I congratulate Dana Bash on pursuing very inflammatory remarks by Michele Bachmann. I think the nasty dialogue by Michele needs a conversation rather than simply ridicule. Ms. Bash was correct in pursuing the topic. So, let me pick up where Rep. Bachmann refused to do so.
To begin to click at the title to the entry is a list of White House employees and their salaries by The Washington Post. The year was 2006. The White House hires a lot of people. I think of it as I do an emergency room or flight nurses. We pay them for when they are needed and not just 'on call' for when they might be needed. Why? Because we cannot afford to have them somewhere else doing something else should circumstances arise.
The picture here is a gathering of the President and his executive branch staff including the military the day Osama bin Laden was killed by the US Navy Seal Team Six. They are huddled around all kinds of sophisticated communication devices, including video screens and audio capacity. I know for a fact that the people responsible for playing movies for the First Family when there is leisure time (And of course there is nothing but leisure time for the First Family according to Right Wing media) also are required to maintain the equipment. So, I am quite confident there are not full time employees, security cleared of course, hanging out at the White House to simply 'Push Play.'
In regard to Air Force One and a staff of chefs. The number of people in that aircraft are many. There is at the very least The President, the pilot, the co-pilot, the navigator, the driver to the car that could not read Hebrew and put gas in the Presidential Limo instead of diesel and my guess a few journalists. People eat. And they eat three times a day and they eat American food. I doubt seriously the Brown Bag Lunch the First Lady prepared for her husband before leaving on Marine One would last through an entire trip of the Middle East.
What does that mean?
It means that people are employed for a reasonable work day in the USA. Usually eight hours. In the case of the White House employees I am sure they are available 'On Demand' should the need arrive. But, when one divides 24 hours by 8 hour shifts that means there are at the very least three chefs to staff each one of the shifts. I know that seems indulgent thinking the Prez would have a midnight snack, but, the world has 24 times zones and the entire idea of 8 hour shifts gets a little bizarre at times. I would fully expect there to be an assistant to the lead chef for at least two of those shifts. The White House employees have to be staffed for 24 hours a day and for every day of the year. It requires people and that means there appears to be duplicity in many instances but that sincerely is not the case.
Rep. Bachmann needs to stop targeting the White House as a reasonable place to rant her political nonsense and sincerely focus on her ability to discern what is important in the problems of the USA like supporting The Iron Dome in Israel in the House Budget.
I also thank Lawrence O'Donnell for commemorating the people in the USA that were right about the Iraq invasion. They are great people, they are citizens and they are some of the most dedicated patriots this nation has. Thank you, it was a great moment for The Last Word.
