White House is getting "touchy": DON'T CALL IT A VACATION!

[Bluebear]

It's NOT a vacation! It's NOT a vacation! It's NOT, it's NOT, it's NOT"

============

Bush says it's no vacation at his Crawford ranch
By JULIE MASON
Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON - President Bush has decamped to Crawford. Call it something other than a vacation, says the White House.

Just talking about what the administration calls a non-vacation makes Bush sputter like his father did.

"I have a busy couple of weeks down there, and I have a lot — going to have meetings with people who come — from my administration who come down, the economic people," Bush said last week. "(Donald) Rumsfeld and his team; Condi (Rice) will come down."...

White House officials are touchy about criticism of Bush's traditional August break, because most Americans don't get five weeks of vacation a year, nor do they have access to Camp David, the presidential retreat in Maryland where Bush sometimes spends weekends. So they call the ranch the Western White House and say that modern communications allow the president to stay in close contact with key aides and maintain a regular work schedule.

http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/nation/3298735

[BrklynLiberal]

1. Tsk Tsk . Getting a bit cranky, aren't we?

http://www.auburn.edu/~murraba/elucid/baby,crying,tantrum.jpg

[newyawker99]

49. Shrubbie is on.......

V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N!!!


:puke:

[Snotcicles]

78. It's not a Rose. It's a red Flower. n/t

[raccoon]

91. "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet." nt

[ray of light]

88. how much is this nonvacation costing us tax payers to have...

DC people fly to him in Camp Crawford?


btw...
funny picture...lol

[beam me up scottie]

2. Articulate as always, isn't he?

:rofl:

[MichiganVote]

3. Voluntary lay-off with pay and benefits on a 1600acre ranch w/staff?

Sure, George, we feel your pain.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

4. going to have a lot of meetings, eh?

how about one with Cindy?

[Spock_is_Skeptical]

5. Okay, bush is off FUCKIN' ABOUT & getting paid for it.

See, I didn't say "vacation."

[lonestarnot]

93. Fucking about! LOL Fucking About hehehehe I love that phrase

fucking about fucking about! I think I'll do some fucking about! Skeptical Spock... you are great! Fucking about.... yeah do some fucking about....bushitler you vacation'n bitch you're FUCKING ABOUT!

[yorkiemommie1]

6. VACATION VACATION VACATION VACATION

VACATION!!!!!!!!!!!

[niallmac]

17. VACATION!

[nadinbrzezinski]

25. VACATION

[Imagevision]

86. And I pray that Cindy is somehow able to keep the spotlight on this jerk

of a president - President? Bush gives the word a bad name!

[Rosco T.]

7. Idea for the FLASH artists... the Go-Go's song VACATION ....

.. and some still of Shrub clearing Shrub, and pictures from IRAQ...

[against all enemies]

8. "It's hard work:" Fucking off for 4 weeks while kids die.

"Bring them on" it must make Bush happy when the enemy listens to him.

[w8liftinglady]

9. actually-5 weeks...but who's counting?

[against all enemies]

37. Made me laugh-thanks.

[SammyWinstonJack]

52. Apparently a lot of people are counting and it's making

pResident *Hard Work* very pissy! :bounce:

[atommom]

10. He's going to have a lot -- a lot of shots of tequila -- with the people

who come down. It's hard work!

[Inland]

20. There's...happy hour, and ..... sometimes golf.... s'mores....

But there are a lot of unplanned activities.... arts and crafts, hiking.....

[atommom]

46. I hear those PDBs make great kindling!

[jimshoes]

11. Why is it

the ones at the top seem to get to fuck off the most?

[EST]

16. Rank hath its privileges, and bushbaby is pretty rank!

[fearnobush]

12. Osama Bin Laden Determined to Attack Inside the United States...

That too was a vacation.

<>


<http://www.venganza.org>

[stepnw1f]

13. Silver Spoon Over Privileged Prick

The arrogance...

[Buns_of_Fire]

14. Hmmmmm... Touched a nerve here, have we?

Well, what else can America say but...

It's a VACATION! It's a VACATION! It's a VACATION! It's a VACATION! It's a VACATION! It's a VACATION! It's a VACATION! It's a VACATION! It's a VACATION! It's a VACATION! It's a VACATION! It's a VACATION! Our kids are dying in Iraq and this lazy, sorry sack o' shit takes a @#$%^&* 5-WEEK VACATION!!! :grr:

[teach1st]

15. Question about logistics...

Who pays for all the "economic people" and Rumsfeld's team and Condi and The Professor and Mary Ann to fly down to the pig farm for meetings?

I know the answer.

