Posted today on the Chicago Tribune's Clout Street blog is the story "GOP attacks Obama bus, but Bush did same," written by Rick Pearson. It begins:
As President Barack Obama traveled to the first of two “town hall” stops in western Illinois today, top national and state Republicans criticized his campaign-style visit and criticized his use of a taxpayer-funded Canadian-manufactured bus as part of a jobs tour.
But no mention was made by Republican National Chairman Reince Priebus or Illinois GOP Chairman Pat Brady that a re-election seeking President George W. Bush used a bus from the same manufacturer, Quebec-based Prevost, for a spring 2004 “Yes, America Can” campaign tour through the Midwest.
The writer reports, as the Associated Press has, that the $1.1 million Obama bus was purchased with tax dollars. But he ignores that the bus used by President Bush was leased by his 2004 campaign, using voluntary contributions. There's a world of difference, but why let facts get in the way of yet another effort to cover for the most inept president in history?
A May 5, 2004 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article titled "A busload of election fodder: Bush campaign rides into heart of manufacturing on Canada-built vehicle" reported:
The guts of the 45-foot-long bus were made in the United States, including the sturdy Detroit Diesel engine. And much of the value of the imposing coach was added during its conversion by a Nashville firm that also has included as its clients Aerosmith, Toby Keith, Britney Spears and Christian performers Amy Grant and Third Day.
And later:
The Bush campaign is leasing the president's bus and seven others from the Hemphill brothers of Nashville, from whom the campaign leased in 2000.
More than one million in tax dollars for Obama to travel in luxury for a few days as he bashes Republicans. We're the ones getting taken for a ride. But don't expect that to be worth a story in the mainstream media.
