Think Progress

50K for lunch with Laura.

By Sean Gibbons on Jan 31st, 2006 at 10:48 am

50K for lunch with Laura.

“The latest fundraising pitch of the Congressional Club, a venerable organization of lawmakers’ spouses, asks donors for $50,000 apiece in exchange for lunch, a reception with first lady Laura Bush and a private reception with members of Congress and their spouses,” the Hill reports.



85 Responses to “50K for lunch with Laura.”

  1. suzanne says:

  2. Smedley says:

    This is how they make a living and cover up money laundering for there families even if its for charity they scoop in the bucks ………Pathetic …then they have the neck to charge taxpayers for the expensis of the food and wine etc…..100% profit in their pockets .


  3. Clif says:

    Couldn’t they all go to Chuck E. Cheese, or is Laura finally sick of the place?


  4. Theresa says:

    I can’t imagine anything that I would dread more; lunch with Pickles and Congressional Cronies and spouses; notably Resluglican Congressional Cronies. Somehow, don’t see Dems or Indies part of this plate.


  5. Smedley says:

    and to make things worse the 50 grand comes from us the porr people…..the only reason people are rich is cause they stole of the poor ………even in business

    123 to impeach Blair getting there need 200 http://edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/EDMDetails.aspx?EDMID=29437&SESSION=875


  6. kindness says:

    I bet Ann Coulter pays up and asks for a front row seat. Someone told her Laura was gonna do a lot of pole dancing. Yuck, I can’t think which thought is worse, Coulter shoving dollar bills (she’s a republinazi, what do you expect her to shove Jacksons?) or Laura doing the dance….

    Please excuse me, I’ve gotta go hurl.


  7. unbelievable says:

    They’re having to pay people $50,000 to eat lunch with her now??? Not sure that’s enough to make me even consider it. Maybe a million…

    Oh, what? It’s pay $50,000 to have lunch with her? What are they, nuts?

    Wait a minute, I thought George had decided that she wouldn’t be going into politics… this sounds political to me…


  8. Theresa says:

    Oops, my bad. Seems the letter was drafted by a Dems wife, so this is bi-partisan. I did like the reference to having the Ethics Committe review the letter. Ethics Committe, what Ethics Committe, we don’t need no stinkin’ Ethics Committe


  9. Punchy says:

    When your policies and tax breaks only make the rich get richer, I guess $50K only feels like $25K

    Seriously, $50K for lunch…with the Prez’s old lady? How much influence will that buy you? I’m guessing not much.


  10. Lyle says:

    Are you people ignorant? Who soldout the Lincoln bedroom?

    Politicians do whatever it takes to raise money… which means your people do it too.


  11. Randy says:

    Its funny how it wasn’t disgusting when Bill and Hillary turned the Lincoln bedroom into a bed and breakfast.

    http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/1997/03/WHguests_list.html


  12. Gary Kleppe says:

    Seriously, $50K for lunch…with the Prez’s old lady? How much influence will that buy you? I’m guessing not much.

    If it didn’t buy influence, why would they pay it? Pickles may not have any say on the important decisions, but she’s certainly going to report back the list of who paid up and what they’re asking for to the people who do have a say.


  13. Gary Kleppe says:

    Its funny how it wasn’t disgusting when Bill and Hillary turned the Lincoln bedroom into a bed and breakfast.

    Actually, it was, which is why it got written up in Mother Jones, a liberal publication.

    So let’s agree on this: Any elected official of any party who offers influence in exchange for large sums of cash should be thrown out of office. Sound like a plan, sport?


  14. Lyle says:

    Alito is confirmed. Run for Canada people. Bush is going to start putting people in concentration camps and force them to watch He-Haw, and sing macho cowboy songs.

    Run away, run away… Canada is better. Canada is Bush’s enemy.


  15. WaltTheMan says:

    Heck, you’d pay less for a real whore and get more pleasure out of her.


  16. Innocent Lite says:

    Justice Samuel Alito!!!!

    Take that, Think Progress! Next up, Ruth Bader Ginsburg. She will resign by this summer!


