The World’s Biggest Clown Show
Stung by the stories about the RNC paying for $2,000.00 binges at bondage themed strip clubs (of course this shit starts AFTER I become a Democrat), the Republicans unleash their vaunted oppo research team:
The DNC spent at least $2,204,000 for luxury hotels & caterers, Including:The DNC has spent at least $423,000 at Mandarin Oriental Hotels. (Federal Elections Commission, www.fec.gov, accessed: 3/31/10)
The DNC spent at least $530,000 at Hilton Hotels. (Federal Elections Commission, www.fec.gov, accessed: 3/31/10)
The DNC spent at least $7,000 at the Fontainebleau in Miami Beach. (Federal Elections Commission, www.fec.gov, accessed: 3/31/10)
So the Republican response to blowing a wad of cash at a strip club is “the Democrats pay hotel bills!”
The entire Republican party has been taken over by Red State commenters.
March 31, 2010 5:34 pm
Posted in: Clown Shoes, Republican Stupidity
59 Comments
59 Responses
Lisa K. - March 31, 2010 | 5:36 pm · Link
The Republican party hasn’t been much else since Reagan.
Bob L - March 31, 2010 | 5:38 pm · Link
Damn, who could have foreseen the Democrats using hotel rooms?
mcc - March 31, 2010 | 5:38 pm · Link
The really great thing is that it wasn’t especially the Democrats that were complaining about the west hollywood thing in the first place, it was Steele’s enemies within the GOP. It was right-wingers who brought the expense reports to light and promoted them to begin with. So even if Steele’s defense was right, he’d have done… what, exactly? Successfully convinced his detractors that Tim Kaine should not be given his job running the RNC?
Quackosaur - March 31, 2010 | 5:40 pm · Link
I think the Republicans are just trying to prove that Democrats are evil limousine liberals who don’t care about REAL AMERICANS by demonstrating that they stay at fancy-pants hotels and not the Motel 6 by the interstate.
Comrade Dread - March 31, 2010 | 5:40 pm · Link
I’m guessing their point was that if you want a party that’s just going to go home and be in bed by 9, vote for Democrats.
If you want a party where lesbian bondage strippers might show up and there might be some wetsuits and bathroom wide stances, vote Republican.
Mike Kay - March 31, 2010 | 5:40 pm · Link
Well, at least the DNC didn’t pay for Bill Clinton’s cigars.
soonergrunt - March 31, 2010 | 5:41 pm · Link
“No one could’ve forseen the Republicans being labeled as sexual perverts and hypocrites”
Quote attributed to
Mark Foley Larry Craig John Ensign Mark SanfordI wonder if this is what Michael Steele meant when he said it was going to be “off the hook, baby!”
Leelee for Obama - March 31, 2010 | 5:41 pm · Link
Those responsible BASTARDS! How dare they keep the hotels open and employing people?
Bill Section 147 - March 31, 2010 | 5:42 pm · Link
Don’t forget how much Democrats spend on actual office supplies. I bet it’s a ton. And not near as much of it is booze as the RNC so somebody is hording paper clips. Bet it’s Al Gore. He probably invested in some green paper clip technology.
Mike Kay - March 31, 2010 | 5:42 pm · Link
@Comrade Dread: what’s the wetsuit reference?
Sentient Puddle - March 31, 2010 | 5:43 pm · Link
Not only does this show that their opposition research has nothing on the DNC, but it also suggests that they have no clue what the problem was to begin with.
El Cid - March 31, 2010 | 5:44 pm · Link
OMG!
They’re workin’ for the Chinaman lobby!
me - March 31, 2010 | 5:45 pm · Link
Among other wads they were blowing.
MikeJ - March 31, 2010 | 5:45 pm · Link
I wonder why they don’t say what period of time this covers? It’s dead easy to through FEC filings in a database and query any way you’d like, but you can’t make a good comparison without knowing how they did their search. Which is probably the point.
wasabi gasp - March 31, 2010 | 5:46 pm · Link
They should sleep in their cars like real Americans.
demkat620 - March 31, 2010 | 5:48 pm · Link
@Mike Kay: Enjoy!
