Michelle Obama's trip to Spain.

Forums: Michelle Obama, Spain, U S Politics, U S Media, White House Optics
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I think it a a disgrace how the press and media has handled this vacation to Spain. We have late night comedians poking fun at this trip. This to me is totally unacceptable... They criticized the Obama's for going to Maine on their vacation also. Since when does the press have any say where the president and/or his wife go on vacation? If I was going on vacation I would go where I wanted to go, Spain would be my choice too...

I think people are just jealous and this is how they respond. I have grown to have a profound respect for Michelle Obama. I wish instead of the criticism the press would have been there to show some of the highlights of the trip.

It is a shame how the press and media has handled this and I am embarrassed that loose lipped comments have been flippantly made. It is an insult to our hard working president and our dignified first lady as it is also an insult to our friendly Spanish allies.

I certainly hope while in Spain Michelle was offered the keys to the city. I am sure Spain treated our first lady cordially unlike our press and media that appears to be out of touch and out of line.

Where was the press when president Reagan flew to Ireland just to kiss the blarney stone?

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Quote:

Where was the press when president Reagan flew to Ireland just to kiss the blarney stone?

Right behind him ...kissing his ass as he kissed the Blarney Stone.

Joe(voted least likely to need to kiss the Blarney Stone 1964)Nation

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@RexRed,

Quote:

Where was the press when president Reagan went to Ireland to kiss the blarney stone?

It's all Ron.

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Well, I remember when Ronnie Reagan went to Spain and denounced the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, the Americans who fought on the side of the Loyalist government in the Spanish Civil War, as "premature anti-fascists". The Brigade were heroes to the Spanish people for their opposition to the right-wing dictator Francisco Franco, who blighted four decades of Spain's life.

Betcha Michelle won't make any gaffes like that.

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I think that Michelle has the right to vacation anywhere that she pleases. Things must be very dull around the newsroom, if that story is the best that the reporters could come up with. Have all the reporters been trained at the National Enquirer?

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@Phoenix32890,

In recent years, yes.

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I dont think anyone is seriously complaining about her trip to Spain, so much as they are complaining about the taxpayers having to pick up the tab.

Did she really need 60 rooms at the hotel?

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@mysteryman,

Quote:

I dont think anyone is seriously complaining about her trip to Spain, so much as they are complaining about the taxpayers having to pick up the tab.

Did she really need 60 rooms at the hotel?

You know that was for security reasons... and in these days when one bomb demolishes nearly an entire hotel, well yea... I bet the hotel was a decoy and she didn't even stay there... I think she should have had the entire hotel cleared except for a few trusted press to document the trip.

The US should spare no expense to protect our president and first lady. We all know that even vacations of our president and first lady have political overtones. Perhaps the crazy communists in our press are too full of themselves.

Why don't they go back to persecuting Al Gore for leaving the lights on?

When have the tax payers ever not picked up the tab for presidents and first ladies trips abroad? Hillary has been flown all over the world on tax payers money many times since Barrack took office. Are people going to deny Michelle Obama a trip?

Monica Lewinsky was treated better by the press...

1 Reply

reuters

Quote:

A White House official said the first family paid for their personal expenses on the trip, while security and transportation costs fell "under the same rules as have applied to any previous first family travel -- the costs are split appropriately with private expenses paid for privately; government expenses are paid for by the government."

Mrs. Obama's friends went to Spain on their own, not on government aircraft, the official said.

and then the Daily Mail tells us
The exact cost of the trip is unclear as Mrs Obama, 46, and her friends are footing personal expenses themselves - which is just as well.

For a start, they will be paying for the 60 rooms booked at the 129-room Hotel Villa Padierna.

1 Reply

@mysteryman,

mysteryman wrote:

Did she really need 60 rooms at the hotel?

and why not - if she and her friends want the trip <shrug>

bad optics, as usual with this White House, but the reality of it is not that bad

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sorry wrong thread. oops

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@ehBeth,

Thanks for the info EhBeth, but, I still think the tax payers should have fully funded this trip to Spain. The public relation benefits from having our first lady visiting pays for itself many times over considering America's battered image abroad (left over from the Bush years)...

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@RexRed,

It's interesting to see the likes of mm complain about "taxpayer money being spent on their vacation." They never complained when GW Bush used the presidential plane to fly home to Texas (does mm know how much each flight on the President's plane to Texas costs, and how many trips he took?) on "vacation," and he was supposed to be involved in the two wars he started in the Middle East and the Great Recession he's responsible for.

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@cicerone imposter,

Wasn't Cheney's hunting trips also fully funded by the taxpayers too probably also shotgun and shells (hopefully blanks)? No outrage over them... Nixon's trips to the Bohemian Grove so they could all dress up like (i don't even want to say here), were probably also tax payer funded...

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I just might add that my intentions of starting this discussion were not to unduly draw attention to the trip but to voice my own approval of the expense and to scold the media and press. Though the discussion has led off to other tangents I hope to retain the initial sentiment I stated in my opening statement. No cynicism on my part is intended, i am not that evil.

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Obviously she has a right to vacation wherever she pleases, but she is the wife of the president of the United States and perception matters.

Just another example of how tone deaf the Obamas are.

"Let them eat cake!"

What's particularly unappealing is how you Obama syncophants rush to their defense on any criticism pointed their way.

1 Reply

@RexRed,

Values were different back in the days, more wasted money on spending sprees, where today there's more focus on such things. Speciall because the press have to have something to write about.

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@cicerone imposter,

I have never, and will never, complain about the President using AF1.
That aircraft was specially built to be a flying WH, with all of the communications equipment needed.

And when Bush flew down to Texas to his ranch, he was still in the US, and went to his own home, not somebody elses home.

And I will say it again, since you didnt listen or learn the first time, EVERY President has his private home updated with all of the same comunications gear and security arrangements as the WH, so the constant claim that Bush wasnt involved or that he was out of communications is wrong.

BTW, the cost of operating AF1 is approx. $40, 000 per hour of flight.
That includes fuel, paying the flight crew, and every other expense involved with a plane that size.
http://www.answers.com/topic/air-force-one-1

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you're a spammer and an asshole, jersey. Go away.

1 Reply

@MontereyJack,

MontereyJack wrote:

you're a spammer and an asshole, jersey. Go away.

This is where letting people moderate and delete their own comments and those of others (as i have been protesting for years) is needed a2k...

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Michelle Obama's trip to Spain.

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