  17. EasyRider says:

    Just another ATM machine for the GOP.


  18. Zookeeper says:

    The 50K is for maintenance and upkeep on the Laura 2006 model. If you stand close, you can hear the whirring sound when she moves her head — can’t have that.


  19. Granite State Destroyer says:

    Does it include a “happy ending” and a “wet-nap” clean-up too?

    Or is that the private lunch with Ken Mehlman, Jeff Gannon and David Drier?

    -GSD


  20. Jay says:

    Hey wingnuts, I have some bad news for you regarding Alito. Republicans are going to be abused by the consolidation of Executive branch power too. Republicans are members of the working class that’ll be screwed by Alito’s pro-corporate stances too. Republican women and their daughters wind up with unwanted pregnancies too.

    Be careful what you wish for.


  21. WaltTheMan says:

    I don’t know about the wet-nap, but you should use protection – her husband has screwed about 297 million people.


  22. the fly-man says:

    Wait til we get the bill for VP cheney renting out his private house on the Eastern Shore of MD. I’m sure it’s secure, especially the airspace. Makes me wonder if the new missle defense system will be protecting his new hood first. Sorta like the Hamptons for paranoid neocons. His and Sec. Rumsfelds camp David.


  23. Pete Bogs says:

    the private reception with Congresspersons is where future lobbying scandals will begin…


  24. Innocent Lite says:

    Jay – at least Alito won’t vote to take my home in Kelo like the liberals did. Suck it up, buddy! Liberalism was born to lose. Just not a good way to think.


  25. the fly-man says:

    The GOP, rewarding Party loyalty since coruption was a child. Isn’t that right comrade?


  26. Keith H. says:

    That tax payer money just keeps going back & forth doesn’t it?
    Junior gives it to the rich, the rich give it back to the criminal organization that is bushco.
    With diebold and the press in their pockets, they’re currently unstoppable.


  27. Evil Spaniard says:

    Paying $50k for a supper with an old hag? Gosh, I prefer better to pay a full milion and sleep with Demi Moore, as Robert Redford did… that’s money well spent…


  28. Jay says:

    IL,

    Republicans have already annexed your brain, I wouldn’t be so worried about my house.

    When light dawns on marble head….don’t say we didn’t warn you. Oh and good luck.


  29. Mark says:

    #7 by now you should know that what the president says means that the opposite will occur. Laura will run for senate and for president someday.


  30. Zookeeper says:

    #27 – I’d pay the million and sleep with Napoleon Dynamite.


  31. Mark says:

    #24 sorry, but eminent domain existed long before that supreme court case was ever even dreamed up…deal with it.


  32. Cyra Brown says:

    Hmmmm… Clinton rewards contributors with a night in the Lincoln Bedroom. Bush rewards contributors with political appointments, based on amount of “support” given. Ability to do the job they are given? Who cares??? Why should that matter? Once again Bush FAR exceeds any actions of Clinton’s, whether wingers accept it or not. And people who use Clinton to exonerate Bush, don’t care about the continuing fallout from Bush Administration actions, that go on and on, no end in sight. Nice


  33. Evil Spaniard says:

    #30 Well, I think even Marty Feldman is better than LB…


  34. For Truth says:

    #16,

    Imbalance of power could even end up being a problem for you, you just don’t know it yet. Too much of even a “good” thing is bad.


  35. John says:

    How much to share a dog biscuit and walkies with Barney? 10k


  36. unbelievable says:

    #7 by now you should know that what the president says means that the opposite will occur. Laura will run for senate and for president someday.

    Comment by Mark — January 31, 2006 @ 11:49 am

    I do. Was being satirical… I figure laughing at this stage is preferable to crying. Because with the morons in this country, she could actually get elected.


  37. Evil Spaniard says:

    Well, seriously. All this supper-for-rent, lobbyist, Dukesters, shows that there are too much money for buying politics. Influence is sold to the bigger bidder. It remids too much the roman empire GOP, but without beheadings and very few actual democracy…


  38. Innocent Lite says:

    Jay – what could be worse than the left-wing thought police that have run the Courts for years. At least you will have an out – you will still have the legislature. Of course, that’s a stretch because Democrats CANNOT win elections, largely because of people with radical ideology like yourself.