This just keeps the story in the news. Are they too stupid to understand that?
Oh wait…nevermind.
Mark S. - March 31, 2010 | 5:48 pm · Link
Is that $2.2 million for an entire year? If so, who gives a shit?
El Cid - March 31, 2010 | 5:48 pm · Link
@wasabi gasp: And not in any of them hybrids, neither. Real cars, like big SUV’s and full size pickups.
dmsilev - March 31, 2010 | 5:49 pm · Link
@Bill Section 147: When I first heard about the RNC’s Congressional Liquors “office supplies” charge, it was on TV and I thought they said “Congressional Lickers”. Knowing today’s GOP, you have to admit that the latter was much more plausible.
-dms
freelancer - March 31, 2010 | 5:49 pm · Link
No one here has done this yet? I know it’s an old joke, but I never tire of it.
http://gop.am/AQAV
JGabriel - March 31, 2010 | 5:51 pm · Link
And yet, out of all that money, somehow none of it is on their books as being spent on strippers & blow.
RNC FAIL.
.
some other guy - March 31, 2010 | 5:52 pm · Link
Why in the world is the RNC still talking about this? All they’re doing is keeping the story alive for yet another news cycle. Even if a news org runs with the DNC hotel spending story they’re going to open with the context that this is in response the RNC spending money on sex clubs. Idiots.
Urza - March 31, 2010 | 5:52 pm · Link
@Mike Kay #10
The wetsuit reference
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/.....67891.html
huffpo doesn’t mention the dildo that I recall associated with the story and the pastor’s backside, but I could be mistaken on that, its hard to keep up with republican kink.
RSR - March 31, 2010 | 5:54 pm · Link
We use airport bathrooms, too, doesn’t mean we all profess to a ‘wide stance.’
dmsilev - March 31, 2010 | 5:54 pm · Link
@some other guy: That was more or less the DNC’s response. Via Steve Benen:
-dms
Josh Huaco - March 31, 2010 | 5:54 pm · Link
I think the message is that Republicans are red-blooded heterosexual manly men who lub demselves some hot chick-on-chick action, while wussy Democrats prefer to nosh on pricey, catered arugula and dijon mustard in Frenchie-sounding hotels.
Svensker - March 31, 2010 | 5:54 pm · Link
@El Cid:
Better check for Hummers!
geg6 - March 31, 2010 | 5:55 pm · Link
@some other guy:
This.
JGabriel - March 31, 2010 | 5:56 pm · Link
@Mike Kay:
Some winger reverend in the south, who was found dead a few years back, wearing two wetsuits and with a dildo up his butt.
Much speculation/puzzlement has occurred regarding the point/use of the second wetsuit.
.
Dee Loralei - March 31, 2010 | 5:56 pm · Link
@Mark S.: I think Benen said it was 16, 18 months, may have been more.
soonergrunt - March 31, 2010 | 5:58 pm · Link
@Urza: There was also a condom on the dildo if memory serves.
I remember thinking “that’s a lotta latex!”
Omnes Omnibus - March 31, 2010 | 5:58 pm · Link
@JGabriel:
The inner one was worn as a foundation garment to slim his figure. The outer was pure kink.
freelancer - March 31, 2010 | 6:02 pm · Link
@El Cid:
Also, Dude, chinaman is not the preferred nomenclature. Asian-American, please.
me - March 31, 2010 | 6:06 pm · Link
@freelancer: Too bad hammerandsteele.com doesn’t work anymore.
Mark S. - March 31, 2010 | 6:06 pm · Link
@Dee Loralei:
Yeah, Benen says 18 months, which makes the RNC’s point even stupider. Both the DNC and RNC are glorified wealthy donor fundraising machines. Of course they’re going to spend a lot on fancy hotels and expensive catering.
gex - March 31, 2010 | 6:07 pm · Link
@Comrade Dread: You have articulated the only sane rationale I’ve ever heard for this lesbian to vote for a Republican.
