Subsidized Fund-Raising

"Bankrolled almost entirely by taxpayers, President Bush is roaming far and wide on Air Force One to help Republicans retain control of Congress and capture statehouse contests in high-stakes midterm elections." Thus, the AP.

The piece goes on to note that W has raised a cool $166 million for 27 favored Republican candidates over the past 15 months (let's see, that's how much per vote?), and that we taxpayers--including those of us who think the guy should be thrown out of the Oval Office on his keister--have been footing most of the bill.

The explanation for this apparent boondoggle lies in the regulations of the Federal Election Commission, which require that a campaign reimburse the government for the cost of a first-class air ticket when a government official (W, Deadeye Dick) uses a government aircraft for a political event. So, when Air Force One flies to Hell-and-Gone Idaho for a fund-raiser for Sen. So-and-So, it costs the Republican National Committee a few thousand dollars to pay for W, the First Lady (she's included among those who must be paid for, apparently) and a couple of aides who cannot be classified as "official" travelers (for whom the government pays). To get the President's plane off the ground costs a great deal more than that, of course. Not to mention the salaries of the Secret Service detail and all the other people who work on even the briefest presidential trip.

There's a part of me that wants to tell the President--even a Democratic President--to fly commercial on political junkets, but I suppose that it's in the national interest to have him travel efficiently and safely, even when he's retailing his lies to the populace and raising bribes, err, campaign contributions in the process.

($166 million may seem like a lot of money, and it is. It could pay for a couple of days of the war in Iraq.)