What Really Happened in India vs. The Right Wing's Claims

[SunsetDreams]

Right-wing media launch bogus attacks on Obama's India trip

Right-wing media have been hyping reports from an Indian news agency that President Obama's upcoming trip to India will cost $200 million a day and will require 34 warships to be stationed off the Indian coast. In fact, the White House, the Secret Service and the Pentagon have called the claims false, and numerous U.S. media sources question the numbers.

Press Trust of India reports Obama's trip will cost "$200 million per day" and use "34 warships" for protection. In a November 2 article headlined, "US to spend $200 mn a day on Obama's Mumbai visit," the Press Trust of India reported that "The US would be spending a whopping $200 million (Rs. 900 crore approx) per day on President Barack Obama's visit to the city," citing an anonymous "top official of the Maharashtra Government privy to the arrangements" for the visit. On November 4, The Press Trust of India published a story headlined, "34 warships sent from US for Obama visit" and reported that Obama will be "protected by a fleet of 34 warships, including an aircraft carrier, which will patrol the sea lanes off the Mumbai coast" during his two-day stay there. The article does not cite any specific individuals as sources for this claim.

WH: "These numbers have no basis in reality" and are "wildly inflated." On November 3, White House spokesman Matt Lehrich told Media Matters: "The numbers reported in this article have no basis in reality. Due to security concerns, we are unable to outline details associated with security procedures and costs, but it's safe to say these numbers are wildly inflated."

Secret Service: Estimates are "significantly exaggerated." On November 4, Secret Service spokesman Edwin Donovan told Media Matters that figures in recent reports of President Obama's trip to India were "significantly exaggerated."

Pentagon: 34 warships claim is "absolutely absurd" and "comical." On November 4, ABC News reported that Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell said at that day's Pentagon briefing: I will take the liberty this time of dismissing as absolutely absurd this notion that somehow we were deploying 10 percent of the Navy -- some 34 ships and an aircraft carrier -- in support of the president's trip to Asia. That's just comical. Nothing close to that is being done.

Much more at link: http://mediamatters.org/research/201011050024

FactCheck.org weighs in:

This story has spread rapidly among the president’s critics, but there is simply no evidence to support it. And common sense should lead anyone to doubt it. For example, the entire U.S. war effort in Afghanistan currently costs less than that — about $5.7 billion per month, according to the Congressional Research Service, or roughly $190 million per day. How could a peaceful state visit cost more than a war?
What else can you get for $200 million? Try the New Jersey Nets basketball team or possibly the Hope diamond — if only the Smithsonian were selling it.

We find stories based on anonymous sources always deserve special caution, especially when they come from only one news organization. In this case, the anonymous official is not even in the U.S. government, and any information about costs would necessarily have come second-hand at best, an added reason for caution.

More here:
http://factcheck.org/2010/11/ask-factcheck-trip-to-mumbai/

The real reason the Right are making up lies about India. A $10 billion order delivering 53,670 jobs
DU's own The BigotBasher

Rachel Maddow got it spot on - the American Right have constructed a massive lie machine

(Rachel Maddow video at link)

So what is the President doing in Asia costing the poor hard-pressed taxpayers of the US lots of money?

Delivering jobs. 53,670 of them.

* SpiceJet an Indian airline will purchase 33 737s from Boeing * The Indian military is confirming a deal to purchase Aircraft engines from General
Electric * The Indian Air Force is looking to buy 10 C17s from Boeing.
53,670 people will be in work in the US as a result of this.

That of course is from the first day.

More at link: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/11/6/918234/-The-real-reason-the-Right-are-making-up-lies-about-India.-A-

More detail on the Trade Deal between The U.S. and India:

Indo-US business deals worth $15 bn struck

Heavy Transport Aircraft: Preliminary agreement between the Boeing Company and Indian Air Force on the purchase of 10 C-17 Globemaster-III military transport aircraft. This transaction is valued at $4.1 billion in US export content, supporting 22,160 jobs.

-Engine Sale for the Light Combat Aircraft: Connecticut-based General Electric to supply provide 107 engines for the Tejas light combat aircraft of Hindustan Aeronautics. This transaction is valued at $822 million in US export content, supporting 4,440 jobs.

-Commercial Aircraft Sale: Boeing Company to sell for the sale of 30 737-800 commercial aircraft to SpiceJet, which currently operates 22 Boeing aircraft. This transaction is valued at $2.7 billion, with US expoert content of $2.4 billion, supporting 12,970 jobs.

