Michelle Obama, who is that American lady that Kenyan socialist Barack Hussein Obama married so he could get his sham American citizenship, is on vacation in Spain (or as the Tea Baggers call it: Almost Mexico) with a bunch of her friends and she is blowing the rainy day money that America has been setting aside in a cookie jar in case we needed to start another feel good war, and this is wrong wrong wrong. Someone at an English newspaper tries to explain using their funny way of speaking American:
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. With basic rooms starting around £380 each, the nightly bill will be no less than £22,800.
So it is going to be very expensive for America to ask that hotel to put up Mrs Obama and her friends even though, it is “just as well” that they are paying for that themselves in those £ dollars things…so America actually won’t. But still, you should be outraged.
Pajamas Media mini-mogul Roger Simon is:
Michelle’s $375,000 Spanish vacation — with the Daily Mail dubbing her a “modern-day Marie Antoinette” — is further proof of my thesis. What man who wanted to be re-elected (or see his party do well in November) would let his wife go off on such an “excellent adventure” in these economic times? Of course no one denies the right of people to have vacations – I’m coming to the end of one myself on my beloved Bainbridge Island — but closing Mediterranean beaches while booking 60-plus rooms in a five star Marbella hotel for her entourage? It is beyond tone deaf, perhaps to the level of subconscious (or even deliberate) self-sabotage.
[...]
If I were still a member of the Democratic Party, I would be most concerned. What is going on in the White House seems to be so disconnected from the reality of our country — with some indicating real unemployment at a staggering 22% — as to be teetering on the brink of a pyschological disorder. And in this case that disorder would be a folie a deux of some sort because Barack and Michelle appear to be colluding in it in some way, whatever the state of their relationship.
I mean, how must people feel when they are struggling to make ends meet and facing devastating loss after devastating loss, only to see someone else wasting the Fruits of Their Labors having a good time? Like remember that time when Roger Simon laid off all of those bloggers at Pajamas Media after he milked them for links to build up his then fledgling media empire and then Ace O’ Spades and Gun Counter Gomer, and Godlstein were all left standing at the altar of fame and blogging fortune that would now never be? That was very sad in a very funny way. But Roger Simon did the right thing and he took a vow of poverty so that he could continue to fight the good fight against socialism and Islamomuslimism even if he had to take time off from his vacation in Venice where he went to get over the sadness and the sorrow of making hard business decisions. That, and being called a back stabbing douche.
Freedom isn’t free. Hell, even a nice prosecco with squid risotto is like two million lire….




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The Daily Fail. Of course. Outraged that someone is having a vacation on their own dime. And of course all those security costs would be there no matter where the First Lady goes, including that ‘vacation’ to “Florida’s oil-hit Gulf Coast” and meals featuring exotic blackened pelican.
I’d be outraged if she paid the rack rate. Nobody who rents 60 rooms pays that. Nobody who can use Expedia pays that. Actually, my vote in 2012 now depends on how much of a discount she got.
Spain was my best vacation ever. I was 28 and saw topless women on the beach for the first time. Smoked a lot of hash, too. Hey, it’s legal, y’know!
I mean, how must people feel when they are struggling to make ends meet and facing devastating loss after devastating loss, only to see the GOP cause 200,000 to lose their unemployment insurance benefits.
I mean, how must people feel when they are struggling to make ends meet and facing devastating loss after devastating loss, only to see the GOP block health care for 9/11 first responders to protect the offshore tax havens of big corporations.
Ah, Roger Simon, the concern troll who thinks he’s a real boy.
Today not even Roger Simon can piss me off. The Baltimore Orioles have won four in a row.
And by the way T, when do we get boobies again?
Carry on.
So let me see if I have this right. I’m a hater if I have a problem with the fact that the people who tanked the international economy are buying elephant penis barstools with billions of dollars of bonuses they awarded themselves out of the taxpayer dollars we handed them to clean up their mess instead of using the money to, say, fix the international economy or keep the taxpayers they screwed in their homes.
I’m a concerned taxpayer if I demand veto power on how a couple who worked their way through law school and then became millionaires because one of them wrote a couple of books people went out and bought – free market for the win! – spend their own funds on a vacation?
And we should take Roger Simon’s word for it because he wrote a few books which significantly fewer people went out and bought, or because he managed to blow millions of dollars of startup funds?
How awful it is for any of the Obamas to take a vacation, unlike that wonderful Mr Bush who was on vacation for about half of his term in office.
