Sanotorum gives dating advice!

[SirNitram]

Link

Number one, I think it's great that the president has a date night with his wife. He's a role model.He's a role model in particular, whether he likes it or not, in the African-American community.

And you have an African-American community, particularly in the poor inner city areas, we're looking at out of wedlock birthrates in three quarters to 75 percent (sic) of children being born out of wedlock. Marriage is an institution that's a bridge too far for too many African-American woman and is not desirable among African-American males.

Here we have a president of the United States who says that marriage is cool. You have respect for your wife, and you treat her with the respect and dignity that she deserves. And she is part of this team. And it's not just part of professional team, but it's also part of a personal, romantic team. I think that's all great. So I think it's important that he keeps having his date night.

I think he has to realize that flying to New York is self-indulgent. Go down to the corner bar and have a drink, a shot and a beer. It does not matter where you go with your wife, is that it's with your wife. That's really the point... I would make the argument, the simpler the date, the more normal it is.

It connects to people. Here is what you do. Here is how you do it. And it is not going to Broadway. All right, once in awhile, you do something special. But it is mundane that really makes the marriage special, but because you are with your wife the mundane isn't mundane. It's special.

Can words add anything that bolding doesn't?

[The Duchess of Zeon]

"a drink, a shot, and a beer" ? It sounds like Santorum is practicing for a George Thorogood cover band. And what's up with that "three-quarters to 75%" comment? Is he really that dumb? I considered him to be evil, not stupid.

[Sea Skimmer]

"a drink, a shot, and a beer" ? It sounds like Santorum is practicing for a George Thorogood cover band. And what's up with that "three-quarters to 75%" comment? Is he really that dumb? I considered him to be evil, not stupid.

You considered wrong, I know, I had to put up with his ads and campaigning for years. He’s stupid, really really fucking stupid. He only ever got elected in the first place because a fair chunk of PA is just like the deep south, and everyone was in backlash mode against Clinton’s election.

[Patrick Degan]

Ricky is just trying to put some gloss of justification for the latest pointless attack on Obama from the party which had no problem with their precious chimpenfuehrer spending most of his two terms in office on vacation.

[Nephtys]

So.... out of town excursions are anti-american?

[The Duchess of Zeon]

So.... out of town excursions are anti-american?

When they're done in a plane to New York, instead of a GMC Yukon SUV to Hershey's Chocolate World.

[Darth Wong]

I like the way nobody ever calculated the costs (travel, secret service, etc) for George W. Bush's incessant travel to and from his ranch in Texas, but every dime Obama spends on anything not directly related to official business is tallied and trumpeted to the American people as left-wing waste.

[tim31]

When former Aussie PM John Howard announced in 1996 that he would live in Sydney and commute to Canberra as required, Canberrans were outraged. Probably because they hadn't thought of doing that themselves. But christ knows how much money was pissed away by him being ferried back and forth several times a week. And the new PM insisted on silver service for every flight he took, which apparently adds a noticable amount to the budget of the RAAF squadron responsible... But then that could just be news media heckling.

[SirNitram]

I like the way nobody ever calculated the costs (travel, secret service, etc) for George W. Bush's incessant travel to and from his ranch in Texas, but every dime Obama spends on anything not directly related to official business is tallied and trumpeted to the American people as left-wing waste.

Shouldn't be too hard. Known facts: DC is 1295 miles from Crawford, TX. Disclosed airspeed of AF-1 is 630 MPH.

From this oversight document on the use of AF-1 for Presidential trips to campaign stops, we had the Bush-era cost of such travel at 56,518 dollars per hour for AF-1. As cited, the accompanying cargo planes rack up 6,960 dollars an hour.

From this CBS report, Bush jetsetted back to his ranch for photo-ops 77 times.

I think this works out to 226,072 per trip, and 17.4 Million total... JUST FOR THE FLIGHTS.

[FSTargetDrone]

Christ on a stick, Santorum sounds like the kind of guy who'd spend a wedding anniversary with his wife by having her make dinner. As usual. Then in bed by 9. To sleep.

