Naviguessor Posted April 10, 2014 Share Posted April 10, 2014 ^^No different than any other president. Don't blame him. If you have to blame someone, blame his hosts. But don't blame them either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UtterlyUrban Posted April 10, 2014 Share Posted April 10, 2014 No president, I really don't care what political Party, should be allowed to use taxpayer funds to travel anywhere for a political fundraiser. Period. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brian0123 Posted April 10, 2014 Share Posted April 10, 2014 The same complaints were made about Bush when he visited to fund raise. It's not either of their faults. It's the result of a terrible congress and no one introducing serious legislation for campaign finance reform. The conservatives on the Supreme Court just nixed campaign donation limits... so it's only going to get worse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mollusk Posted April 10, 2014 Share Posted April 10, 2014 I'm not on the donor mailing lists, but I'll bet you a nickel that the fundraisers were already set up well before the Fort Hood shootings. A Presidential visit takes a lot more lead time than Aunt Tillie and Uncle Mickey dropping by. I've got to wonder about the genius advance person who decided that the downtown Crowne Plaza was the best option. It's not like we don't have a bunch of other hotels that can be secured without blocking major commute routes. Some additional cops to direct traffic in intersections would have helped, too - the number of people who don't get the concept of not pulling into the intersection if you can't clear it never ceases to amaze me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
totheskies Posted April 10, 2014 Share Posted April 10, 2014 A compromise for future occurrences would be to just fly in to the Airport, use Marine 1 to get to the destination, and only have fundraisers at locations with helipad access. It would save people a whole lot of headache. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
little frau Posted April 10, 2014 Share Posted April 10, 2014 The actual dinner was at a private residence, not at the hotel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mollusk Posted April 10, 2014 Share Posted April 10, 2014 When Bush the Elder was VP, he would fly into Ellington and motorcade to The Houstonian. When he became President, he started using Marine One to the polo grounds by Memorial Park and let us use the Gulf Freeway again. Motorcading to and fro isn't necessarily that huge a hassle. Completely blocking off the most frequently used route from downtown to the Southwest Freeway was - even the north end of downtown was in gridlock until nearly seven (IMO because of the idjits who think they get to go into the intersection just because the light is green, regardless of whether they can make it all the way across). Deploying cops throughout downtown to direct the intersections would have helped immensely. Or parking the Prez at the Hilton Americas, Inn at the Ballpark, the Four Seasons, the Magnolia, the Sam Houston, or even (gasp) the Embassy Suites if they just had to sleep downtown. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arche_757 Posted April 10, 2014 Share Posted April 10, 2014 I'm guessing that he flew into IAH rather than Ellington because US59/I-69 is easier to block/re-route than I-45 (particularly coming into town and going out in the morning). I also guess he was supposed to come here for the fundraising well before the shooting at Fort Hood happened? In fact he may have had a speech or some other function at UH or Rice or elsewhere that he had to cancel? Who knows? I don't sweat the small stuff. The budget for his travel is figured into the national budget yearly anyway and is probably whatever the fee needs to be. Presidents are expensive. That's just life. I've got a lot more important things to worry about. I guess those other hotels didn't have the rooms available. Hyatt and Crown Plaza did. Simply put. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mollusk Posted April 10, 2014 Share Posted April 10, 2014 I also guess he was supposed to come here for the fundraising well before the shooting at Fort Hood happened? In fact he may have had a speech or some other function at UH or Rice or elsewhere that he had to cancel? Who knows? He's now in Austin for the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act at the LBJ Library. I suspect that's been on the calendar for a while. A fund raising swing through here on the way to that sounds reasonable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
little frau Posted April 10, 2014 Share Posted April 10, 2014 I am in the Austin TV viewing area today and beginning early this morning, local stations had reporters all along the route from ABIA into town/LBJ Library. They televised Obama and wife leaving the plane and getting into their SUV after being greeted by the mayor and others. The motorcade left and I was amazed at the number of vehicles. There must have been 15 or 20 black SUVs and 8 or 9 white vehicles that looked like vans. They had 30 or more motorcycles waiting for him at the library. The reporter at ABIA repeated 3 or 4 times that there could be no take offs or landings while his plane was there. His visit to Austin was to be from 10:30 a.m. -- 1:30 p.m. We didn't continue watching for his arrival at the library. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trymahjong Posted April 10, 2014 Share Posted April 10, 2014 I'm not on the donor mailing lists, but I'll bet you a nickel that the fundraisers were already set up well before the Fort Hood shootings. A Presidential visit takes a lot more lead time than Aunt Tillie and Uncle Mickey dropping by. I've got to wonder about the genius advance person who decided that the downtown Crowne Plaza was the best option. It's not like we don't have a bunch of other hotels that can be secured without blocking major commute routes. Some additional cops to direct traffic in intersections would have helped, too - the number of people who don't get the concept of not pulling into the intersection if you can't clear it never ceases to amaze me.Heard today that the Crowne Plaza was chosen precisely because it was best to secure---alas not everything went as planned-- somehow all the dump trucks mistakenly got word to move out at 2am--yipes! Someone had a big headache! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesL Posted April 12, 2014 Share Posted April 12, 2014 I'm guessing that he flew into IAH rather than Ellington because US59/I-69 is easier to block/re-route than I-45 (particularly coming into town and going out in the morning). They used the Hardy which is even easier to close. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JLWM8609 Posted April 12, 2014 Share Posted April 12, 2014 They used the Hardy which is even easier to close. Easier to close perhaps. But, the President really missed out on our scenic beige strip malls by avoiding 69/59. At least he probably got to catch a glimpse of this. https://www.google.com/maps/place/11100+E+Hardy+Rd/@29.877485,-95.366154,3a,90y,31.27h,83.48t/data=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1s0qfYucEKK0g-X5vi2QWJTQ!2e0!4m2!3m1!1s0x8640b791c10eaa07:0x8750acaa7e9ac67c!6m1!1e1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
plumber2 Posted April 15, 2014 Share Posted April 15, 2014 I know for a fact that Air Force Two landed at Hobby at least once when George Bush Senior was Vice President. It came over me while I was traveling south on Telephone Rd. It was the older 707 and it scared the bejeebers out of me as it passed seemingly right over my head. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Dogs Posted December 6, 2014 Share Posted December 6, 2014 Texas Governor-elect Greg Abbott ®, who will be taking office on Tuesday, January 20th, met with President Obama along with newly elected Governors Bill Walker (Ind-AK), Bruce Rauner (R-IL), Larry Hogan (R-MD), Charlie Baker, Jr., (R-MA), Thomas Wolf (D-PA) & Gina Raimondo (D-RI) yesterday in the White House.Both Obama & Abbott sat side-by-side Friday in front of the fireplace of the Oval Office. The legal contretemps didn't come up."Today was not the setting or the time to talk about legal issues that will be resolved in a courtroom by lawyers," Abbott of his first-ever meeting with Obama.The TX GOPer was one of 7 newly-elected Governors who met with the President & other administration officials to discuss education, health care, transportation infrastructure & economic development. "He was keenly focused on reaching out to the governors, understanding there was a mandate sent on Election Day, & he is reaching out seeking common ground," Abbott said of Obama.Reaction from anyone on the White House meeting between Abbott & Obama ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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