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Obama dings Las Vegas — again
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Photo by The Associated Press.
President Barack Obama, speaking today during a town hall meeting in Nashua, N.H., drew sharp criticism after a remark about Las Vegas.
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LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
Updated: Feb. 2, 2010 | 6:25 p.m.
President Barack Obama once again used Las Vegas as the punch line in a crack about wasting money.
The Hill, a Washington, D.C., publication, quoted Obama warning an audience in New Hampshire against the danger of wasting "a bunch of cash in Vegas."
The remark was reminiscent of a statement last year in which Obama said companies getting government bailout money shouldn't use it in Las Vegas.
That remark generated strong rebukes from Las Vegas boosters and criticism from convention industry people who said it unfairly marked the destination as a wasteful location for events.
"When times are tough, you tighten your belts," The Hill quoted Obama saying today at a town hall meeting in New Hampshire." You don’t go buying a boat when you can barely pay your mortgage. You don’t blow a bunch of cash in Vegas when you’re trying to save for college."
U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., said he spoke to the White House following Obama's comments.
“While the President is correct that people saving for college need to be fiscally responsible, the President needs to lay off Las Vegas and stop making it the poster child for where people shouldn’t be spending their money," Reid said in a statement.
“Nevada is the nation’s top destination for tourism and conventions," the statement continued. "It is more popular than any other place in the country, and for good reason: it’s affordable, easy to get to from anywhere and the weather is perfect.
“To truly re-energize our economy, we need people to travel to Las Vegas. I would much rather tourists and business travelers spend their money in Las Vegas than spend it overseas.”
In response, Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman raised his voice repeatedly during a hastily arranged news conference in his office.
"I want to assure you when he comes I will do everything I can to give him the boot back to Washington and to visit his failures back there," Goodman said of Obama's pending visit later this month. Goodman said the visit is scheduled for Feb. 18.
When asked how a mayor could give the president "the boot," Goodman responded, "You tell him he is not really welcome in this city until he straightens this out."
Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., said in a news release, “I have called the White House to lodge a complaint, and I am in the process of writing the President to explain the negative impact of his words on the businesses and families that call Las Vegas home.”
Gov. Jim Gibbons said Obama's comments "are disgraceful and he should immediately apologize to the working families of Las Vegas.”
Gibbons, in a news release, also said Obama "has no problem coming to Las Vegas to raise campaign cash for the Democratic Party, but insults the city when it fits the President’s agenda."
This afternoon, Obama sent a letter to Reid addressing the controversy.
It read: "I hope you know that during my Town Hall today, I wasn’t saying anything negative about Las Vegas. I was making the simple point that families use vacation dollars, not college tuition money, to have fun. There is no place better to have fun than Vegas, one of our country’s great destinations. I have always enjoyed my visits, look forward to visiting in a few weeks, and hope folks will visit in record numbers this year."
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As bad as the situation is in Haiti, it IS another country, and we have significant problems right here we need to deal with.
And there is Obama trashing Las Vegas while at the same time he suggests sending huge amounts of money to Haiti? What a two faced idiot. Talk about how one should not waste money?
Its ok to give money to some other country for years and years to rebuild them (with no repayment or other advantage to the USA), while we lose our houses and all that right HERE?
Let Obama give HIS $400k salary to Haiti, as well as the senators and representatives. The rest of us need the money we have right here, and right NOW.
Goodman may be an Out-of-control spender of Tax Dollars on Pet Projects. And he may have "Special Interest" in building up Downtown, since he DOES own two prime lots there. And he may be narrow minded enough to lay off City employees and reduce services to the Public, to make up for the Budget Shortfall he and his Council Cronies wasted away on New Parks, and New Park upgrades,and a New City Hall, and a New Performing Arts Center, and a Mob Museum, and the tens of millions that HAVE been spent and WILL be spent on that financial Bottomless Pit called the Downtown Renovation Project. But even though he is the most financially irresponsible Mayor we have had yet, I must agree with him on the President dissing Vegas. Gov. Reid, the failure that he is, has been Hussein Obama's lapdog, and remained faithful to Hussein's policys and plans, even though the people of Nevada were mostly against those Policies and Plans. Reid stood by his Boss. And Hussein STILL dissed the state of the man who stood by him. That shows what kind of person the Black President is. And Blacks stand by their own, right or wrong, good or bad, honest or criminal. They took O.J. back, even though he avoided blacks until he was in trouble with the law. They embraced Michael Jackson, even though his wives and children, and friends were all White. The kids he molested were White. His music was White. He had little association with Blacks, until he was in trouble with the law. So, it is understandable that Blacks back up the Black President as being unaccountable for his words or actions. It's the Black standard. Hispanics are much the same way.