Frugal Café Blog Zone

Posted By Vicki McClure Davidson on August 7, 2010

Nancy Reagan was crucified by the media when she raised private donations and bought new White House china. Left: Pres. and Mrs. Reagan returning to the White House from Camp David, 1982 | Credit: Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. Right: A plate from the Reagan White House china set that caused left-wing media uproar

The left-wing news media has a nasty penchant for attacking Republican First Ladies buying new china for the White House. With PRIVATE DONATIONS… not a penny of taxpayers’ money. Yet, when faced with Michelle Obama channeling her inner “Marie Antoinette/Uptown Girl” in Spain this week — of which taxpayers will foot far, far more than they bargained for — why do these journalist hacks swoon and simper?

Oh. Wait. Left-wing media. Got it.

By definition, that means suppress or ignore all negative Democrat news until it is no longer humanly possible, but excoriate and flog all Republicans, especially First Ladies (or Alaskan governors), on matters that have no financial impact on taxpayers.

In all fairness, some of the liberal media, including CBS Evening News, are clucking their disapproval over Michelle Antoinette’s glitzy “let them eat lobster” European vacation. Some, but not all.

All of the liberal media, however, went ballistic and in full attack mode against then-First Lady Nancy Reagan’s replacing the old, chipped, or missing (stolen as souvenirs) White House china (she personally raised the contributions for the set) and then, a few decades later, they again chewed out First Lady Laura Bush for replacing the old, chipped, or missing WH china. NOTE: Both did it with donation money, not taxpayers’ money.

The hypocrisy here is mighty thick… about as thick as Florida’s Rep. Alan “I’m a Leftist Loon and Dang Proud of It” Grayson’s growing stack of hate mail.

I’m thinking that Nancy or Laura should not have been concerned about how state dinners with international leaders would look with chipped tea cups and mismatched dessert plates.

Instead, they should have been self-indulgent Material Girls… they should have flown on their own private, fuel-guzzling, government-issued jet, without their spousal POTUS in tow. They should have shunned vacationing in the we-need-the-business United States and flown to any other country, while bringing 40 of their best friends and a taxpayer-funded, beefed-up Secret Service. They should have stayed for four days in a premier luxury resort hotel overlooking the Mediterranean Sea with 24-hour BUTLER SERVICE and posh spas (as well as whispered gangster ties) while Americans are suffering through the worst economic recession in more than 30 years and 9.5% unemployment.

If they had done that, well, maybe the left-wing media would have been more civil to Laura and Nancy about the White House china.

Yeah, right. Who’s kidding who?

From NewsBusters, ABC Hypes Michelle Obama’s ‘Lush,’ Luxurious’ Spanish Vacation, Hit Extravagance of Laura Bush:

Good Morning America’s Yunji de Nies on Friday touted Michelle Obama’s “five-star,” “luxurious” vacation to Spain, skipping any discussion of controversy over the $148,000 trip.

In January of 2009, however, the very same program chided Laura Bush for introducing new presidential dinnerware, despite the fact that the bill was being paid by a private organization.

De Nies gushed, “They toured the plaza in old Marbella. Cooled off with chocolate gelato and bought matching sun dresses. Michelle and Sasha Obama are making a splash in Spain.”

News reader Juju Chang vaguely hinted at criticism, allowing, “Michelle Obama may be taking heat for her luxury vacation with her nine-year-old daughter, but as Yunji de Nies shows us, the Spanish can’t get enough of her.”

What that “heat” was, exactly, went unsaid. Good Morning America certainly hasn’t reported on it. (CBS News reported that the “6.5 hour flight to Spain would run $73,781.50 – double for the round trip.”)

ABC brought on reporter Ann Compton to defend the vacation: “Whether they’re sitting on a beach or meeting with a king in a palace, it is bringing forth the American culture, the American people, representing the United States of America. It’s never really just vacation.”

Yet, on January 7, 2009, the same Compton worried, “So, why is Laura Bush introducing new Bush china two weeks before they move out?” Co-host Robin Roberts warned about the “brewing brouhaha” and alerted, “President and First Lady Laura Bush are leaving behind a new set of dinnerware when they leave the White House in two weeks.”

At the very end of the segment, Compton explained that the $485,000 cost was being paid by the private White House Historical Association.

DeNies has a history of fawning over Michelle Obama. On October 1, 2009, she predicted that the First Lady’s pitch for the 2016 Olympics in Chicago would leave not “a dry eye in the house.” On April 29, 2009, she lauded Mrs. Obama as the “belle of the ball.”

