White House staffers

Page 3 - Seeking answers? Join the AnandTech community: where nearly half-a-million members share solutions and discuss the latest tech.

yllus

Elite Member & Lifer
Aug 20, 2000
20,577
432
126
Originally posted by: dmcowen674
Originally posted by: yllus
Never take anything from canadafreepress.com as factual. I cringe every time I see that site referenced by someone.

But yet you like Fox News :roll:

Television news is too vacuous for my tastes. Besides, as a McCain '08 voter, isn't Fox News more up your alley?
 

Grunt03

Diamond Member
Jun 24, 2000
3,131
0
0
"Mean MrMustard",

I do not know what your problem is and don't care. I actually didn't know and wanted to find out. So if you don't like it "Bite Me!!!!"

As far as hateing America, hello stupid, I am in the military, hav ebeen for 25+ years, I have been to combat fighting for this country five different time. 25 years in service and only 6 years have been in the US. I think I have laid it on the line several time, what have you done for your country besides keyboard bashing?

Originally posted by: dmcowen674
Originally posted by: Grunt03
Greeting everyone,

It been along time since I have posted, I just wanted to know if anyone has read this and knows if it is true or not?


Yeh, I know, The Canadian Free Press has to publish this because the USA media is too scared they might be considered racist. Sorry America !

SICKENING.........ISN'T IT

[/i]

Originally posted by: Mean MrMustard
Snopes

What's sickening is people like you that hate America.

Been a long time since you posted and you post this fucking shit? Fucking asshole

 

Druidx

Platinum Member
Jul 16, 2002
2,971
0
76
Originally posted by: heyheybooboo
FYI ----->

Increase in Federal Debt

Last 238 days of the Bush Administration: $1.23 trillion

First 238 days of the Obama Administration: $1.17 trillion

Any more questions?
I'll never understand why smart people act so stupid in an effort to make their point.
Who makes the federal budget? Is it the President? No
So if you were really honest it would be
Last 238 days of the Bush Administration and under a Democrat controlled congress: $1.23 trillion
First 238 days of the Obama Administration and under a Democrat controlled congress: $1.17 trillion
Not that the Repubs did any better when they were in control
 

fskimospy

Elite Member
Mar 10, 2006
84,056
48,059
136
Originally posted by: Druidx
Originally posted by: heyheybooboo
FYI ----->

Increase in Federal Debt

Last 238 days of the Bush Administration: $1.23 trillion

First 238 days of the Obama Administration: $1.17 trillion

Any more questions?
I'll never understand why smart people act so stupid in an effort to make their point.
Who makes the federal budget? Is it the President? No
So if you were really honest it would be
Last 238 days of the Bush Administration and under a Democrat controlled congress: $1.23 trillion
First 238 days of the Obama Administration and under a Democrat controlled congress: $1.17 trillion
Not that the Repubs did any better when they were in control

The President has MASSIVE influence on the budget. He may not vote on it, but he frequently writes large parts of it, and he definitely has to sign it. He has a lot to do with the process.
 

KMFJD

Lifer
Aug 11, 2005
29,194
42,308
136
Originally posted by: Marlin1975
Originally posted by: cubby1223
Originally posted by: Grunt03
Greeting everyone,

It been along time since I have posted, I just wanted to know if anyone has read this and knows if it is true or not?

This type of thing pretty much happens on a regular basis around Chicago. People in power create new positions for all their family and friends.

OK I guess you are the next idiot that did nto even read anything other then the OP. If you did you would knwo this is a crappy chain e-mail for one. And second these are the SAME number of people L.Bush had.

Don't let facts get in the way of their OUTRAGE!
 

waggy

No Lifer
Dec 14, 2000
68,145
10
81
Originally posted by: jdjbuffalo
Originally posted by: waggy
Originally posted by: PJABBER
Oh, and so you don't think this problem exists only in the First Lady's office, take a look at the TOTAL number of support staff currently working in the White House. The place is a sardine can of non-functionaries and forelock pullers and kowtowers and jokers. Cut half of them off the public dole and give everyone else there some room to breathe!

I can understand why the PRESIDENT needs as much staff as he does (i do question the czars though). thats a givin considering the job.


I would like to know why the first lady needs so many. Laura bush was always trying to help the schools. ok so i can see one or two for that. but 18+? i didnt think she did so much.

only one who might justify it was Hillary.

Since no one seemed to read the Snopes article on this I will quote from it.

So far as the original White House report is accurate, it's fair to say that First Lady Michelle Obama has about 22 staffers working for her (directly or indirectly). However, it's grossly inaccurate to claim that there has "never been anyone in the White House at any time that has created such an army of staffers whose sole duties are the facilitation of the First Lady's social life" and to assert (incredibly) that First Lady Laura Bush had but a single staffer working for her.

The 2008 White House Office Staff List, issued during the final year of President George W. Bush's tenure in office, includes sixteen different staffers with the words "First Lady" in their position titles ? exactly the same number as that listed for Michelle Obama in 2009. If all staffers listed with "Social Secretary" in their titles are included as part of the First Lady's retinue (as was done with the Michelle Obama example cited above), then Ms. Bush had at least 18 people working for her in 2008 (not including any of the various personnel listed only as "Staff Assistants," some of whom may also have worked for her directly or indirectly). Given that the size of the First Lady's staff varies over time (and Laura Bush reportedly had 24 staffers working for her at one point during her husband's eight years in office), it's fair to say that the size of Michelle Obama's staff is not "unprecedented," but rather on a par with her predecessor's.

As far as the rest of the issues in this thread. I'm not touching them with a 10 foot pole.

thank you for replying. but im not sure you even came close to touching my question.