But it’s SOOO different! That wonderful Mr. Bush was clearing brush and improving the land on his pig farm…
I’m with ya, Scratch. I can read the Sun’s sports section again, slim as it is.
I’m also with Scratch, but on the second thing. The Orioles, not so much. (They’re still the worst team in baseball, although one could argue that they are no worse than, say, the Astros seeing as how they are in the AL East and have to play a lot of games with the Red Sox, the Rays, and the Dead Steinbrenners.)
I can’t believe what I just read! “Democratic”? “-ic”?
Oh, man, Roger Simon is so getting electro-shock at this moment.
That 4 years of brush clearing saved us from certain apocolyptitude!
Don’t look now but McSudArdle is actually working on a Saturday and is getting pissy about the First Lady, too.
Some fuckwit called in to Washington Journal this morning to announce that we could pay down the debt if “Obama would keep that wife of his home” because she’s setting a terrible example and everybody hates her overseas and on and on and on. It may have devolved into a rant about the CIA spying on his lunch or something, I was laughing too hard by that time to listen, having sat through almost an hour of “Reagan proved tax cuts will save the economy!”
Remember, folks, these are the people who vote! And consider themselves politically astute!
MoDo wrote an excreting piece of shit about this as well. I am sharpening my pitchfork as I speak. I actually think Maureen is jealous of Michelle and taking it out in that mean-girl sort of way.
As for Simon, yeah fuck you, asshole. Get back to me when CEOs of banks and shit don’t get millions/billions in bonus every fucking year.
The only difference between the Heathers of high school-dom and the current Panties in a Twist crowd is a bigger megaphone. Same outraged indignation over trifles and imaginary offenses.
They are so yesterday.
And he vacations on Bainbridge Island? Talk about the Petit Trianon — douchebag elites dressing up like the peasantry.
Ya know, I might be more inclined to rouse a defense of an admittedly pretty sweet sounding (privately funded) vacation in Yurp (except for security costs, most likely, but that would be true anywhere she went) during these trying times of argle fargle bargle argle etc, if the Administration hadn’t gone half-assed on the stimulus 18 months ago cause it was the most politically expedient thing to do at the time, so now the best they can claim is that shit would have been even worse without it.
Wow, great. I guess losing an arm IS better than losing both arms. Too bad they couldn’t just spring for saving that other arm, since it was already just lying there on the floor next to the other one and the operating room was ready to go and the surgeon was there anyway. Yeah, maybe it was better that Ben Nelson and one of the Maine twins got to keep costs under some arbitrary round number, that’s really important too.
So now we’re doubly fucked – cause of half measures the economy is shitty, and cause it is shitty the only marginally rational actors at the national level are going to get pummeled by voters, replaced by snake handlers and wholly owned subsidiaries of the Monsanto Corporation and General Dynamics.
How about a little boobie break?
http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/ee5ed10d77/boobies-and-kittens
Really? The caller actually said keep that wife of his at home? S/he exhumed a talking point from the Roosevelt administration?
Actually, since the reactionaries on the right have long been trying to undo the New Deal I should not be surprised.
What’s wrong with these people? Don’t they know how to take a vacation?
Yeah, I’m outraged. I was outraged when Nancy Reagan spent a fucking fortune on the White House china, and I’ve been outraged since at the way our elected officials, spouses, and friends treat themselves like royalty when people here don’t have enough to eat.
Yeah, I’m outraged, so what. What am I supposed to do about it. My outrage and a buck will maybe get me a cup of coffee.
Whether they are using their own money or not, is irrelevant. Sure everyone deserves a vacation, will agree with that. And sure Bush was on vacation all the damn time. BUT…….with all that is going on in the world, what the hell are they thinking? People losing their jobs, homes, lifestyle, etc…….and all you read on all the blogs is about this stuff???? Ya, Michelle is beautiful..Ya, Michelle IS the First Lady….Ya, Michelle has a right to holiday……….let’s not forget though, Michelle is an integrate part of the ruling elite, just as her husband is. Sick to death of all of them. “Look at how great my shoes are as I work at the food bank”………politicians should be seen and not heard from for awhile…them and their spouses.
The Obamas were criticized for going to Maine recently instead of visiting the Gulf which apparently they’re going to do sometime this month. Michelle Obama is criticized for traveling to Spain and paying for her and her daughter’s expenses. Two friends and their four children went as well. They’re paying their own way and traveled at their own expense.