[Darth Wong]

Anniversary dinner for the Santorums:

[tim31]

BURNS: Homer, I want you to show this woman the time of her life.

HOMER: Marge, we're getting drive through and doing it twice!

No doubt this character reading a dissertation on a M/R Wong romantic evening would start out with a satisfied smile on his face and wind up burning the pages and sterilizing his hands. And you guys aren't even perverted, not by the standards of the greater internet community.

[Big Phil]

Republicans bitched and moaned when Obama went to get a burger for Crissakes (he wanted SISSY FRENCH DIJON MUSTARD!!!); I'm pretty sure somebody would criticize him for going and having a beer with Michelle too. When it comes to the assholes on the right, Obama isn't going to be able to win.

[Patrick Degan]

I like the way nobody ever calculated the costs (travel, secret service, etc) for George W. Bush's incessant travel to and from his ranch in Texas, but every dime Obama spends on anything not directly related to official business is tallied and trumpeted to the American people as left-wing waste.

Give it another year and the rightards will be condemning Obama for taking Air Force One on actual presidential business.

[Cairber]

Someone over at Kos did a diary on the cost of Bush's ranch vacations:

link

calculations:

The minimum cost per trip to Crawford TX is $226,072. That's just the estimated cost of flying Air Force One round trip - about two hours of flight time each way at $56,518 per hour.

This report assumes that flight operating costs are $56,518 per hour for Air Force One

The distance from Crawford to Washington DC is 1295 miles.

TODAY'S AIR FORCE ONE Speed: 630 miles per hour

Knoller reports that Mr. Bush has made 77 visits to his ranch in Crawford during his presidency, and spent all or part of 490 days there.

[CarsonPalmer]

None of that matters. I tried to make that argument on a majority Republican forum, and I got two responses:

1. "President Bush was a good man, and I believe he made his decisions in good faith. I don't trust Obama, though. I think he did this to show off." [paraphrased]

2. "When President Bush went to Texas, he was working. That makes it different than a selfish night out." [not paraphrased, although this was from a person who was personally offended by Jimmy Carter's sweater and turning down the heat in the White House, because it was admitting defeat in the energy crisis, and Americans don't admit defeat; its a measure of the insanity of that place that this fellow is one of the more popular people on that forum]

[Patrick Degan]

None of that matters. I tried to make that argument on a majority Republican forum, and I got two responses:

1. "President Bush was a good man, and I believe he made his decisions in good faith. I don't trust Obama, though. I think he did this to show off." [paraphrased]

2. "When President Bush went to Texas, he was working. That makes it different than a selfish night out." [not paraphrased, although this was from a person who was personally offended by Jimmy Carter's sweater and turning down the heat in the White House, because it was admitting defeat in the energy crisis, and Americans don't admit defeat; its a measure of the insanity of that place that this fellow is one of the more popular people on that forum]

This ties into a point Mike is making on another subject in another thread: conservatives judge by personality type rather than action. On another vein he's touched upon, it's tribalism. Obama is not of their tribe, not a person like them, therefore every action of Obama's is suspicious and subject to attack. Chimpus Caesar on the other hand is one of their tribe, therefore a good man, therefore his actions must have been good since he has a good heart. There's no logic to it, of course.

[Oskuro]

I like the way nobody ever calculated the costs (travel, secret service, etc) for George W. Bush's incessant travel to and from his ranch in Texas, but every dime Obama spends on anything not directly related to official business is tallied and trumpeted to the American people as left-wing waste.

Heh, around these parts we have a shitstorm going on about the President recently using a military plane to attend a political act. Of course, the opposition lambasted him for careless spending. Then, when media with actual long term memory brought up the numerous times the opposition did the same thing while they were in power, even for less relevant goals, they suddenly cry foul and accuse the Government of bringing the whole thing up.

Really, how can these people wipe their own asses without suffering some crippling accident I'll never know.

You have respect for your wife, and you treat her with the respect and dignity that she deserves. And she is part of this team. And it's not just part of professional team, but it's also part of a personal, romantic team.

Erm, since when is marriage a professional union?