President Obama's India Trip Costs Bring About More Republican Lies By Dennis Bakay at 11:30 am on Friday November 5, 2010
Republicans are once again taking the low road as they accuse President Obama of spending $200 million per day on his trip to India. They base their outrageous claims on The Press Trust of India. Rumor has it that Obama's trip to India will require over 2,000 people for security as well as his accomodations at the Taj Mahal. "The huge amount of around $200 million would be spent on security, stay and other aspects of the Presidential visit," a top official of the Maharashtra Government privy to the arrangements for the high-profile visit said. This bogus report about Obama's India Trip was debunked by snopes.com. U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann (not exactly a rocket scientist) ranted that his trip "is expected to cost the taxpayers $200 million a day," she said. "He's taking two thousand people with him. He'll be renting out over 870 rooms in India. And these are 5-star hotel rooms at the Taj Mahal Palace hotel. This is the kind of over-the-top spending." Chris Matthews is right. Michele Bachmann must be hypnotized if she truly believes this nonsense. When you consider it costs 5.7 billion per month for the War in Afghanistan it's not just silly, but delusional to accuse the President of spending $200 million per day on a trip. Of course other GOP'ers like Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and Glenn Beck ran with this bogus story. To date, President Clinton's 5-nation-trip in 2000 was the most expensive trip ever for a President. And, that trip costed our nation $50 million in total. Clinton traveled to India, Bangladesh, Oman, Pakistan, and Switzerland. The Pentagon's press secretary, Geoff Morrell, told reporters that the claims were "comical." "I will take the liberty this time of dismissing as absolutely absurd this notion that somehow we were deploying 10% of the Navy -- some 34 ships and an aircraft carrier -- in support of the president's trip to Asia," Morrell said. The Republicans should be focused on how they'll help to turn the economy around now that they have a GOP-majority in the House instead of resorting to the con-game of rumor mongering. More: http://www.philly2philly.com/politics_community/the_water_cooler/2010/11/5/45512/president_obamas_india_trip_costs_bring_about_mo -- Together, we can change the world, one mind at a time. Have a great day, Tommy -- Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups. For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/ * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls. * Read the latest breaking news, and more.
