Posted by
Mike Bates on Wednesday, August 17, 2011 5:06:53 PM
Posted today on the Chicago Tribune's Clout Street blog is the story"GOP attacks Obama bus, but Bush did same," written by Rick Pearson. It begins:
As President Barack Obama traveled to the first of two “town hall”
stops in western Illinois today, top national and state Republicans
criticized his campaign-style visit and criticized his use of a
taxpayer-funded Canadian-manufactured bus as part of a jobs tour.
But no mention was made by Republican National Chairman Reince Priebus
or Illinois GOP Chairman Pat Brady that a re-election seeking President
George W. Bush used a bus from the same manufacturer, Quebec-based
Prevost, for a spring 2004 “Yes, America Can” campaign tour through the
Midwest.
The writer reports, as the Associated Press has,
that the $1.1 million Obama bus was purchased with tax dollars. But he
ignores that the bus used by President Bush was leased by his 2004
campaign, using voluntary contributions. There's a world of difference,
but why let facts get in the way of yet another effort to cover for the
most inept president in history?
A May 5, 2004 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article titled "A busload of
election fodder: Bush campaign rides into heart of manufacturing on
Canada-built vehicle" reported:
The guts of the 45-foot-long bus were made in the United States,
including the sturdy Detroit Diesel engine. And much of the value of the
imposing coach was added during its conversion by a Nashville firm that
also has included as its clients Aerosmith, Toby Keith, Britney Spears
and Christian performers Amy Grant and Third Day.
And later:
The Bush campaign is leasing the president's bus and seven others from
the Hemphill brothers of Nashville, from whom the campaign leased in
2000.
$1.1 million in tax dollars for Obama to travel in luxury for a few
days as he bashes Republicans. We're the ones getting taken for a ride.
But don't expect that to be worth a story in the mainstream media.