From Eurasia News, The Pain In Spain Falls Mainly On US Taxpayers:

While millions of Americans cut back on what they can spend on their vacation, Michelle Obama is concluding her last vacation with a new vacation trip along with 40 guests to Spain billed at a cost of 300,000 dollars a day. If Michelle Obama wants to go for a swim, an entire beach in Spain must be closed. Considering her busy working schedule of appearing on talk shows and then appearing on magazine covers, I think we can all agree that nine vacations is very modest. And the real tab gets much higher when you consider how many of the other unstated expenses are being picked up by “friends”, which is usually a fancy way of saying people who expect favors in return, again at taxpayer expense.

In some ways it is a relief to export Michelle Obama abroad where she can lecture the Spanish on eating right, before they deport her on the next boat out of there. At least it gives us a break from her, albeit a very expensive break. But what the endless vacations taken by the Obamas really highlight is their detachment from the American people and their determination to take the country for everything it’s got. If the Clinton staff stole things from the White House when they had to leave, the Obamas will take the whole building with them if they can.

Juan Luis Rascon, a congressman from Cordoba, wrote critically of the media attention lavished on Bride of Frankenbama: “Idolatry and servility do not sit well with a dignified democracy.” He was referring to Spain, but much the same goes for the media’s obscene fawning over the Obamas, and their determination that the American people should be forced to follow suit.

First Lady Nancy Reagan's White House china, bought with donations, caused media uproar

First Lady Laura Bush's White House china, bought with donations, caused media uproar

Pray tell, where's the media uproar? Here's the 5-star Villa Padierna, 'Millionaires' Playground', with 24-hour butler service and heated indoor swimming pools, where Michelle-O and her outrageously huge entourage stayed in Marbella, Spain - 60 to 70 rooms were rented by First Lady Obama... final price tag to taxpayers is unknown

Additional:
Legal Insurrection: Yeah, But Laura Bush Went On An African Safari
Frugal Café Blog Zone: Unemployment Bad, More Jobs Shed… More Backlash on Michelle Obama’s Lavish Vacation — Public Beach Closed for Her by Police, Ingraham’s Parody of FLOTUS Vacation Diary and Yes, She’s Our “Uptown Girl”… Michelle Obama’s Ridiculously Lavish Vacation in Spain (video) and Obama & Reid, Two of a Kind: Responsible for Nevada’s Broken, Decimated Economy, Highest Rate of Home Foreclosures in Nation, Angle Slams Reid (video) and Bad News: Police Layoffs of Up to 30 Percent for East St. Louis… Blame It on Obama’s Terrible Economy and More Bad News for Dems: 75% of Americans Say Free Market Principles Better Than Government Manipulation & Interference… Obama’s Approval Index Drops to -19 and Rasmussen’s Prez Approval Index for Obama… Déjà Vu at Dismal Minus 17, Unemployment Improves Only Because Americans Have Lost Hope, Stopped Looking for Work and “Skin in the Game” Barack-Style– First Family’s Dog Bo Flies to Obamas’ Maine Vacation on a Separate Jet
Diary of a Mad Conservative: Michelle’s glitzy Spanish vacation
Radio Vice Online: Speaking of George W. Bush…
Gateway Pundit: With 3 Parties on Tap This Week, Obama Tells the Little People, “I Feel Your Pain” and Oh Brother… Media Tries to Rescue Michelle O From Spanish Escapade; Insists She Was Mourning With a Friend and As Michelle Returns From Spanish Extravaganza Obama Cuts Food Stamps to Nation’s Poor and Krauthammer on Michelle O: A vacation to Spain Is a “Bad Idea for a First Lady Who Literally Tells Us to Eat Our Spinach” (Video)
Nice Deb: Monday Menagerie and Michelle et al’s Excellent Adventure In Spain
Pundit & Pundette: It’s easy being queen
Michelle Malkin: Unemployment at 9.5%; another Obama econ adviser bails; Mrs. Obama hits the beach
Camp of the Saints: Rally ‘Round The Flag: Message From A Friend and The Pablum Puke Of The Day
Mail Online: ‘Michelle Obama is a modern-day Marie Antoinette’: First Lady slammed for lavish Marbella holiday
Instapundit: Michelle’s “Excellent Adventure”: Another sign Obama doesn’t really want to be President
Power Line: Michelle Antoinette?
Is This Blog On?: Same As It Ever Was
Blue Crab Boulevard: Marie Obama
David A Keene, Big Government: Success Is Obama’s Downfall
Motor City Times: Freep Op-Ed Advocates Higher Energy Costs For Everyone Except Low Income Households
Ace of Spades HQ: Obama Two Points Higher Than 39%

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Tags: economic crisis, economic hardship, economic recession, economy, federal debt, federal deficit, First Lady vacation, FLOTUS, FLOTUS vacation, government waste, hotel Villa Padierna, Laura Bush, Marbella, Marie Antoinette, Michelle Obama, Michelle Obama Spain vacation, Michelle Obama's Spain vacation, Nancy Reagan, overindulgence, recession, Sashas Obama, Spain, Spain vacation, unemployment, vacation, Villa Padierna, White House china