[SammyWinstonJack]

54. Americans who don't get 5 week VACATIONS or vacations at

all, that's who. Hey FReeps doesn't this bother you in the least? Your President thinks nothing of taking 5 weeks VACATION while outsourcing your jobs, jobs that probably don't even provide paid vacations. But hey, at least gays can't marry. :dunce:

[Booster]

18. The only thing I've ever agreed with Bush on......

being in Crawford, Texas, in August certainly ain't no vacation.

[sam sarrha]

19. Damn It, It is still a Strugle, or a Battle.. Hey Rove..what do we spin it

today...:rofl:

[bahrbearian]

21. "I have a busy couple of weeks down there,"

Chimpy just got there last week, my how time flys, and where is "there"?

[Son of California]

22. great pic by the way.

god! talk about unpresidential

[democrat in Tallahassee]

23. I hear the White House is a horrible place to live just horrible--no

wonder he wants to get away as often as possible

[Stirk]

24. "modern communications allow (him) to maintain a regular work schedule".

Sure, no problem. Considering the fact that his "regular work schedule" is basically 2 hours of playing on his bike, that's not hard at all.

[nadinbrzezinski]

26. Notice last presnits to use that were ... Ronald Reagan,

who to his credit actually worked.. then of course his dad at Kenebunport

[robertpaulsen]

27. THAT'S NOT WHAT YOU TOLD CINDY SHEEHAN!

GODDAMN HYPOCRITICAL MOTHERFUCKER!

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

28. Hey, George. Fuck you.

You're a lazy dimwit that doesn't have a clue.

Fuck you twice, you stupid son of a bitch.

I feel better now.

[rurallib]

30. Let me add a 'Fuck you, George' (felt good thank you)

[TheCowsCameHome]

29. Only a fruitcake would go to Crawford for meetings in the mid-summer

That's like a taking a vacation in hell.

[Gabi Hayes]

45. he's just trying to get used to where he'll be FOREVER!

[Hekate]

79. Hallucinations courtesy of Hieronymous Bosch

Whoo it's hot down there! (in Crawford, of course)
Prairie Chicken Ranch
The Crooked W
The All Hat No Cattle Pig Farm

Hekate

[B Calm]

31. How many damn round trips to Crawford has the tax payers paid for?

[stevedeshazer]

32. Nothing pisses me off more than the "Western White House" claim.

It's East Texas, asshole. I'm 2,500 miles NORTHWEST of this idiot.

[burythehatchet]

33. I don't think its a vacation either

call it sort of a software upgrade, installing patches and so on.

[AussieDave]

34. Look - it's HARD WORK running this country

into the ground !!

It's HARD WORK sending troops over to Iraq to fight and die for no good reason !!

It's HARD WORK looking this stoopid AND keeping a straight face !!

It's HARD WORK clearing the same brush over and over again for you dolts in the media !!

IT'S HARD WORK , DAMMIT !!!!

[SammyWinstonJack]

56. LOL

:spray: "It HARD WORK clearing the same brush over and over again for you dolts in the media!" Too funny!

[uncle ray]

35. i guess it depends on how you look at it

technically, yes, he's on vacation, from his "day" job, preznit of the united states, but while he's collecting his vacation pay from us, he's working on the PNAC dime. so yeah, he's still working, just not for us.

[moodforaday]

36. And Condi will come...

"Down", I'm sure.

VACATION!!

[JohnyCanuck]

38. Think of it more as a brush clearing operation. n/t

[merh]

39. 26 soldiers have died since he began this vacation.

I wonder how many have died in toto during his "vacations"?

:nuke: :mad:

:cry:

[Bluebear]

40. For the morning folk. I love this story hehehe nt

[opihimoimoi]

41. Sleeps in, golfs, lounges on the safe sofa..trying to figure out the TV

remote.,...5 minute meetings, calls for pizza.....VACATION, its a freaking Vacation...the whoile 5 years has been one vacation...

That boy don't hunt...

[Bluebear]

67. "trying to figure out the TV remote"

:rofl:

[Crankie Avalon]

42. Probably my favorite part of the story...

Bush, according to the poll, takes about as many days off each year as a typical worker in France. The French get 39 days off each year and generally use all but one, the poll said.

So, while we sweat, this spoiled brat gets to live it up like a Frenchman???

Sacre bleu!!!

[atommom]

47. Damn, why couldn't someone have picked up on this during the

campaign? I think the French-haters are totally ludicrous, but it would have been fun to turn their own rhetoric back against them.

John Kerry -- hard working American war hero

GW -- works even less than the FRENCH!

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

60. ROFLMAO.."works even less than the French!" dang, atommom,

coffee sprayed everywhere!! MKJ

:spray:

[Solly Mack]

43. Leedle shrubbie-bubbie is on the defensive

[msrbly]

44. Me thinks he doth protest too much. nt

[Toots]

48. Our Whitehouse "The People's Whitehouse" is not good enough for Bush*

Apparently. If he is not on vacation why is he not at his office?