You see, as Jon Stewart said recently, no matter what Obama does he can’t please you f#@king people. Also, from what I read, muricans are O.K. with U.S. vacations for presidents. But gosh darnit, not them European trips. Get the smelling salts–I’m about to have me the vapors!
What a pathetic, stupid country we’ve become. And don’t get me started on the mosques. The depth of our stupidity is astouding.
I wish Shelly O was president. I can just see those buff arms and fists knocking out Rahm’s teeth.
Ah well, wake me in 10,000 years when we’ve maybe evolved ..
Maybe if he kept his campaign promises, some of us fucking people could be pleased. And don’t get ME started about how the mean old GOP just say “no” to everthing. Obama couldn’t lead a starving horse to the oats.
McMegan needs the pay for the extra hours. Bought a house she’s going to pay down in no time, you know. And getting pissy about the First Lady is only work for her in the same sense as having to consume food at a three star restaurant before coming up with the verdict is for a a Michelin Guide judge.
Not talking about broken promises. Agree with you on that. Discussing the topic thread here.
I want to know why O’s family chose to be absent for his birthday. Inquiring minds….
Michele’s vacation is fine, especially since she paid for it. However, there are some things that are just not smart politics and this was one of them IMO. Americans are suffering and it looks bad for the PTB to be taking vacations like that. I am speaking about how it Looks….not the actual thing itself. Americans have always noticed things like this and it does matter politically. On the other hand, Obama is about a popular now as typhoid Mary so maybe it doesn’t matter.
Families are off limit … until summer vacation before election season.
I dismissed this story as a right-wing bash-fest. I see no reason why the first family should be targeted for taking a summer vacation whether the practice is that they pay for it themselves or taxpayers do. And I’m amazed at the amount of coverage this story has gotten. It’s election season politics where tea-leaf reading the character of a candidate is equally tantamount and unhinged to reality.
Simon and most pundits will cover this babble these days, Politico makes it their main fair.
This crap elevates appearances, in a certain light, over reality.
Will Simon squawk about Michelle Obama taking time off from her vacation to visit the King and Queen?
This is what I hate about politics.
Yes pandering all the way to the bottom – the lowest common denominator – ignorance and fear.
IIRC, Shrub and/or his daughters accompanied by Bush Crime Syndicate friends like James Baker and the Baker/Botts Legal Team went to Paraguay on vacation and bought 100,000 acres of land over that country’s main aquifer with our money.
And nobody like Roger Simon (nor any simple toady from the MSM) said a goddamn thing about it.
Thank you for writing that. You’ve captured my feelings on the subject, and I’m not going to waste my time defending her. Rosalyn Carter and Eleanor Roosevelt were First Ladies, not fashion models or vapid, smiling Stepford Wives, or War Hawkettes, like the recent group.
He. And yeah, it was a pretty nakedly sexist tone for the whole comment. Most of the nutjobs will at least use her given name.
I consider minor children off limits, but not the First Lady – particularly since Michelle Obama has a huge staff (as have a number of other previous First Ladies, who I also think at the time they too weren’t off limits), which unlike this trip IS BEING PAID FOR BY US.
Totally OT.
Friar Tim?
I think Michelle should burn a $50 dollar bill, just to rub it in.
Three words, frighty-right douchebags:
NANCY
FUCKING
REAGAN
49: not that big a deal
Yep. That is the very first thing that came to my head…Nancy and her damned place settings.
“I mean, how must people feel when they are struggling to make ends meet and facing devastating loss after devastating loss, only to see someone else wasting the Fruits of Their Labors having a good time?”
George W. Bush gets a guitar and eats a cake.
and don’t forget the HAWAII vaca…how could you, t, forget to mention that? that was not an american vaca, too EXOTIC!!!
so they went to yellowstone–ruining the vaca of the RV set.
they went to maine and ate too much ice cream!
they went to B’way for date night to see culture!–too cultural!
M.O. spoke at an ABT gala and toured Juilliard–way too cultural!
so, she hula-hooped–too dictatorial! “i want my HFCS!!!”