  39. Quisp says:

    Gimme a valium and champers chaser.


  40. Clif says:

    #36 the really sad part Laura would do the job better


  41. Jesus Christ God of WAR says:

    For $50k you’d think a guy could get a blow job from Pickles with their lunch.

    But then I remember, Repugs have a “thing” about sex and Laura is the loneliest woman in Washington. George is too busy with the likes of Gannon & Co.


  42. the fly-man says:

  43. Evil Spaniard says:

    #41 Well, everybody knows that breathing and having sex require a neuron per body funcion. So, Bush is too busy breathing right now…


  44. Smedley says:

    when goverments are against abortion it just means there worried there not getting enough future soldiers and taxpayers …..thats all they care about


  45. DS says:

    Can you imagine the uproar it would have caused if Hillary had done this while First Lady?

    Hypocrites.


  46. Zookeeper says:

    #33 – I bow to your superior evil-ness, Spaniard. Mmmm, Marty Feldman…


  47. Mark says:

    #11 that lincoln bedroom thing was in all the news constantly when it was learned. Much more so than even Abrahamoff has been in the news lately.


  48. Ken says:

    Is falafel on the menu?


  49. BUSH BITES says:

    HOW MUCH FOR THE TWINS? LOL.


  50. Ken says:

    The Bush twins are busy filming a new miltary action film, directed by Jack Abramoff, called “Babes in Baghdad”. It’s their contribution to the “War on Terror”.


  51. unbelievable says:

    #36 the really sad part Laura would do the job better

    Comment by Clif — January 31, 2006 @ 12:20 pm

    Agreed that doing nothing would be a vast improvement over the chaos and destruction under Chimp’s reign.


  52. unbelievable says:

    when goverments are against abortion it just means there worried there not getting enough future soldiers and taxpayers …..thats all they care about

    Comment by Smedley — January 31, 2006 @ 12:59 pm

    Absolutely, since they believe life begins at conception and ends at birth…


  53. Hardy Haberman says:

    So pimping out your family for funds is standard operating proceedure in washington. And that’s why we need campaign finance reform!

    Until the big corporate money is goe, we will never have democracy.


  54. Randy says:

    #53 Yes, especially the way Dean spent the DNC funds, there won’t be a Democratic party either. Where did all of that money go anyway?


  55. Max-1 says:

    #1 Comment by suzanne

    Disgusting INDEED.

    Pimping his wife like that.

    Thats one hell of an expensive blow-job.

    Impeachment is not for blow jobs


  56. WaltTheMan says:

    ran·dy [ rándee ] (comparative ran·di·er, superlative ran·di·est)

    adjective

    Definitions:

    lustful: having a strong desire for sex ( informal )

    [Late 17th century.


  57. Randy says:

    #56
    So you don’t like the message, so you try to destroy the messenger? Face it, liberalism is dead. Stick a fork in it. There will most likely be another vacancy on the court during Bush’s tenure and I’d like to see a Justice Brown or Owens on the court. Looking forward to tonight!


  58. WaltTheMan says:

    #57,
    I just pasted a definition from an on-line dictionary.


  59. kindness says:

    gloat all you want trolls. It’s over for you come november elections. Even Tom DeLay is going down in his own district.


  60. Ken says:

    Well, if we can’t either, A) Win the next election legitimately, or B) Bribe some Republican to tell us how they rig the voting machines, at least we can all take comfort in the fact that American’s are armed to the teeth. Oh, wait. I forgot. Nobody can afford ammo any more. So much for Bush protecting our right to bear arms. “Grab your torch and pitchfork!”


  61. Marie says:

    Sounds like lawmakers are pimps, using their wives.


  62. dano347 says:

    You guys are looking at it the wrong way; this is a prime investment opportunity. Start a company that will (for a nominal fee) transport pregnant women to Canada for abortions and abortifacients. The only thing; charge double for women coming from the red states. Since their illigitimacy and abortion rates are higher (for some strange reason)you would make a fortune! And watch how fast red state women decide blue now looks better on them.