[Catherine Vincent]

50. It is a vacation.

They may be able to fool the sheep in the republican party but they can't fool the rest of us.

[SammyWinstonJack]

51. On the defensive much?

:rofl: Being pRez is 'hard werk'. Proves that the little worm knows it's just wrong for him to be on VACATION when the Country is so messed up and the troops he put in harms' way are being slaughtered daily. Is that an actual pic of the pResident Whine Bag? Geez, what a cry baby.

[Terran]

53. Then PROVE IT, asswipe

Publish an actual schedule of what you do there, and we'll see (assuming there's any truth to it) how many hours a day you spend "working".

[Puzzler]

55. OK...

... "HOLIDAY" will do just fine then.

HOLIDAY, HOLIDAY, HOLIDAY!!!


-P

[SammyWinstonJack]

57. Apparently a French HOLIDAY.

He seems to be keeping up with the French in terms of VACATION/HOLIDAY time. :yoiks:

[Norquist Nemesis]

58. More Luntzspeak!

It's a "break"! (break, shmeak! Either way, it implies a suspension from regularly assigned duties)

The "Western White House" (Does that mean it will be donated to the US in January 2009 so future Presidents can use it, too?)

"Retreat" (Ah, yes. The term used for managers going off-site and golfing for three days while they construct the company's strategic goals, marketing, etc.)

The next thing you know, he'll be on an extended weekend! LOL

[Roland99]

59. "working on some initiatives"

:eyes:

[lonestarnot]

95. Fucking about....werk'n on nititives.

[tk2kewl]

61. How about: DERELICTION OF DUTY

:grr:

[Mad_Dem_X]

62. Don't forget ranch maintenance...

All that brush won't clear itself! :hi:

[SillyGoose]

63. How much is it going to cost for this "working vacation"?

A "working vacation" means shuttling Condi, Rummy, the economic people and all the other requisite staffers back and forth for 5 long weeks. We provide the White House in DC to conduct the nation's business. Why should we have to fund the logistics of moving the government to his ranch?

The way I see it, a 5 week "working vacation" is not necessary. If he wants to take a regular vacation for, say, 2 weeks, fine. But don't give us this crap about a needing such a lengthy working vacation when it costs money to conduct business outside of DC.

One more thing, I'm getting tired of all this jetting around the country that Bush does. The Air Force estimates it costs $56,800-per-hour to run Air Force One. That's a lot of bananas. Is it really necessary to run off to New Mexico to "tout" the energy bill?

[mykpart]

75. Not only that, but I'm wondering

if he is charging the taxpayers for part of the maintenance of his ranch, since he "works" there? Or is he just taking it off his income tax?

[raccoon]

64. What I'm getting touchy about

is the corporate media calling his place in Crawford a "ranch."

It's NOT a ranch!

[Ms. Clio]

66. Well, it used to be a pig farm--and certainly the old term "hog ranch"

seems appropriate, i.e., rural whorehouse.

[raccoon]

90. I love it! nt

[Stephanie]

65. "most Americans don't get five weeks of vacation a year"

There's an understatement.

Every single thing these people do just infuriates me.

[opihimoimoi]

68. President Truman and FDR took far less Vacation during WAR than this DUDE

called W

Bush has said it many times.."WE ARE AT WAR...make no mistake about it...WE ARE AT WAR...."

If this war was so important as he implies...WTF is a 5 week vacation?

That boy don't get it....thinks he is GOD.

[lovuian]

69. Michael Moore said it!!! This man doesn't know the meaning

of what work is!!!

[Incitatus]

70. Caption

It's my vacation and I'll cry if I want to, cry if I want to.....

But seroiusly, he looks like he just crapped his pants.

[texanwitch]

73. I agree

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[aaronbees]

71. There's never been an administration....

that's mangled simple language as badly as this one! Call it what it is ... vacation !!! And the "economic people"??? What the fuck is that? Are they related to the "Village People?" Doubt it - they don't sound like that much fun.

[FreedomAngel82]

72. Oh brother

[Swamp Rat]

74. Bushler is getting "touchy?!"

Does that mean he's going to kill more people in another "9/11" and nuke Iran?

Done enough murdering yet Bushler?

[Fridays Child]

76. Wish I could take off the equivalent of one year out of every five.

[NewJeffCT]

77. maintain a normal work schedule?

you mean,

get up at 9:00am,
jog & exercise for an hour,
read the sports section,
shower,
break for lunch,
daydream while Condi reads the PDB
call up friends at Exxon & Chevron to see if they need any more tax breaks, talk about last night's Rangers game.
change clothes for brush clearing photo-op
change back for dinner with one of the Saudis.
watch Fox News after dinner
watch the start of the ball game on TV
turn in at 10:00pm

[Fleshdancer]

80. one tiny mistake on the daily schedule....