Jon Stew’s right: i’m TOO exhausted to go on…
TBogg? Sounds more like a teabag complaint to me. People are allowed to go on vacation.
that seems to have been the plan all along, the creepiness is astounding. I hoppe whatsherface had a good time in eastern mexico
The Obamas are not paying the cost of transportation – I’m seem an estimate of $150,000 – 250,000 for Air Force 2 alone add to that the cost of transporting over 70 secret service personnell plus the per dorm the secret service personnel get which is estimated at close to $100,000 and no she doesn’t need that amount if protection in the US – the total cost to taxpayers is sad to be over $400,000. At least the china of Nancy Reagan is still available for use at the White House and W “vacationing” in his Texas “White House” is not nearly an equivalent for cost to taxpayers. There is no way to spin this as an extravegance when a lot of Americans would just like be to afford to take their kids to the local amusement park.
Oh and also this was Michele O’s 8th vacation this year and she still has 10 days of Martha’s Vineyard and a weekend in the Gulf which had to be added for pure politics.
Maybe we’ve noticed by now that the right-wing is fond of loudly accusing others of what they themselves are guilty of in order to distract the media.
The right denied unemployment insurance to millions of jobless Americans, forced state and local governments to cut payrolls and set us up for a second round of home foreclosures. Then they started a campaign saying that rich people don’t have enough money, and for the sake of the economy we must cut their taxes.
Meanwhile, we’re supposed to believe that Michelle Obama is the one saying “let ‘em eat cake.” The Big Lie Technique never gets old.
BTW, Laura Bush and the Bush kids went on an African safari totally at taxpayers’ expense in 2007. In case anybody cares about facts.
I care about facts. I just googles Laura Bush African Trip and found references to a 2005 trip and a 2007 both were described as having something to do with AIDS an Malaria awareness. Maybe there was another trip which was not related to AIDS??
Only crazy peoply would say a president and his family shouldn’t take time off or that they don’t deserve protection, but the extravagence for just two members of the first family? And added to the other vacate already this years with still more to come. Shows an incredible disconnect.
Perhaps I am missing something, but are you all reactionary fools? You’re responding to the right’s attack by pointing at the right and saying “See, you did it too!!” Are you serious? Your rich guy did it, so it’s ok if our “down to earth” and “caring” rich guy does it too?
On the surface, this is bad. This is in such horrible taste. How about the President and the First Family tighten their belt and actually show respect to the millions of people who are living paycheck to paycheck or have been unemployed forever? Oh that’s right, “people have a right to go on vacation”.
No, sorry. While they may pay for it themselves or have their friends do it, they are all subtle kickbacks to the special interest which drive this administration. This is only another reminder of the aristocracy and their disconnect from the working people. Anytime you see agents of our government be in the President or anyone in Congress, just remember they are millionaires and beyond reproach for the way they (or their friends) spend it.
After all, don’t the little people have more important things to worry about, like getting a job? Or praying to keep one? They are far too busy doing this nonsensical shit to pass legislation to protect jobs at home or “do the right thing” anywhere.
Stop pointing at the right and saying that since they did it too, it’s all OK. Stop with the lesser of two evils bullshit. Hold them accountable for their actions, be it private or public.
Sorry, I’m with the right on this one.
Let’s say it’s $600,000. Will that make you happy? OK, that makes is a whopping 2/10 of a penny ($0.002) per American. Not to mention, of course, that a fairly significant amount of that security cost is spent no matter where she is or what she is doing.
Uh-huh, sure. And when was the last time it was used by yourself or any of the “Americans [who] would just like be to afford to take their kids to the local amusement park”?
Really? So every time Chimpy McFlightSuit went to Texas, it was NOT on Air Force One and he did NOT take any Secret Service agents with him and those non-existenet Secret Service agents did NOT have to be housed somewhere and…
Ummm… So fucking what? She is not an employee of the government, nor does anyone vote for First Lady, so who cares how many vacation she takes?
You mean like, say, mary54321?
I’m late to the party, but can’t help myself.
40 friends… oops, only 2 female friends & their 4 little girls.
Flying them all on Our Taxplayer Plane… uhm, no, friends flew commercial so it was just Michelle, Sasha, small staff, Secret Service on Our Plane. Her transport required for standard security.
Such a ritzy Ritz Carlton Resort is the only thing good enough for Michelle Antoinette… Security gates.
Sixty $6,000 suites paid for by us, … hmmm. Michelle & friends paid for their own & the rest were Secret Service & staff. Make that twenty rooms discounted from their usual $400 rate. Also.
She’s left him on his birfday!
Ad nauseum.
Call me naive, but I’m sensing a trend: Remember “Oh, no! They’re goin’ on a exotic vacation in exotic Hawaii. Only one month before his inauguration. What does this say to the American peoples?”
And… you know the rest of the list.
I