Thursday, November 18, 2004

You know, when the Lincoln bedroom becomes the Motel 6, that resonates with the American people.

--NBC's Andrea Mitchell, January 4, 1997

Yeah, sure it does -- when a Democrat is president. When it's a Republican, well...

One-third of President Bush's top 2000 fund-raisers or their spouses were appointed to positions in his first administration, from ambassadorships in Europe to seats on policy-setting boards, an Associated Press review found.

The perks for 246 "pioneers" who raised at least $100,000 also included overnight stays at the White House and Camp David, parties at the White House and Bush's Texas ranch, state dinners with world leaders and overseas travel with U.S. delegations to the Olympics and other events, the review found.

Top fund-raisers say the real charm of the rewards was getting the chance to rub elbows with the president.

"All of us in politics, we've done so many parties and receptions it's old hat to us," said David Miner, a North Carolina textile executive and state lawmaker who helped raise more than $100,000 for Bush in 2000. He was rewarded with invitations to the White House, the vice presidential mansion and Bush's ranch.


--AP

It's hard to make apples-to-apples comparisons, but you can compare the AP article with this 1996 report on Clinton by the Center for Public Integrity; try to figure out why everyone in America knew about Clinton's rewards for donors and nobody knows about Bush's.

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