You wrote "read the sports section" but Bush doesn't read the paper so maybe he watches ESPN for an hour instead.

:)

[NewJeffCT]

82. thanks - forgot that

maybe one of the little people read it to him.

[susu369]

81. Let's get picky: five weeks is NOT a month

it's MORE than a "month long vacation" - I mean, non vacation.

:evilgrin:

[movie_girl99]

83. his brain is always on vacation even if his body isn't

he should be touchy about this subject. He spends a ridiculous amount of time away from the WH.

[FormerOstrich]

84. Western White House

This was posted earlier this year but I thought it would be timely to post it again now


Did President Bush Violate the U.S. Constitution in Designating His Private Property in Texas the Seat of the Executive Branch of U.S. Government?


Scandal Involving the So-Called "Western White House" Far From Trivial, Implicating Both the Events of September the 11th, 2001, The President's Ongoing Penchant for Propaganda, and His Historic Disregard for the Constitutionally-Mandated Separation of Powers

By ADVOCATE STAFF

Remember September 11th, 2001?

Of course you do.

We all do.

....snip

Which brings us to the headline emblazoned above, which should be every bit as troubling to the average citizen as it was to us at The Nashua Advocate when we first stumbled across the story.

So, to begin.

...snip

White House officials point out that the president is never off the clock. They refer to the 30 days at his Texas ranch--now it's called the Western White House--as a working vacation. He'll receive daily national security updates and handle the duties of the Oval Office from his 1,583-acre spread near Crawford.

...snip

And lest anyone doubt that the White House's intention in August of 2001 was to move the Seat of Government, one need only consider the statement articulating same by the President's Chief Adviser (bolded above), as well as the inescapable fact that, approximately thirty days prior to the worst assault on America soil since Pearl Harbor, the Bush Administration actually put up a sign declaring Bush's private property to be the "Western White House."

...snip

The Nashua Advocate here puts forward the following premise: the President's declaration that the seat of the Executive Branch of government would, during the entirety of his Administration, and whensoever he might choose, be variously something other than property owned by the citizens of the United States--and in a "District" duly designated by the Legislative Branch as the Seat of Government--was an illegal act for which any member of the Legislative Branch could now seek immediate redress, remedy, and injunction in a court of law.

The President can vacation wherever he likes, but he cannot establish a "Western White House" and declare, as he has, that the operations of the Executive Branch of government will from time to time be conducted solely from a location that is, in no uncertain terms, his own private property.

...snip

The President's "Western White House" fails each and every one of these tests. Which means both that it isn't the "Western White House" and may not be called that, and that the President may not make his Crawford ranch the Seat of Government for the Executive Branch for any period of time, period. Meaning, he can vacation there but can't set up even semi-permanent operations (let alone 42%-of-his-reign operations) in the State of Texas, whatever his Chief Adviser thinks.

...snip

Second, there are damn good reasons the Founding Fathers gave the most representative branch of government control over where and how the President would set up the Executive Branch of government.

...snip

There is no Western White House.

There is just a White House.

And it is the People's House.

And when the President goes to Crawford, Texas, he goes on vacation--not to his "other office" or to a second Seat of Government which, conveniently, he owns, controls, operates, maintains, and, in the private-citizen sense, governs exclusively.

The Crawford ranch is a private residence.

Calling it anything more than that, especially as a justification for escaping accountability in Washington, and/or escaping the demands of the People's representatives, is quite simply illegal.

That's right, illegal.

...more

http://nashuaadvocate.blogspot.com/2005/04/did-president-bush-violate-us.html

[Norquist Nemesis]

89. How much taxpayer dollars went into the Bush Estate?

From everything I've heard and read, that place had technology installed so that "The President" has the ability to remain in touch with advisers, et al...and not just secure phones either.

That also begs the question, in January 2009, will that equipment be removed? Or will Bush still have the technological access to matters of State?

[kskiska]

85. If this isn't his vacation,

when IS his vacation? I'm sure he must be entitled to SOME vacation time. The poor man is going to work himself to death at this rate.
:shrug:

[Mutley]

87. I heard on the radio yesterday

(Sorry, no link. But it was on "Out To Lunch", a lunchtime radio show in Baltimore) that Bush has spent nearly 20% of his presidency on vacation. :wow:

[Rob H.]

92. "I don' gedda nap today? I wanna nap! I WANNA NAP! WHA-A-A-H!"

[4 t 4]

94. Just think........

five whole weeks of bike riding! Fall much freak boy ? Question: How much can one person fall off a bike? Answer: ?