held town hall meetings on health care during the trip. And he went fly fishing and took trips to Yellowstone National Park and the Grand Canyon with his wife and two daughters.
    An 11-day stay in Hawaii where the president and his family celebrated Christmas and New Year’s Eve.


    Some of the president’s recent predecessors, however, have spent more days — either entirely or partially — away from the White House "on vacation" during their first year in office.

    President Reagan, in 1981, spent all or part of 42 days away from the White House "on vacation" at his home in Santa Barbara, Calif, according to Knoller. President Reagan and his wife, Nancy, also spent three or four days around New Year’s Day each year in Palm Springs, Calif., at the home of philanthropist Walter Annenberg. (In 1993 the late Mr. Annenberg founded the nonpartisan Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania, which is FactCheck.org’s parent organization.)

    President George W. Bush spent even more time away from the presidential mansion in the nation’s capital than Reagan. Of the 77 total "vacation" trips the former president made to his Texas ranch while in office, nine of them — all or part of 69 days — came during his first year as president in 2001, according to Knoller.

    Bush’s father, President George H.W. Bush, spent less time "on vacation" during his first year than his son, but spent more days than President Obama. According to travel records provided to FactCheck.org by the George Bush Presidential Library and Museum, the former president took six trips — spanning all or part of 40 days — to the Bush family compound in Kennebunkport, Maine, in 1989. The archivist at Bush’s presidential library told us she didn’t have a list of all vacations but did have the Kennebunkport visits.

    But at least two recent presidents — by Knoller’s count — took less "vacation" time during their first year than President Obama — Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton.

    According to Knoller, Carter spent just 19 days "on vacation" in 1977. Most of that time, Knoller says, the former president spent at his home in Plains, Ga. President Clinton took all or part of 174 days of vacation during his eight years as president — most of that "vacation" time was during the summer, according to Knoller. But Knoller says Clinton only took 21 "vacation" days during his first year.

    It’s worth mentioning that President Obama has also made 11 trips — all or part of 27 days — to Camp David, the presidential retreat in Frederick County, Md. Knoller, however, says he doesn’t count trips to Camp David as part of any presidents’ "vacation" time. But for the sake of comparison, President George W. Bush, made more trips to that country residence than Obama. According to Knoller, Bush made 25 trips — a total of 78 days — to Camp David in 2001.


    But no matter how much time a president actually spends away from the official residence at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., Knoller says that the commander in chief is never really off the clock. "I have long held the view that a US president is never really on vacation," Knoller told FactCheck.org in an e-mail. "The job – and its awesome powers and responsibilities – is his wherever he is and whatever he’s doing."
     
    #15     Jun 3, 2011
  6. When the pilot knows he will be flying a 25 year old giant plane, he should say "no , I will not fly a metal-stressed plane. Give me a brand new plane".

    When a persons life is at risk he/she should not obey idiot seniors. This brings me to Secret service agents who are highly intelligent people. I have posted earlier that "2 years back Obama received 30 death threats everyday".

    If someday there is an attack on Obama then Secret service agents will be the first people to get injured or killed.

    My question to USA secret service = Why are you risking your life for an idiot who has destroyed the world in 2 years?

    The same applies to USA army.
     
    #16     Jun 3, 2011
  7. I can only imagine Scataphagos bitching if Obama bought a new plane


    Air Force one is the most well maintained and well piloted plane in the world,they'll be just fine
     
    #17     Jun 3, 2011
  8. USA debts had reached $75 Trillion. Obama should walk 50,000 miles all over the world. Forget planes.
     
    #18     Jun 3, 2011
  9. 1.False

    2.No he shouldn't
     
    #19     Jun 3, 2011
  10. Wallet

    Wallet

    Nice to know your opinion (yours only) is formed for you via the mainstream media. If States property is out of touch for the States highest elected official, I fail to see why federal property should be treated any different for it's highest elected official.

    Wait? Maybe both should be out of touch for non-official venues? And please spare me the safety protocols for the POTUS, I understand the need to protect the President, but maybe the President needs to understand the state of the economy and the debt weighing it down, and take positive actions, of all scopes big and small to help.

    Didn't congress chastise Wallstreet exec's for taking planes to senate hearings?

    When my business is down the last thing I take is an expensive vacation, or any unneeded expenses instead it's overtime without pay, just to pay the bills. If Washington was run like a business..... what a surprise that would be, but I guess it takes a business person instead of a politician to understand the difference.

    Text book hypocrisy in action.
     
    #20     Jun 3, 2011