Frugal Café Blog Zone

Posted By Vicki McClure Davidson on February 4, 2010

Barack, you’re an odd bird. Do you keep forgetting that you’re the President of the United States of America? You represent ALL Americans, and guess what… Las Vegas IS part of America and a huge percentage of its economy is based on tourism. Slamming Las Vegas is grotesque for a man in your position, for the nation’s leader.

Per the Las Vegas Sun, Las Vegas is the most tourism-dependent city in the country — it ranks first in leisure and hospitality employment as a percentage of total employment for American cities, at 29.3 percent. That’s a whole heck of a lot of hard-working Americans whose jobs are now at stake because of the president’s boneheaded slam this week while talking in New Hampshire.

From Palmetto Conservative:

In a statement issued by Governor Gibbons he said he was stunned that President Obama was so thoughtless and heartless with his recent remarks about Las Vegas. Governor Gibbons said, “Doesn’t President Obama know that thousands of families in Las Vegas are suffering because of his failed economic policies?”

Pres. Obama Slams Las Vegas, Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman Slams Back

Conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh weighs in on Obama’s bashing of Las Vegas and steps forward to defend the city.

From Rush Limbaugh’s February 3, 2010 EIB radio broadcast, Obama Bashes Las Vegas Again:

He’s gotta have something in for Las Vegas. Maybe he lost a bunch of money there. Maybe got rolled by a hooker there. I don’t know what it is — something happened.

Or it could be this. It could be that he is trying to get rid of Harry Reid. Have you thought of that possibility? That maybe all of this is aimed at getting rid of Harry Reid? Now, you may be thinking, “How would this get rid of Harry Reid?” Well, it makes Reid look like a sap and everybody in Vegas — in Nevada, in fact — look like a sap. Las Vegas is the seat, you know, like Hong Kong is big capitalism in China. Las Vegas is capitalism on steroids in the United States. That could be why he doesn’t like it.

…President Barack Obama is known for having a way with words, but some lawmakers from Nevada wish he would pipe down about trips to the city after sparking a firestorm of criticism from Nevada’s elected officials for suggesting that people saving money for college shouldn’t blow it in Vegas. Obama told US Senate majority leader Dingy Harry in a letter he wasn’t saying anything negative about Las Vegas. I was making the simple point that families use vacation dollars, not college tuition money, to have fun. And no place better to have fun than Vegas, one of our country’s great destinations.

As a consummate frugalista, I’m passionate about people saving money and I offer ideas, tips, and hints on this blog and the main website on how to do just that. I agree with the president in that people who are suffering financially shouldn’t be gambling in casinos. However, I would never single out Las Vegas by name (we have casinos on Indian reservations here in Arizona that help fund the state’s coffers) and I have no power to destroy any city’s or state’s economy. Pres. Obama, however, can stupidly do just that.

POTUS needs to stop going off script, because when he does, his careless, irresponsible ad-libbing comments can negatively impact innocent Americans and their livelihoods. Will he advise the public to avoid going to a Broadway show next, or to not visit Atlantic City, or to not buy new furniture? His terrible economic policies are to blame for the financial mess we’re in, not people who want to have a weekend of fun.

Will Obama think a “Fuzzy Navel summit” with outraged Nevada leaders will patch things up?

It’s curious that the boating industry isn’t speaking out on the president’s “don’t buy a boat” comment. Obama just gave boat manufacturers and boat dealerships from coast to coast the wet, sloppy kiss of death.

Keep it up, Obama, and you’ll have to give that industry a bailout, too.

Related reading:
Christian Science Monitor: Obama slams Las Vegas again — Reid upset again
Pundit & Pundette: Slow-learning president teaches us about frugality
Flopping Aces: Las Vegas Mayor Believes Obama Has “Psychological Hangup”
Nice Deb: Video: Las Vegas Mayor: “This President Is A Real Slow Learner”
The Lonely Conservative: Big Spending, Fiscally Reckless President Slams Las Vegas Again, Sen. Ensign Demands Apology – Updated With Video and Vegas Mayor: ‘Slow Learner’ Obama ‘Not Welcome’ in Las Vegas
Fire Andrea Mitchell!: Sorry Las Vegas Obama just doesn’t like you as he disses the city again
Temple of Mut: Tin Plated Over Bearing Swaggering Dictator with Delusions of Godhood
Diary of a Mad Conservative: Almost earth shaking comments from Las Vegas’ own Steve Wynn and Am I hot about these Las Vegas comments?
The American Pundit: Las Vegas Mayor: Obama’s An Idiot
VotingFemale: Obama: “I didn’t say anything negative about Las Vegas”; Progressive History Revisionism (abortion of a ‘mistake’)
Gateway Pundit: Nevada Governor Slams Obama: “Doesn’t He Know That Thousands of Vegas Families Are Suffering Because of His Failed Policies?” and LAS VEGAS MAYOR GOES OFF: “When Obama Comes I’ll Give Him the Boot Back to Washington” (Video) and Harry Reid to Obama: “Lay Off Vegas” and Oops. Obama Does It Again – Bashes Las Vegas …Update: Obama Apologizes to Reid
No Sheeples Here: Stupid Is As Stupid Does
Breakdown of America: Glenn Beck: Obama slams Vegas…again
Hot Air: Las Vegas mayor: Obama is “a real slow learner”; Update: Reid questioning Obama’s patriotism?
That’s Right: “This president is a real slow learner.”
USA Today: Obama and Las Vegas, at odds again

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