He went there to vote, is what I’m hearing.
This leads to some questions.
Is there a good reason why the president can’t cast an absentee ballot? I bet there are a lot of you who would like to be flown to your home state to cast your vote today.
When a public official travels all over the country campaigning, does he do so on the public dollar or at the expense of his party?
Does he use AF1 for all of this travelling?
I can only answer the first one for you. I heard on CNN today the Pres. Bush went to Texas to vote for two reasons, his advisors told him to and to encourage others to go out and vote.
I’ll try to answer your questions with some well-educated conjectures, which I’m sure will be amplified/corrected by those with more knowledge.
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[li]Makes a good photo op, and bolsters his claim to residency.[/li][li]A bit from column A, a bit from column B – the party pays some of the cost. As I understand it, the WH (or more specifically the Executive Office of the President (EOP)) bills the party some flat hourly rate for AF1, said rate being somewhat less than the actual cost of its operation. This according to one of my cousins, who works in the EOP.[/li][li]As far as I know, the President uses AF1 for all long-distance air travel; he uses a helicopter, named Marine One, for short hops, e.g. from the White House to Andrews AFB (where AF1 is usually stationed) or Camp David. AF1, of course, has all kinds of special comms equipment the Prez needs to keep in touch with everyone, which is why he uses it even for non-official business.[/li][/list=1]
um . beacuse he lives there.
Just a note about AF1 (and M1)
Any airforce craft that the Pres is in is called AF1, Any marine craft is Marine 1, any army craft is army 1 and any navy craft is navy 1 (I don’t know if there is a coast guard 1). Also any private craft is called executive 1.
This is to avoid confusion over call letters.
Once during Nixon’s resinigation, until the new pres was sworn in Nixon was still pres. The swaring in was while Nixon was flying. So he was in AF1 when he took off then after the swaring in the pilot made an anouncement changing the plane # to a standard number.
I see. So the election had nothing to do with it?
No, the election had everything to do with it. It makes a lot better press to show up and vote in person than send in an absentee ballot.
Got to admit it was a good time for him to take a trip back home - he can visit home and vote in the same trip. Way to save us all a few bucks by combining trips. No frequest flyer trips for this pres.
What about all the flights for his campaign trips? Is it all coming out of tax money, or is his party paying for the operating expenses?
he tends to try to incorporate some “official business” to justify the cost. That cretin is destroying this country. The whole bush family and cheney too should be removed from this earth.
I am not sure why people think that going around the country to drum up support for his policies in not part of the presidents job.
This is asked and answered as well as it’s litkely to be in General Questions, so I’ll close the thread.
Oh, and Virtuosity will not be joining us again. Anyone else want to take cheap political shots in this forum?