Cris - March 31, 2010 | 6:08 pm · Link
@freelancer: This isn’t a guy who built the railroads here.
kommrade reproductive vigor - March 31, 2010 | 6:12 pm · Link
I will also note that none of these hotel stays resulted in people getting their hands on the Dems’ super top secret fund raising plans.
lamh31 - March 31, 2010 | 6:19 pm · Link
Tony Perkins urges conservatives to stop giving money to RNC
R. Johnston - March 31, 2010 | 6:21 pm · Link
@Lisa K.:
Fixed. After winning the Civil War the Republican party has always been the party of kleptocratic plutocracy, and at best indifferent on all other issues of significance. You don’t maintain a nationally competitive party dedicated to kleptocratic plutocracy in a democratic republic without structuring your party around the intellectual equivalent of redstate commenters.
Joseph Nobles - March 31, 2010 | 6:22 pm · Link
I just can’t accomodate any kink that involves assembly.
Tsulagi - March 31, 2010 | 6:22 pm · Link
@JGabriel:
I know. A few times at dinner parties, after dinner and some drinks with no kids around, I’ve told the story of the unsung Patriot Pastor. Self-snuffing double-wetsuit single-dildo guy.
The response is very predictable. First there is a kind of a mouth agape, WTF kind of look. Then because they just can’t their head around it, and because they know I’m not totally R-friendly these days, often they think I’m making it up or making a joke. When they find I’m not, another WTF look follows. Then you can almost see the wheels and gears start spinning in their heads as they try to figure out how someone could get off on that. Especially the second wetsuit. It’s led to some interesting discussions.
What I’ve been waiting for is to tell the story then see a look on someone’s face of “Two wetsuits, a dildo and self-bondage gear…sure, that’s my vanilla.”
The Grand Panjandrum - March 31, 2010 | 6:28 pm · Link
@Svensker:
What guy doesn’t enjoy a hummer every once in a while?
asiangrrlMN - March 31, 2010 | 6:31 pm · Link
@Tsulagi: Ahem. #Raises hand, then scampers back into the dark.#
@freelancer: Well, given that it’s the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, the reference actually fits.
cleek - March 31, 2010 | 6:34 pm · Link
the Daily Show had a good time a few months back mocking the GOP for doing their convo in Hawaii, while complaining that Hawaii isn’t Real America.
wanna bet they didn’t stay in Days Inns ?
Mike Kay - March 31, 2010 | 6:49 pm · Link
Oh, I see. That wetsuit death happen during the lead-up to Iowa. No wonder, I missed. Edwards must of issued 10 unicorn policy statements that day.
Tattoosydney - March 31, 2010 | 6:50 pm · Link
@Tsulagi:
That old thing? Pfffft.
asiangrrlMN - March 31, 2010 | 6:53 pm · Link
@Tattoosydney: You and me, mind-meld!
de stijl - March 31, 2010 | 6:54 pm · Link
I was attending a Business Objects conference at the Fontainebleau and when I checked in the front desk told me that my room had already been filled. I asked what my options were and the very helpful lady set me up in one of the party rooms. She apologized that there was no bedroom per se, but they would deliver a roll-in bed. I would be given a discount for my inconvenience.
So here I was in one of the coolest old-school, Sinatra-style Miami Beach hotels with a room of ~10,000 square feet with a 200 feet of wraparound balcony overlooking the ocean on the reduced price regular room fare company dime.
In the morning, I purposefully didn’t talk to the front desk folks to get situated into a regular suite.
The next evening I threw a BYOB party and I’m not too humble to admit that it was awesome. French people are so intimidatingly chic but are very fun to hang out with once they get over the fact that you’re not the embodiment of their stereotype of an American barbarian.
And then they moved me to a regular old standard issue 300 sqft room (still pretty nice with an ocean view – it is the Fontainebleau after all) because they had a paying gig for the party room – one of the vendors, maybe Sybase.
I was a god for a day and a half.
It was wrenching to go back to dronedom after tasting the rockstar lifestyle. They say the first taste is free, but still it was the best conference of my life.
If I knew her name the front desk chick would be in my will.
