New "Most Wanted" Cards Issued (page 3)

expatbrit

Chirac was born November 29, 1932.Which would have made him 12 on VE Day. An infant sucking on the tit of Vichy.

Expatbrit

My bad, it seems the jet wasn't any more costly than the helicopter. However, the whole photo op will cost up to one million dollars when he could have just waited for the carrier to arrive. That's a lot of money for us taxpayers to pay just to help him get reelected.

ThiChi

This one is for Tom T and the Dixie Chicks:

Double Edge

However, the whole photo op will cost up to one million dollars when he could have just waited for the carrier to arrive. That's a lot of money for us taxpayers to pay just to help him get reelected.

I'll start caring about the million when anyone starts carrying about the EXTRA $50 million it cost when Clinton took the extra jumbo jet to China with all his friends a few years ago. Like I said... it's all politics... both sides do it.

ThiChi

AMAC: "My bad, it seems the jet wasn't any more costly than the helicopter. However, the whole photo op will cost up to one million dollars when he could have just waited for the carrier to arrive. That's a lot of money for us taxpayers to pay just to help him get reelected."

Yet another Myth?

The carrier came into dock as scheduled, no more, no less. You also fail to mention that four Democrat Senators also visited the same Carrier. So what? Let them all use it for whatever reason....... Cannot the Commander N Chief visit his troops? Did you see the faces of the crew as he spoke to them?

ThiChi

Navy records show that 25 congressional personnel, including 12 lawmakers, have flown to aircraft carriers in four separate instances since the beginning of the year.

Earlier this month, the president, in a made-for-TV event, donned a military flight suit and made a tailhook landing on the USS Abraham Lincoln.

AFP PHOTO

The USS Abraham Lincoln steams toward the Southern California coast after completing its long wartime mission in the Persian Gulf.

Democrats assailed the president’s carrier visit as a publicity stunt and a waste of taxpayer money. The Lincoln was returning to port after deployment to the Middle East.

In late January, six congressional aides made a less publicized tailhook landing on the USS Nimitz as it also plied the waters off of Southern California, Navy records show.

Aides to Republican Sens. Sam Brownback (Kan.), Michael Crapo (Idaho), Thad Cochran (Miss.), and Jeff Sessions (Ala.), and to Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen (R-N.J.), made the tailhook landing on Jan. 24. The delegation stayed overnight and left the following day.

On April 23, the Navy facilitated three separate trips to carriers for lawmakers and congressional staff.

Rep. Kendrick Meek (D-Fla.) paid a visit to the USS John C. Stennis in San Diego. The carrier was docked and did not require air transportation. The same day, a group of congressional staffers landed on the USS Carl Vinson as it was underway in the Pacific. Those who attended included three professional aides to the House Resources Committee, two of whom work for the minority, and a staffer for the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Aides to committee members Rep. Ciro Rodriguez (D-Texas) and Del. Madeleine Bordallo (D-Guam) also made the seaward trip.

Finally, a group of lawmakers led by House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) made a tailhook landing on the USS Harry S Truman, deployed in the Mediterranean Sea.

Traveling with Hastert to the carrier were Republican Reps. Judy Biggert (Ill.), Anne Northup (Ky.), Mike Pence (Ind.), John Portman (Ohio), John Shadegg (Ariz.) and Todd Tiahrt (Kan.). Rep. Norm Dicks (D-Wash.) also made the landing. At least 16 press organizations reported on the trip to the carrier.

Just two weeks later, Dicks paid another visit to a carrier, this time via helicopter. On May 6, he and other Democratic members from the Washington State caucus choppered out to the Lincoln as it was underway in the Pacific Northwest.

Accompanying Dicks were Reps. Jay Inslee and Rick Larsen and Sens. Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray.

Trips by lawmakers and their staff to aircraft carriers are nothing new, the Navy says. They are frequently arranged for members and their staff during congressional recesses. “Aircraft carrier embarks, like other ship, submarine and military installation visits, provide members of Congress and their staff with a better understanding of the military, our equipment, and most importantly, the dedicated men and women who train, deploy, and face the challenges that threaten our national security every day,” said a Navy official. He added, “We try to accommodate every request.”

Following Bush’s tailhook landing on the Lincoln, a number of Democrats decried the event as a costly publicity stunt.

Aides to Rep. David Obey (D-Wis.), ranking member of the House Appropriations Committee, calculated that the president’s carrier landing cost at least $1.1 million.

Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), ranking member of the House Government Reform Committee, wrote to the General Accounting Office (GAO) last Tuesday regarding Bush’s trip.

“Since last week’s event — which had clear political overtones — was paid for by American taxpayers, I ask that the GAO provide a full accounting of the costs associated with the president’s trip,” Waxman wrote.

Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) also demanded an analysis of the costs.

“I would like the Defense Department to determine what the cost to taxpayers was for transporting the president to the carrier, his stay on the carrier, his flight from the carrier to shore, and any changes in the carrier’s or the jet’s schedule or procedure for the president’s visit,” Conyers wrote Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

amac

The carrier came into dock as scheduled, no more, no less. You also fail to mention that four Democrat Senators also visited the same Carrier. So what?

As opposed to coming in early and actually "saving" taxpayers money. OK, here you go, four democratic Senators also visited the same carrier, they are jack asses too. But somehow I don't think they would have been able to delay the carrier at sea just so they could visit. It doesn't matter how you look at it, it was an expensive photo op, and it had nothing to do with "lifting the spirits" of the few soldiers who got to get within eye shot of the president.

I just don't see how people can idolize politicians like this.

Double Edge

I just don't see how people can idolize politicians like this.

And that's what "makes the world go 'round" - everyone looks a things differently.

New "Most Wanted" Cards Issued

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