How many millions did Junior's little 2.5 hour turkey-bussing stunt...

[ClassWarrior]

...cost the hard-working American taxpayer??!

:mad:

[Uzybone]

1. We should bill this trip to the RNC

all these Bush 04 photo ops at taxpayer expense makes me sick. Shameless bastards.

[joefree1]

2. Hey W is try live down his previous stunt

That little 9/11 panic flight he took around the USA while good and brave people died in New York.

Obviously the smirk wasn't worried about "Weapons of Mass Destruction" in Iraq. Guess he don't believe his own lies.

[ClassWarrior]

3. I wonder...

...if Junior checked in the turkey's cavity for WMD. Buried in the stuffing y'know.

We need to make sure people realize that he's playing politics on our Roosevelt dime.

Two and a half hours. Sheeeshhh.

[juajen]

4. Probably not as much as the Britain visit

Frankly, I would rather spend money on the troops. At the very least, presidential visits to the war zone should happen. It's to his discredit that this is the first. But, better late than never.

IMO, too much is being said on DU about this visit. It is a typical expenditure during wartime. *'s visit might have cost more, I don't know. I know his security is normally excessive and off-putting. Unhappily, I believe that this security might be to protect him from reality; i.e., many, many people dislike him and his policies, than to protect him physically. In the alternative, he could just be scared to death. That fits with his runaway after 9/11 and his use of family name and money to avoid Vietnam, the extra security at the White House, and so many tightly controlled appearances, and most notably, keeping protestors at unprecedented and unconstitutional distances

[ClassWarrior]

5. Of course it's a typical expenditure.

We all know that.

But it's also an opportunity to smear a blatant P.R. stunt, and to label it as such.

We might as well get some value for our buck, just like the flightsuit stunt.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

10. How Is This A Typical Expenditure?

Bush didn't see any number of troops worth mentioning. The 400 or 500 troops who saw him are a drop in the bucket compared to the 130,000 there now. This trip certainly didn't boost the morale of the troops in general, as only a few saw him. It would have made more sense to fly them in to Washington. It would have been cheaper, in fact.

[leyton]

12. It would still boost morale in general.

I think it is still a morale boost in general. I know this is defending Bush, but honestly, I'll bet that many of the troops over there would be pleased to see that he showed up, knowing that he can't see all the troops because it's not practical and it's not safe.

A PR stunt? I'm sure the GOP will have a ball with the story, but it's also a genuine morale boost, if you ask me.

[catmandu57]

6. $57,000 per hour

thats fifty seven thousand per hour is the figure I read here yesterday, I guess the meter started running from the time airforce one taxied out to the time it went back into the hangar.

[catzies]

7. IIRC, the round trip was 27 hours total, so it's easy math

$1,539,000.00

:mad:

[ClassWarrior]

8. Only a million and a half?

I guess they didn't have to have a prosthetic codpiece made this time...

[nostamj]

9. how many FLAK JACKETS

would that buy???

[Ksec]

11. Im amazed they were able to fly across the world in such secrecy

Makes you wonder if they can pull this off so easily some of these conspiracy theories circulating arent so hard to swallow. Think about it. He flew to the other side of the globe without any media scooping it.