NYT: In Bush's Trail, Scarred Ground

[Bumblebee]

In Bush's Trail, Scarred Ground

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/21/politics/21airforce.html

By MATTHEW L. WALD
Published: September 21, 2005

WASHINGTON, Sept. 20 - When people refer to battlegrounds in presidential races, they are usually not thinking of airport runways. But those people probably have not heard of Runway 4/22 at the airport in Las Cruces, N.M.

The runway, the airport's longest, has been closed since President Bush made a campaign stop in August 2004. It has gouges six inches deep and a hundred yards long, which the city says were put there by two Air Force cargo planes accompanying the president. Las Cruces put the damage at $2.1 million.

The city said airport officials warned the Air Force that the planes, a giant C-17 and a military version of the 757, were too heavy, and that the hot asphalt would be too soft for landing that day.

When Bill Clinton paid a presidential visit, he landed at Holloman Air Force Base nearby, said Terence J. Kelly, a spokesman for Las Cruces. When Senator John Kerry and former Senator John Edwards, the Democratic candidates for president and vice president, visited, "they landed elsewhere," Mr. Kelly said.

After a year of discussions, the Air Force has offered $600,000 for repairs.

[Seansky]

1. The trail of arrogancy and lack of caring he leaves behind just has no end

[rodeodance]

3. geech, it took the WH a year to decide! stall stall stall.

[KoKo]

4. And, those cargo planes carry his SS Army along with SUV's that

ride with him and the "blackhawk helicopter" that flies over wherever he visits.

I know this because of being at protests for both Bush and Cheney here in NC and the vehicles for their security are all black SUV's with tinted glass and the Black Hawk always annnounces when they are arriving.

We don't just pay for Air Force One and a Limo we are paying for a whole damned entourage and we paid it over and over every time he was on the road hawking one of his programs. I even wonder if the Repug Party paid the bill for his dozens of campaign swings. Maybe they only paid for part of Air Force 1 and his entourage was paid for every damned time by us and if you were a Democrat you weren't even allowed to get in to see him. :grr:

[Serial Mom]

17. The entourage SUVs total up to 20 sometimes and are

all reinforced and bullet proof in case the pRes needs to be whisked away in any of them. Imagine the fuel costs for the transport planes too!

And your statement his entourage was paid for every damned time by us and if you were a Democrat you weren't even allowed to get in to see him makes me see red also!

:mad:

[electropop]

27. You should see what they do every time he goes anywhere in DC!

Cops start showing up about 20 minutes ahead, lining the streets and blocking them off, even stopping pedestrians. Traffic is all snarled up until His Majesty blasts past.

[Gloria]

2. I'm in Las Cruces and this got very little play even when it happened

because the local rag is a Gannett/USA (repug)paper....Luckily, we really don't have any sort of air traffic here. The little airline flying to ABQ and Phoenix just went belly up, and it's not the first. We're 40 minutes from El Paso, so that's our airport.

Right now, the locals are more concerned with PRAYER before council meetings than they are about Bush's screwing up our runway... Sad

[BeyondGeography]

5. That is so sadly funny

I had to let out a rueful laugh here in NYC. Then again, at least you live in a beautiful part of the country, right?

[RagingInMiami]

10. I used to write for the Las Cruces Sun-News

Before it was owned by Gannett. It was a little better then, but seriously under-budgeted.

[alittlelark]

20. What years did you work for the Sun-News?

I knew a # of the employees there in 88-90. They used to come into my bar (The Club).

[RagingInMiami]

21. I worked there from 98-99

But I was based out of Deming, so I covered Deming, Columbus and the Mexican border.

[Captain Hilts]

6. Remember what his helos did to the Buck House in London?

Ruined the Queen Mum's rose bushes.

And on top of that he brought his own chef!

[enough]

7. kick

[The Sleeper]

8. Bush to las Cruces:

Go Fuck yourself.

[krkaufman]

9. If the damage was due to a campaign stop...

... then why isn't the Bush/Cheney-04 Campaign responsible for paying for the damages?!?

[YDogg]

11. Las Cruces ought to take the campaign to court. n/t

[mermaid]

12. Damn Right!!!

Besides, I'd love to see that bastard FORCED to take accountability. It's the only way he ever DOES.
Party of Personal Responsibility, my ass!!

[Dora]

13. Yes, absolutely. It seems legitimately litigible.

Is that a word? :shrug:

[YDogg]

15. Works for me.

:toast:

[Mabus]

18. because it was Bush

remember they don't pay for anything. They just do the damage and walk on by.

[cpamomfromtexas]

14. and we're supposed to believe he was a pilot!

Yeah right!

[silverweb]

16. Typical BushCo arrogance.

Yes, _georgie is the emperor of destruction and leaves a swath of it in his path wherever he goes. He has no sense of accountability whatsoever.

[confludemocrat]

19. He's a Pox on the land, an oozing puss of disaster wherever he goes

an absolute utter failure who is often, inexplicably, given a pass by big Democrats. He is indefensible but NEVER defended by even the most moderate Democrats here at DU. What is wrong with that party's leaders?

[FighttheFuture]

22. Good questions... some Dems speak out, but are never heard...

with our corporate MSM, or, if heard, are attacked and even stabbed in the back by fellow Dems, as Mayor Richie Daley did t Dan Rostenkowski for his reading the FBI report on Abu Gharib.

Of course, many Dems are really the same bird as the Repugs, just a different color of feather.

It will take a radical change in the electorate to reverse this country's direction. I do not believe the current Dems, for the most part, are up to it. So, pain is the growing shared coin of the realm.

[Nothing Without Hope]

23. An earlier Bush visit entailed denying chemotherapy to hospital patients:

This was in San Diego. For those of you who don't realize it, the timing of chemotherapy is extremely, vitally important. Getting off the schedule can jeopardize the treatment. Yet that was done as part of setting up Bush's photo-op:

http://rawstory.com/news/2005/San_Diego_hospital_closed_to_acommodate_Bush_visit_No_ch_0906.html
thread title: The Raw Story | San Diego hospital closed to accommodate Bush visit; No chemo

[FighttheFuture]

24. Every time one looks at Bu$hitCo, a new disaster... what don't we know?

That's the scary question... what don't we know, what are they hinding?

[freesqueeze]

25. If he'd only been getting a haircut

FOX would have covered it.

[Robeson]

26. Bush always leaves a slug trail wherever he goes.

[kat21]

28. Wait a cotton pickin minute -

Our tax dollars are paying for this and this was a campaign visit? Um, shouldn't the money come from campaign contributions?

[cassiepriam]

29. Great news. We can pay Cheney's pals $6 billion to fix it....nt

[struggle4progress]

30. If W wants to come to your town, tell him: "We can't afford you."

[Mr_Jefferson_24]

31. Accountable to no one...

...accepts responsibility for nothing. So what else is new?