What does the fisrt lady need so many? not just the current but ANY first lady. only one that would come close i owuld think is Hillary. What are the rest doing to justify 20+?

seems like a lot for any first lady. Yes they are usually involved in education or anti-drug (hahahah just say no? yeah right). but kinda suprised they need that many
 

PJABBER

Diamond Member
Feb 8, 2001
4,822
0
0
I wonder how many here understand what kind of a bubble our national leaders live in and why they so want to stay in power once they get into offices that really don't pay all that much compared to what they could earn in the private sector.

Why does Nancy Pelosi need three personal jets, why does Mrs. Obama need to shop for certified organic Tuscan kale on the taxpayer's tab? Can't she just eat cake?

Hi-Ho, the Derry-O

Hi-Ho, the Derry-O

By Dana Milbank
Friday, September 18, 2009
The Washington Post

Let's say you're preparing dinner and you realize with dismay that you don't have any certified organic Tuscan kale. What to do?

Here's how Michelle Obama handled this very predicament Thursday afternoon:

The Secret Service and the D.C. police brought in three dozen vehicles and shut down H Street, Vermont Avenue, two lanes of I Street and an entrance to the McPherson Square Metro station. They swept the area, in front of the Department of Veterans Affairs, with bomb-sniffing dogs and installed magnetometers in the middle of the street, put up barricades to keep pedestrians out, and took positions with binoculars atop trucks. Though the produce stand was only a block or so from the White House, the first lady hopped into her armored limousine and pulled into the market amid the wail of sirens.

Then, and only then, could Obama purchase her leafy greens. "Now it's time to buy some food," she told several hundred people who came to watch. "Let's shop!"

Cowbells were rung. Somebody put a lei of marigolds around Obama's neck. The first lady picked up a straw basket and headed for the "Farm at Sunnyside" tent, where she loaded up with organic Asian pears, cherry tomatoes, multicolored potatoes, free-range eggs and, yes, two bunches of Tuscan kale. She left the produce with an aide, who paid the cashier as Obama made her way back to the limousine.

There's nothing like the simple pleasures of a farm stand to return us to our agrarian roots.

The first lady had encouraged Freshfarm Markets, the group that runs popular farmers markets in Dupont Circle and elsewhere, to set up near the White House, and she helped get the approvals to shut down Vermont Avenue during rush hour on Thursdays. But the result was quite the opposite of a quaint farmers market. Considering all the logistics, each tomato she purchased had a carbon footprint of several tons.

The promotion of organic and locally grown food, though an admirable cause, is a risky one for the Obamas, because there's a fine line between promoting healthful eating and sounding like a snob. The president, when he was a candidate in 2007, got in trouble in Iowa when he asked a crowd, "Anybody gone into Whole Foods lately and see what they charge for arugula?" Iowans didn't have a Whole Foods.

For that reason, it's probably just as well that the first lady didn't stop by the Endless Summer Harvest tent yesterday. The Virginia farm had a sign offering "tender baby arugula" -- hydroponically grown, pesticide free -- and $5 for four ounces, which is $20 a pound.

Obama, in her brief speech to the vendors and patrons, handled the affordability issue by pointing out that people who pay with food stamps would get double the coupon value at the market. Even then, though, it's hard to imagine somebody using food stamps to buy what the market offered: $19 bison steak from Gunpowder Bison, organic dandelion greens for $12 per pound from Blueberry Hill Vegetables, the Piedmont Reserve cheese from Everson Dairy at $29 a pound. Rounding out the potential shopping cart: $4 for a piece of "walnut dacquoise" from the Praline Bakery, $9 for a jumbo crab cake at Chris's Marketplace, $8 for a loaf of cranberry-walnut bread and $32 for a bolt of yarn.

The first lady said the market would particularly appeal to federal employees in nearby buildings to "pick up some good stuff for dinner." Yet even they might think twice about spending $3 for a pint of potatoes when potatoes are on sale for 40 cents a pound at Giant. They could get nearly five dozen eggs at Giant for the $5 Obama spent for her dozen.

But whatever the socioeconomics, there can be no doubt that Obama brought some serious attention to her cause. Hundreds of people crowded the market entrance on I Street as police directed pedestrians to alternative subway entrances. Hundreds braved a light rain and gave a hearty cheer when Obama and her entourage took the stage. "I can't imagine there's been a day in the history of our country when people have been more excited about farmers markets," Mayor Adrian Fenty, Obama's warm-up act, told the crowd.

The first lady, in gray slacks and blue sweater, marveled that the people were "so pumped up" despite the rain. "I have never seen so many people so excited about fruits and vegetables!" she said. (Must be the tender baby arugula.)

She spoke of the global reach of her cause: "The first thing world leaders, prime ministers, kings, queens ask me about is the White House garden. And then they ask about Bo."

She spoke of the fuel fed to the world's most powerful man: "I've learned that when my family eats fresh food, healthy food, that it really affects how we feel, how we get through the day . . . whether there's a Cabinet meeting or whether we're just walking the dog."

And she spoke of her own culinary efforts: "There are times when putting together a healthy meal is harder than you might imagine."

Particularly when it involves a soundstage, an interpreter for the deaf, three TV satellite trucks and the closing of part of downtown Washington.
 

Jaskalas

Lifer
Jun 23, 2004
33,446
7,508
136
Originally posted by: Moonbeam
I am positive that if all that staff wasn't a vital necessity Bush would have eliminated it. It is conservatives after all who are conservative and believe in self reliance.

Democrats, who have never had maids, especially black Democratic Presidents, need a couple of hundred years of catching up to do before we call them uppity, I should think.

My my my, lookie how da black folk done got all da servants now. My oh my. Whoda thunk!

Therein is your problem. Bush wasn't a conservative and he grew government.