{"id":3296,"date":"2005-01-03T13:06:38","date_gmt":"2005-01-03T18:06:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com\/archives\/3296.html"},"modified":"2005-01-03T13:06:38","modified_gmt":"2005-01-03T18:06:38","slug":"they-wont-support-the-troops-but-they-will-embrace-a-troop-theme","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/they-wont-support-the-troops-but-they-will-embrace-a-troop-theme\/","title":{"rendered":"They won’t support the troops, but they will embrace a troop theme"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jeanne Phillips, who chairs Bush’s inaugural committee, offered an unusually helpful response<\/a> recently to questions about the role of American troops in Bush’s upcoming festivities.<\/p>\n

NYT: I hear one of the balls will be reserved for troops who have served in Iraq or Afghanistan. <\/p>\n

Phillips: Yes, the Commander-in-Chief Ball. That is new. It will be about 2,000 servicemen and their guests. And that should be a really fun event for them. <\/p>\n

NYT: As an alternative way of honoring them, did you or the president ever discuss canceling the nine balls and using the $40 million inaugural budget to purchase better equipment for the troops? <\/p>\n

Phillips: I think we felt like we would have a traditional set of events and we would focus on honoring the people who are serving our country right now — not just the people in the armed forces, but also the community volunteers, the firemen, the policemen, the teachers, the people who serve at, you know, the — well, it’s called the StewPot in Dallas, people who work with the homeless. <\/p>\n

NYT: How do any of them benefit from the inaugural balls? <\/p>\n

Phillips: I’m not sure that they do benefit from them.<\/p>\n

NYT: Then how, exactly, are you honoring them?<\/p>\n

Phillips: Honoring service is what our theme is about.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Fascinating. The chair of Bush’s inaugural committee, with unusual candor for someone close to the president, effectively admitted that the upcoming inauguration won’t actually honor those who serve. Instead, it’ll acknowledge their sacrifices by making them the theme<\/i> of the festivities.<\/p>\n

So, all you troops out there who are putting your lives on the line, feel proud knowing that your commander-in-chief won’t offer you the equipment you need, but has a thematic<\/i> interest in your service. Now all you have to do is figure out how to equip your Humvee with a theme and you’ll be all set.
\n
\nAs an added bonus, Jeanne Phillips also had a fascinating explanation for her inaugural committee hitting Big Business and GOP fat-cats for huge donations.<\/p>\n

NYT: I imagine [your contacts with the oil industry] prove useful when you are raising money for the inauguration. You are asking underwriters for $250,000 a pop. <\/p>\n

Phillips: We are raising the funds so that parade tickets stay at a price that anyone can afford. We need underwriters to help us.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Hmm, something doesn’t add up here. Why does Phillips need $250,000 donations to Bush’s inaugural committee for cheaper parade tickets when most of the parade tickets are free<\/a>?<\/p>\n

Scores of ticket brokers are selling tickets online to the swearing-in ceremony and inaugural parade, which are free and open to the public<\/b> (emphasis added).<\/p>\n

“People are too dumb to know that they’re paying money for something they could get for free,” [ticket broker Shawn] Collins said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Sounds like Bush’s inaugural committee is being run with the same kind of integrity and honesty used to run his White House.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jeanne Phillips, who chairs Bush’s inaugural committee, offered an unusually helpful response recently to questions about the role of American troops in Bush’s upcoming festivities. NYT: I hear one of the balls will be reserved for troops who have served in Iraq or Afghanistan. Phillips: Yes, the Commander-in-Chief Ball. That is new. It will be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[617],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3296","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3296","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3296"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3296\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3296"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3296"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3296"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}