So Georgie Dubyah is having a big inaguration celebration. Big Deal!!
No one complained about how much Bill Clinton spent on his parties.
There is one good thing that will come out of this.
More pictures of the twins!!!
Jenna will be wearing an emerald green dress. There was a sketch on CNN yesterday of the design. Awesome color, beautiful pattern. I am looking forward to seeing it.
Some campaign contributors got invitations. I didn’t 
I got a “W” Farm Team hat, a signed picture of the President and First Lady and a Bush/Cheney Team card that is like a credit card but I’m not certain what function it has.
The photo is nice, I have it on my desk. I wear the hat too. It’s cool.
Although, for Clinton’s inauguaration D.C. was reimbursed for the expense. Not so with ‘W’.
Here is an article, if you don’t like the source google one of your own.
George who???
I hope Lauren Bush is there too.
I love the first one , Fahrenheit 911 film, showed footage of people throwing eggs at George W. limo as they floor it and skip the walk toward the white house. Funny I never saw that on CNN or FOX (fair & balanced) , Not that I care anyway.
So Georgie Dubyah is having a big inaguration celebration. Big Deal!!
No one complained about how much Bill Clinton spent on his parties.
True, but in the last year, I do remember that much was being made about John Kerry’s $8,000(?) Serotta Ottrott. If the right is going to complain a man spending $8,000 bike on a bike, don’t be surprised when the left complains about a $40M party.
-note: I couldn’t care either way -
I might care if I lived in DC (which is picking up the bill) but I don’t
.
They are attractive and this is the United States so you can whatever you please.
Try this:
Go to a busy corner tomorrow in DC and talk shit about our President.
Then, hop a flight to Baghdad International, grab ride to any street corner in Baghdad or Fallujah and talk shit about Saddam Hussein.
See where you live longer.
You don’t even need to talk shit in Iraq…
You don’t even need to be standing on the corner…
An Ann Coulter article addressing this topic.
It’s our party, you can cry if you want to
Ann Coulter (archive)
January 20, 2005 | 
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In what the New York Times called Angola’s “worst crisis” in “nearly 30 years” in December 1992, the country erupted into civil war. By January 1993, the streets were piled with thousands of dead bodies. In the prior year, hundreds of thousands had died of starvation in Somalia. Millions more were still at risk.
Also in 1993, January floods left dozens dead and thousands homeless in Tijuana, Mexico. Russia was, according to a New York Times editorial, on the brink of disaster, facing economic circumstances like those “that helped bring forth Hitler.” Nine people were killed in a volcano in Colombia in mid-January, including American scientists. In Bosnia, according to the Times, hundreds had died of starvation and exposure in a matter of days.
“It has all been so much fun,” Frank Rich and Maureen Dowd gushed in the New York Times in January 1993. It was Bill Clinton’s one-week inaugural celebration. “Is it too much to ask that it go on forever?” (For those who loved America, the next eight years would only seem to go on forever.)
Rich and Dowd quoted Hollywood agent Karen Russell, saying: “I’m in this fantasy world. I haven’t slept. I’m punch drunk. … I just feel like I’m in this place called Clinton-land” – which, if it were a theme park, could bill itself as “the sleaziest place on Earth!” Russell, they said, “spoke for everyone.”
While dead bodies rotted in the streets of Angola and Somalia, the only “dead soldiers” in evidence in Clinton-land were the empty Cristal bottles lining the parade route. The most massive relief efforts that week took place at the rows of portable toilets circling each site of drunken Clintonista revelry.
Instead of having the usual Inauguration Day in 1993, Clinton had an “Inauguration Week,” with high-tech pageantry, large-screen TVs on the mall, Hollywood direction and, indeed, half of Hollywood. The amount of money that would have been saved just by holding the inauguration in Brentwood could have averted the Rwandan tragedy Clinton ignored just a few years later.
The spokesman for Clinton’s 1993 Inaugural Committee said the inaugural events would cost about $25 million – largesse exceeded only by the $50 million Ken Starr was forced to spend when “Clintonland” turned out to be populated with felons. Think of all the starving children in Angola, Somalia, Bosnia and elsewhere that $25 million could have fed! And don’t even get me started on Michael Moore’s “on location” food budget!
I wouldn’t mention it, except for the Times’ recent editorial snippily remarking that the amount of foreign aid to tsunami victims offered by the United States within the first few days of the disaster was “less than half of what Republicans plan to spend on the Bush inaugural festivities.” By that logic, why hold the Golden Globes, the Academy Awards, or spend money on restaurants and theater productions praised in the New York Times? That money could go to tsunami victims!
A letter writer to the Times redoubled the Times’ bile, claiming to be “embarrassed for our country” on account of the government’s “pathetic initial offer of aid” to the tsunami victims. Yet he was still willing to throw away 37 cents on a postage stamp to send his letter – money that could have been spent on the relief effort! (One strongly suspects the letter writer was embarrassed for his country long before the tsunami hit and will remain so long after.)
Another letter writer suggested the first lady wear a used dress to the inauguration to “honor the young people who are dying in her husband’s misbegotten war.” (To honor John Kerry’s position on Iraq, Mrs. Bush would have to order an expensive gown and then, after it was delivered, decide she didn’t want to pay for it.)
Hollywood liberals could not be reached for comment on the cost of the inauguration because they were being fitted for gowns and jewelry worth millions of dollars in anticipation of Oscar night.
Speaking of which, I just remembered: George Soros is worth $7 billion! Couldn’t he get by on, say, $1 billion and donate the rest to the tsunami victims? If gun owners have to explain why they “need” a so-called “assault rifle,” shouldn’t Soros have to explain why he “needs” $7 billion? Last year, Soros announced that the central focus of his life would be removing Bush from office. Would that Soros could refocus that energy on alleviating the suffering of tsunami victims.
