Apparently Michele Bachmann just can't help herself. Her mouth is completely disconnected from her brain or she doesn't have a brain. Probably the latter. Whenever she's in the spotlight, she says something outrageous. Her latest is this:
"The president of the United States will be taking a trip over to India that is expected to cost the taxpayers $200 million a day."
I suppose that I'm going to get an email from someone repeating Bachmann's lie and I'm going to have to research it and return it to sender in hopes that they will send the truth back to the people who sent it to them. Fat chance of that! So, here's the scoop on this lie before I get the email.
It isn't true. Could there be any doubt of that? In this FactCheck article, references are cited that identifies the source of the lie, a guy in India, who can't possibly know the Top Secret details of a Presidential trip. In spite of the dubious source, Fox News, Hannity, Limbaugh, Drudge and Beck all hyped the story, and that fact, in my mind, is just more proof of what I've been saying all along. They are propagandists, nothing more. They have no facts, they have no logic and they have no basis for anything they say. But, millions will believe their clap trap.
What I did find interesting about the truth about Presidential trips is that they are never-the-less expensive. For example, this GAO report (PDF) in 1998 gave an account of three President Clinton's trips to Africa, Chili and China that cost $42.8 million, $10.5 million and $18.8 million respectively. That is total cost including all of the preparation to the de-briefing after the trip is over, beginning to end. But, that IS NOT $200 million a day!
I suppose we could ask President Obama to fly coach and leave all of the Secret Service guards behind; sort of let him grab a cab to the hotel once he gets there; get his own breakfast, lunch and dinner; and take care of his own laundry. Personally, I hope he makes relations between India and the U.S. better. That might involve him being a little too busy to see to those personal needs that Joe the Plumber might do. I don't mind him taking along with him a few extra staff, all of the equipment he'll need, like a mini-White House, on the trip, either. I hope he has access to a secure phone. He may need to talk to an Army General, Defense Secretary, or Speaker of the House - maybe even John Boehner - on a secure line satellite linkup. Go Pres!
Once again Michele Bachmann is a liar. Is there any other way to look at it?
So, if I get the email that I'm expecting to get, I'm going to send them a link to this page. 'Nough said.
Oh, and by the way, Bachmann is planning on being a committee chairman in the new Republican controlled House of Representatives. That should scare you.
Dave
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