Comments on: The Cost Of Spin http://donklephant.com/2006/02/15/the-cost-of-spin/ Big Teeth. Huge Ass. Surprisingly Reasonable. Sat, 10 Jan 2009 01:50:14 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7 hourly 1 By: Brian in MA http://donklephant.com/2006/02/15/the-cost-of-spin/comment-page-1/#comment-6690 Brian in MA Fri, 17 Feb 2006 00:23:36 +0000 http://donklephant.com/2006/02/15/the-cost-of-spin/#comment-6690 "Are you employing the old, “EVERY administration pulls this stuff!â€Â? excuse for the administration. It seems to be a popular defense of this administration and Republicans in general, lately. While I’m sure the Clinton administration did spend some money, I doubt that it was anywhere near that amount. Where are the conservatives strict fiscal mindset about this issue? Oh- forgot it’s not a “handoutâ€Â?, it’s an investment into the economy, by putting the money into PR and advertising. I get it. " So assuming you got all your money back that Bush spent on PR this year, you could buy youself some Dunkin Donuts coffee and 2 chocolate frosted donuts. Congrats. Quite frankly if all Bush is spending on PR is a trip to Starbucks for each taxpayer, then Bush isn't spending much money. Here, if you feel so bad I can treat you to a morning at Starbucks, the individual value of Bush's 1.4 billion PR bill when divided by the number of taxpayers. Moreover, the 4 year jump is vague, we're going from pre-9-11 conditions to post 9-11 with nothing inbetween, and with no comparable inflation adjusted figures during previous wars or previous presidents. Before we start lambasting Bush for wasting our 7 bucks on advertising, it'd be nice to know whether this really is a waste of our money or a natural part of wartime politics. In other words, projecting an expenditure with nothing to compare it to in reasonably similar situations is not intellectually honest. “Are you employing the old, “EVERY administration pulls this stuff!â€Â? excuse for the administration. It seems to be a popular defense of this administration and Republicans in general, lately. While I’m sure the Clinton administration did spend some money, I doubt that it was anywhere near that amount. Where are the conservatives strict fiscal mindset about this issue? Oh- forgot it’s not a “handoutâ€Â?, it’s an investment into the economy, by putting the money into PR and advertising. I get it. ”

So assuming you got all your money back that Bush spent on PR this year, you could buy youself some Dunkin Donuts coffee and 2 chocolate frosted donuts. Congrats. Quite frankly if all Bush is spending on PR is a trip to Starbucks for each taxpayer, then Bush isn’t spending much money. Here, if you feel so bad I can treat you to a morning at Starbucks, the individual value of Bush’s 1.4 billion PR bill when divided by the number of taxpayers.

Moreover, the 4 year jump is vague, we’re going from pre-9-11 conditions to post 9-11 with nothing inbetween, and with no comparable inflation adjusted figures during previous wars or previous presidents. Before we start lambasting Bush for wasting our 7 bucks on advertising, it’d be nice to know whether this really is a waste of our money or a natural part of wartime politics. In other words, projecting an expenditure with nothing to compare it to in reasonably similar situations is not intellectually honest.

]]> By: Justin Gardner http://donklephant.com/2006/02/15/the-cost-of-spin/comment-page-1/#comment-6665 Justin Gardner Thu, 16 Feb 2006 19:12:06 +0000 http://donklephant.com/2006/02/15/the-cost-of-spin/#comment-6665 <blockquote>2. How much of our money did Democrats spend when they were in power?</blockquote> Well, part of it was the $39 million in 2000. I don't think one can make the assumption that this same 128% jump would be seen in all PR expenditures, but it certainly wouldn't surprise me.

2. How much of our money did Democrats spend when they were in power?

Well, part of it was the $39 million in 2000. I don’t think one can make the assumption that this same 128% jump would be seen in all PR expenditures, but it certainly wouldn’t surprise me.

]]> By: john http://donklephant.com/2006/02/15/the-cost-of-spin/comment-page-1/#comment-6664 john Thu, 16 Feb 2006 18:45:26 +0000 http://donklephant.com/2006/02/15/the-cost-of-spin/#comment-6664 Brian in MA, Are you employing the old, "EVERY administration pulls this stuff!" excuse for the administration. It seems to be a popular defense of this administration and Republicans in general, lately. While I'm sure the Clinton administration did spend some money, I doubt that it was anywhere near that amount. Where are the conservatives strict fiscal mindset about this issue? Oh- forgot it's not a "handout", it's an investment into the economy, by putting the money into PR and advertising. I get it. Brian in MA,

Are you employing the old, “EVERY administration pulls this stuff!” excuse for the administration. It seems to be a popular defense of this administration and Republicans in general, lately. While I’m sure the Clinton administration did spend some money, I doubt that it was anywhere near that amount. Where are the conservatives strict fiscal mindset about this issue? Oh- forgot it’s not a “handout”, it’s an investment into the economy, by putting the money into PR and advertising. I get it.

]]> By: BrianOfAtlanta http://donklephant.com/2006/02/15/the-cost-of-spin/comment-page-1/#comment-6657 BrianOfAtlanta Thu, 16 Feb 2006 15:03:33 +0000 http://donklephant.com/2006/02/15/the-cost-of-spin/#comment-6657 $1.4 billion is a disturbingly big chunk of change for PR no matter how you count it. Still, without knowing how much the government has spent in a "normal" year or during other wars it really doesn't have much meaning once you get past the sticker shock. $1.4 billion is a disturbingly big chunk of change for PR no matter how you count it. Still, without knowing how much the government has spent in a “normal” year or during other wars it really doesn’t have much meaning once you get past the sticker shock.

]]> By: Brian in MA http://donklephant.com/2006/02/15/the-cost-of-spin/comment-page-1/#comment-6653 Brian in MA Thu, 16 Feb 2006 13:53:43 +0000 http://donklephant.com/2006/02/15/the-cost-of-spin/#comment-6653 My question is the following: Hoe much more was spent on PR when we were fighting WWI, WWII, and Vietnam? And yeah, rising by 128% in 4 years isn't that great, but the question we have to ask is: 1. Was any of thi spendings effected by September 11th? )which obviously would not have been taken into consideration in the 2000 year.) 2. How much of our money did Democrats spend when they were in power? Besides, even if only 200 million of America's 300 million population paid taxes, 1.4 billion dollars amounts to 7 bucks each in taxes. My question is the following:

Hoe much more was spent on PR when we were fighting WWI, WWII, and Vietnam?

And yeah, rising by 128% in 4 years isn’t that great, but the question we have to ask is:

1. Was any of thi spendings effected by September 11th? )which obviously would not have been taken into consideration in the 2000 year.)

2. How much of our money did Democrats spend when they were in power?

Besides, even if only 200 million of America’s 300 million population paid taxes, 1.4 billion dollars amounts to 7 bucks each in taxes.

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