I read your article. While not my cup of tea it still didn’t say W was reimbursing Washington DC for the cost. I have no problem with the incoming president throwing whatever party he wants but it should be BYOB you don’t show up at someone’s house, throw a rager and then tell them to pay for it.
I would pay for watching Francois teach her!
The $50,000,000 for the Inauguration is all private money. The parties are paid for basically by the people who attend.
I admit the governement picks up the security bill, which is enormous.
There’s two issues here. The first is whether or not a $50 million inauguration party is appropriate during war and tsunami relief efforts. The second is about security funds for D.C. I don’t care much about the first, because it is private donations. The second seems odd. Usually D.C. gets reimbursed for it’s security expenses for inauguration. This year the administration told them to just take it out of their Homeland Security money, which is already earmarked for actual Homeland Security stuff not related to inauguration. The actual number is around $17million, but some $5million is covered by money set aside because of D.C.'s status as the capitol. The other $11.9million seems reasonable considering that Boston and New York each got $50million from Congress for the Conventions.
I know there is a squabble between the City and the Feds, but I have a very hard time getting excited about it. Which government pocket foots the bill is no big deal. At the end of the day when the city needs more money for whatever, Congress will fork it over.
The Inauguration is a celebration of democracy. It symbolizes the selection of America’s leaders by the people by a peaceful, democratic process. If that isn’t a good reason for a party, I don’t know what is.
I suppose we could cancel the Inauguration, The Academy Awards, the Golden Globe Awards, the various celebrity weddings and all IM competitions until such time as there is no pain and suffering in the world, but that could be a long time.
Well, first off, I’m not at all excited about this issues. I don’t really care, but the citizens of D.C. do. However, I am quickly getting tired of lumping the Inauguration in with the Oscars, or the Golden Globes or whatever. Last I checked, the Inauguration of the President of the United States was in a different category from awarding the best Supporting Actress in a Film Oscar. For one thing, the Academy pays the city for all the security expenses.
I really don’t know if the DC residents have a legitimate reason to whine or not. I don’t have any idea how many hundreds of millions they get from Congress, but I am quite sure the Inaugural expenses get lost in the rounding. I am sure if Kerry were being inaugurated today, DC would not be whining.
I doubt the various parties pay all their expenses any more the WTC pays all the expenses for an IM. WTC passes the hat to the host city. Those that don’t fork over don’t get the event.
I remember the last few years of Clinton’s term in which he and his entourage were running up never before seen bills on foreign travel. I am talking huge numbers. Gee, too bad. He is the President of the United States and he can damn well go where he wants. He is not a prisoner in the White House because we can’t afford to protect him anywhere else.
Bush, or any other president, can do whatever he wants, and the taxpayers are going to pay to protect him. All is right with the world.
How about this then. President Bush’s inauguration costs are not out of line.
Inaugural price tag in line with history
By Joseph Curl
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Reuters news agency this week headlined a story, “Critics Say Bush Inaugural Too Lavish for Wartime,” then quoted one “critic,” Rep. Anthony Weiner, New York Democrat, who complained that the estimated $40 million for the Bush-Cheney inauguration is extravagant.
The Associated Press moved a story that asked, “With that kind of money, what could you buy?” The answer, the wire service said: “200 armored Humvees … vaccinations and preventive health care for 22 million children … and a down payment on the nation’s deficit.”
But a review of the cost for past inaugurations shows Mr. Bush’s will cost less than President Clinton’s second inauguration in 1997, which cost about $42 million. When the cost is adjusted for inflation, Mr. Clinton’s second-term celebration exceeds Mr. Bush’s by about 25 percent.
According to the Consumer Price Index, $42 million in 1997 is the equivalent of $49.5 in 2004.
The significant majority of funding for this year’s festivities, including nine officials balls, are from private donations and tickets for events held by the Presidential Inaugural Committee, a similar setup to fund raising Mr. Clinton used to underwrite his inauguration. Mr. Clinton had a record 12 balls in 1997.
A Jan. 20, 1997, story by USA Today estimated about $12.7 million of Mr. Clinton’s inauguration was financed by U.S. taxpayers. Initial estimates indicate the District will foot about $17 million in security costs this year.
“Every inaugural, there’s a really good reason given why you should spend whatever donors are sending in on something else,” Rich Galen, a veteran Republican activist, told the Associated Press, saying many of the complaints come from the losers of the election.
Mr. Weiner and Rep. Jim McDermott, Washington Democrat, in a letter to President Bush said that a celebration during the war on terror is inappropriate and the money could be better spent, saying the funds could be used pay for 690 Humvees and a $290 bonus for each soldier serving in Iraq.
“Precedent suggests that inaugural festivities should be muted — if not canceled — in wartime,” said the letter, which cited President Roosevelt’s scaled back inauguration in 1945 that had a menu of cold chicken salad and pound cake.
Tracey Schmitt, a spokeswoman for the Presidential Inaugural Committee, and White House officials say the inauguration is an American tradition that transcends partisan politics and is a symbol to the world.
President Johnson didn’t eschew pageantry in 1965, racking up a $1.6 million bill for inaugural festivities despite the Vietnam War, historian Robert Dallek told Reuters.
In 1997, there was grumbling that the inauguration cost too much. But Clinton spokesman Barry Toiv said at the time, “It’s really a symbol to the world and has been for over 200 years, and it’s worth celebrating.”
This year, the inaugural committee has taken a similar tact, dubbing the events “Celebrating Freedom, Honoring Service.”