SiubhanDuinne - March 31, 2010 | 6:56 pm · Link
Those are plenty big numbers, all right, but does it say anywhere what the time frame was? Were these one-offs (you should excuse the expression) or aggregated charges over a period of weeks, months, years? I mean, I could say I’ve made a million dollars, but if it turns out that’s the total I’ve earned over 40 years of being employed it’s a little less impressive, yes?
ETA: MikeJ got there first and more concisely an hour ago. Sorry, MikeJ.
Bill Section 147 - March 31, 2010 | 7:00 pm · Link
@dmsilev: Your comment made me go to the RNC office supply store of my imagination. Mmmmm. Licker.
I wonder if my 2008 Obama Tire Gauge works on other inflatables?
litbrit - March 31, 2010 | 7:10 pm · Link
You know, as funny and schadenfruedelicious as the Voyeur story was (and still is), I’ll admit to feeling a bit disappointed that Marco Rubio wasn’t involved. (He wasn’t, was he?) I mean, Rubio’s already in a spot of hot water over his “inadvertent” use of the Florida RNC credit card for personal expenses (groceries, home improvement bills, etc.), so I was hoping against hope that a
titty barexotic nightclub charge or two had appeared on those bills somewhere, and news of young Republican hotshots blowing nearly $2K at a faux-lesbian bondage bar with the concomitant possibility that Rubio was among the tie them up; tied them down crew made my heart beat a little faster. But it was not to be. At least, it doesn’t look that way. Yet. It would be irresponsible not to speculate, etc.PaulW - March 31, 2010 | 7:51 pm · Link
You do realize those hotel bills the Democrats racked up included 24-hour marathon viewings of the porn pay-per-view
ZOMG Jenna Jameson fans! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
goblue72 - March 31, 2010 | 8:40 pm · Link
@asiangrrlMN: Yeah, but as a totally tangential comment, I cannot for the life of me understand how a hotel chain gets away with the name “Mandarin Oriental” hotel in this day and age. Its like calling yourself the “African Jiggaboo Hotel” or “Mexican Wetback Hotel”.
Course, I’m a guy who cringes whenever anyone says they just bought an oriental carpet.
J. Michael Neal - March 31, 2010 | 8:58 pm · Link
@Comrade Dread:
Okay, now, if you promise me that by joining the party of free commerce, I can trade my share of the wetsuits to someone for his (her?) share of the lesbian bondage strippers, and then trade my wide stances to someone else for the same thing, then I have to seriously consider becoming a Republican.
I mean, so long as those are the monthly benefits.
JMC in the ATL - March 31, 2010 | 9:24 pm · Link
$2.2 million over 18 months = approx. 120,000 per month.
That really doesn’t seem excessive to me for an umbrella national party with a lot of VIPs to wine and dine in exchange for many more millions in donations.
LB - March 31, 2010 | 10:29 pm · Link
FWIW, both the Mandarin Oriental in New York and the one in Washington as well as the Fontainebleau are listed in an online directory of union hotels. So if the DNC has got to entertain rich donor folk at fancy hotels because that’s the way the game is played, at least they’re doing it at places where the people who have to clean up after the party have decent working conditions.
DougL (frmrly: Conservatively Liberal) - April 1, 2010 | 1:03 am · Link
Talking about clown shows I see that Erickkk, Son of Erickkk is really serious about ignoring the fun that teh dreaded liebruls had over at his Operation Leper site. I think his buddies need to waterboard him to determine if he really is one of the Palin Faithful.
Some pretty funny comments over there but it needs more sexing up since the last comment was in January, shortly after it was discovered pretty much abandoned. Nice of Erickkk to allow moderation free posts.
What a thoughtful little winger he be.
Mustang Bobby - April 1, 2010 | 12:02 pm · Link
Wait, the Dems stayed at the Fontainebleau and I wasn’t invited? WTF? Besides, what are they doing staying up at that end of Miami Beach? You couldn’t get more white-bread red-state nouveau-riche kitschy than the Fontainebleau if you tried; it reeks of it.
Now had they asked me, I would have told them to head down to SoBe and then hang out at Club Space over in Miami. (I’ve never been there, but I’ve driven by it on my way to work at 5:30 a.m. and it was hoppin’. I don’t know if they have faux lesbian bondage acts, though.)