Was it just last week that the Right Wing Noise Machine was launching into a tirade about President Obama taking a $200 million a day trip to India and the Far East? Outrageous! Insane! Spendthrift! Arrogant! It was a fine dudgeon they whipped up.
And … it wasn’t true. Really. It wasn’t. It isn’t.
Which, of course, is why OneNewsNow is reporting it anew as, of course, a fact. Though, of course, they attribute the information to Gary Bauer, which I guess makes it all better.
A conservative activist and former presidential candidate thinks President Obama is demonstrating the height of arrogance in taking a billion-dollar taxpayer-funded trip to India and other Asian countries in the wake of the voters’ rebuke in the recent midterm elections.
The trip was planned long before the November 2 midterms, but many critics still question the size and scope of President Obama’s current trip to the Far East, which kicked off in India this past Saturday.
Gary Bauer, chairman of American Values, notes an arrogance about Obama since he took office in 2008. But he does not think the president understands the mandate he has received.
“I am astonished, after his sinking poll numbers, that he would not have the sensitivity to know that a country with nine-and-a-half percent unemployment doesn’t want to read or hear about a president that’s going to spend $200 million a day of taxpayer money taking over 1,000 people and 40 aircrafts to India,” Bauer laments.
The White House has disputed the one-billion-dollar price tag for the ten-day Asia trip, but reports out of India say a fleet of 34 Navy warships, including an aircraft carrier, were dispatched to patrol the seas off the coast of Mumbai. They also claim the White House shipped 40 cars and booked more than 800 upscale hotel rooms for Obama’s entourage to stay during the India portion of the president’s visit.
We’ll leave aside the idea that a major presidential trip to these countries is highly valuable to the political and economic interests of this nation. The fact is, pretty much every fact above is wrong, has been discredited, and yet is being repeated once more in order to establish it in the voters’ heads (along with some character assassination to go with it).
No coverage of this article would be complete without noting this special OneNewsNow (“A Division of the American Family News Network”) push poll to shape inquire about people’s opinions as to the trip.
What do you think is the main reason President Obama scheduled this trip so soon after the election?
1. He enjoys foreign affairs more than domestic affairs
2. He expected the election results would be bad
3. His poll numbers needed a boost
So I guess “American Values” means taking cheap shots and lying, and “American Family News” means unverified made-up stuff and “Spider-Man: Threat or Menace?” style surveys. Good to know.
Idjits.