Speaking of flip-flops...

February 27, 1997 (from The Daily Republican):

The health and safety of the nation, its economy and the
American people may have been at risk. The president was not attending
to the people's business. He became so enthusiastic about selling
access to White House coffees and the Lincoln Bedroom that he cancelled
policy briefings on the State of the Nation that conflicted with
fund-rasing activities carried out on government property. Meanwhile he
was attending to big time political donors to the Clinton-Gore Campaign
who bought into White House coffees and nights in the Lincoln Bedroom
in exchange for what the CNN news service estimates is $5.4 million
paid to the Clinton-Gore Campaign funneled through the Democratic
National Committee in the years 1995 and 1996.
[..]
The illegal use of government property for private gain is one of the
offenses called high crimes and misdemeanors that are included under the impeachment provisions of the U.S. Constitution Article III.

So renting out the Lincoln Bedroom is an impeachable offense, then? Well bring it on, bitches:

President Bush opened the White House and Camp David to
dozens of overnight guests last year, including foreign dignitaries,
family friends and at least nine of his biggest campaign fund-raisers,
documents show.
In all, Bush and first lady Laura Bush have invited at least 270 people
to stay at the White House and at least the same number to overnight at
the Camp David retreat since moving to Washington in January 2001,
according to lists the White House provided The Associated Press. Some
guests spent a night in the Lincoln Bedroom, historic quarters that
gained new fame in the Clinton administration amid allegations that
Democrats rewarded major donors like Hollywood heavyweights Steven
Spielberg and Barbra Streisand with accommodations there.
At least nine of Bush's biggest fund-raisers appear on the latest list
of White House overnight guests, covering June 2002 through December
2003, and-or on the Camp David list, which covers last year. They
include:

• Brad Freeman, a venture capitalist who is leading Bush's
  California fund-raising effort, has raised at least $200,000 for his
  re-election campaign and is also a major Republican Party fund-raiser
  
• Roland Betts, who raised at least $100,000 for Bush in 2000, was a Bush fraternity brother at Yale and a Texas Rangers partner.

• William DeWitt, a Bush partner in the oil business and Texas
  Rangers who has raised at least $200,000 for Bush's re-election effort
  
• James Francis, who headed the Bush campaign's 2000 team of
  $100,000-and-up volunteer fund-raisers and was a Bush appointee in
  Texas when Bush was governor
  
• Joseph O'Neill, an oilman and childhood friend who introduced
  Bush to Laura Bush and raised at least $100,000 for each of Bush's
  presidential campaigns
  
• Colorado Gov. Bill Owens and New York Gov. George Pataki, who each raised at least $200,000 for Bush's re-election campaign.

• James Langdon, who raised at least $100,000 for Bush, is a
  Washington attorney specializing in international oil and gas
  transactions. Langdon, whose clients include the Russian oil company
  Lukoil, is a member of Bush's foreign intelligence advisory board and
  served on Bush's 2000 presidential transition team on energy policy

"I believe they've moved that sign, 'The buck stops here,' from the
Oval Office desk to 'The buck stops here' on the Lincoln bedroom, and
that's not good for the country. It's not right. We need to have a new
look about how we conduct ourselves in office."
--George W. Bush, October 4, 2000."

UPDATE: Corrente makes a good point:

Take a look at the lede from the aforementioned article:

"President Bush opened the White House and Camp David to dozens of overnight guests last year..."

Dozens? Well, that's not so bad, is it? But then in the next paragraph we read:

"In all, Bush and first lady Laura Bush have invited at least 270 people to stay at the White House..."

Isn't 270 more like hundreds of guests? Saying Bush had dozens of campaign donors spend the night at the White House is like saying Dick Cheney made thousands of dollars while he was working at Halliburton.

Damn liberal media strikes again.

Posted by flow Frazao on March 10, 2004 at 12:14 PM | Permalink