-Gas and Steam Turbine Sale: General Electric to supply six advanced gas turbines and three steam turbines for the 2,500-megawatt Samalkot power plant of Reliance Power, part of the Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group. The deal is valued at $750 million, with $491 million in US export content, supporting 2,650 jobs.

-Financial Support on Infrastructure: US Ex-Im Bank Agreement will provide Reliance Power, the flagship of Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, $5 billion in financial support for the purchase of US goods and services for 8,000 megawatts of gas-fired electricity generating units and 900 megawatts of renewable energy.

More at link: http://www.bombaynews.net/story/703926

All these lies and distortions out there are running wild, and we as Democrats need to recognize it when we see and hear them.

[treestar]

1. The hypocritical effers would be just fine with that very exaggerated thing

for Bush or any R President. He'd need it for "security."

[SunsetDreams]

3. Yes hypocritical indeed,

They do nothing but lie and distort everything, and some people eat that up like it's candy.

[jillan]

2. Do you think Faux will even report on how successful this trip has been so far?

I doubt it.

[SunsetDreams]

4. Wait for my answer...

:rofl:

[Cha]

5. Thanks for your cry from the wilderness, Sunset Dreams..

here's another one from Steve Benen..

"THE 'SMELL TEST'.... ABC's "Good Morning America" ran a very good segment yesterday on the significance of President Obama's 10-day Asia trip, with George Stephanopoulos noting, "It's hard to overstate India's importance in the world," and Jake Tapper adding that the focus of the trip is on "international security, national security, terrorism, jobs, and energy."

But as the report explained very well, the seriousness of the trip has been largely overlooked by much of the political world because of nonsensical allegations trumped up by the right. The Right-Wing Noise Machine -- which includes actual members of Congress, by the way -- is basically making two allegations: the trip will cost us $200 million a day, and that 34 U.S. warships will be sent to the region as part of the presidential security. We know the attacks are demonstrably false, and ABC's report, to its credit, made absolutely clear that the right is lying. Tapper quoted officials from both the Clinton and Bush administrations who said the allegations are "crazy talk."

But before we move on from this, something NBC News' Chuck Todd noted yesterday struck me as interesting. On Twitter, Todd said:

Cannot believe reports about bogus cost of president's trip didn't pass smell test with so many folks. Ridiculous that it got any traction

Now, I think Todd's right on the substance, so I don't want this to come across as criticism. It really is remarkable that manufactured garbage was taken seriously by so many, and it absolutely qualifies as "ridiculous" that idiocy like this managed to get "traction."

But is it really so hard to believe that this happened? This is just how the right has operated for as long as I can remember, especially during the Clinton years, when it was common for baseless allegations, sometimes placed in obscure foreign outlets, to ricochet from activists to talk radio to partisan media to the White House briefing room to major outlets.

Chuck Todd "cannot believe" this happened? Tragically, I find it both predictable and familiar.

Indeed, consider the past 21 months, and the bogus reports that generated traction, just because the right started a coordinated whine. Remember the freak-out over presidential bowing? Or how about the uproar over President Obama encouraging kids to do well in school (a "controversy" that ended up on the front page of the New York Times)? Or "death panels"? Or "czars"

It's "ridiculous" that all kinds of trumped up garbage "gets traction," but no one should be surprised by it.

On a related note, President Obama's trip already appears to be paying dividends.

In accords detailed today, the White House said in a statement that Boeing Co. is finalizing a deal worth about $4.1 billion to sell C-17 military aircraft to the Indian government. The firm has also agreed the sale of 30 commercial aircraft to the Indian discount airline SpiceJet Ltd. in an order worth about $2.7 billion, according to the statement.

Obama told a meeting of U.S. and Indian CEOs in Mumbai that they represented "billions of dollars" in orders from U.S. companies and tens of thousands of jobs because of a potential that has "barely been scratched."

You'll probably hear quite a bit less about this. Call it a hunch"

Steve Benen 9:25 AM Permalink | Trackbacks | Comments (29)
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2010_11/026510.php#1849169>http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2010_11/026510.php#1849169

[SunsetDreams]

6. Hi Cha :) Thank you for adding that one

Very good for this thread:hi:

[SunsetDreams]

9. you can't trust

a word out of Chuck Todd's mouth.

Where was he before? He only says something now, because the claims have been proven false.

[Scurrilous]

7. K & R

:thumbsup:

[SunsetDreams]

8. Thanks

[Spazito]

10. Great OP!

Very refreshing to see facts being posted, thanks for this.

[SunsetDreams]

11. Thanks,

You're very welcome, I was getting tired of all the misinformation out there.

[SunsetDreams]

12. kick

[SunsetDreams]

13. kick