  63. dano347 says:

    Sorry for off-topic incoherence. I was responding to the trolls who are crowing about Alito – and the coming overturn of Roe v Wade.


  64. Randy says:

    #62 Its too bad you weren’t aborted since you seem so in love with the idea!


  65. Randy says:

    DO YOU NOT REALIZE THAT ABORTION = MURDER?


  66. RightPunch says:

    “So you don’t like the message, so you try to destroy the messenger? Face it, liberalism is dead. Stick a fork in it. Randy”

    Tell that to Latin America pumpkin. Tell that to the american people who give liberals a 14 point spread on wanting liberals to run the government.

    Sweetie, you’re a partisan brain sufferer, the truth can’t be processed by your emotional brain. I forgive you for your irrational and silly statements. Clearly you’re not in your right mind today pumpkin.


  67. Randy says:

    See – thats whats wrong with your cause – you rely so much on polls. Polls for this, polls for that. Look at yesterdays cloture vote and tell me again how mainstream liberals really are these days. If they were, you guys would have been able to filibuster Alito. As it is, you are not. Time to wake up to reality.


  68. RightPunch says:

    “#62 Its too bad you weren’t aborted since you seem so in love with the idea!
    Comment by Randy — January 31, 2006 @ 3:06 pm”

    It’s so sad to see how irrational and emotional the partisan brain is. Randy says abortion is murder, and then says what a shame someone wasn’t ‘murdered’ that he disagrees with. This is just like the partisan Rudolph who went around murdering doctors and anyone else he didn’t like in the name of anti-abortion values.

    Poor partisan brain, I feel sorry for you. How you can claim to be moral, and preach such hate is shocking. I forgive you Randy for your fear and anger – it’s clear it’s made you into the angry hateful person that you are.


  69. RightPunch says:

    “See – thats whats wrong with your cause – you rely so much on polls. Polls for this, polls for that. Look at yesterdays cloture vote and tell me again how mainstream liberals really are these days. If they were, you guys would have been able to filibuster Alito. As it is, you are not. Time to wake up to reality.
    Comment by Randy — January 31, 2006 @ 3:15 pm”

    Polls are scientific sweetie, it’s why they hurt your head. I forgive you for not being able to understand what they are. It’s OK sweetie, it’s clear you’re doing the best you can with the emotional centers of your brain. It’s why polling information is discarded – you can’t process it without the reasoning centers you know.

    As for the supreme court vote, only senators did that, not the general public pumpkin. I know these government matters can be complicated when only part of your brain is functioning, but it’s OK, I’ll be patient to help you out. It’s the least that a fellow american can do. You know pumpkin, liberals aren’t your enemy – your fear is your enemy.


  70. Ken says:

    #38. Please remember: Pride goeth before the fall. Just imagine a world in the not-too-distant future, where your evil arch-nemisis, Hillary Clinton, is now president. Fully vested in her sweeping presidential powers, courtesy of Alito, Roberts, Scalia and Thomas, you sudddenly find yourself in a “Republican Re-education Camp” in order to gently show you (Read: TORTURE) the error of your ways.

    Are you willing risk that kind of future for short-term gain?


  71. RightPunch says:

    ““See – thats whats wrong with your cause – you rely so much on polls. Polls for this, polls for that. Randy”

    You mean like how Gonzales, McClellan and Cheney all cited polls that ’supposedly’ backed up their opinions this week – even though those polls weren’t even related to the actual issue? Poor pumpkin, you really shouldn’t project the failings of your favorite politicians on everyone else.

    It’s true that polls can be misrepresented if the politicians don’t discuss the actual questions asked. But if the questions are asked accurately, polling is quite scientific.

    It’s OK if you don’t understand this, math and science require the reasoning center, it’s usually where partisan and the religious zealots fall down. Your brains don’t function on those topics properly.

    “We did not see any increased activation of the parts of the brain normally engaged during reasoning [in partisans],” says Drew Westen, director of clinical psychology at Emory who led the study. “What we saw instead was a network of emotion circuits lighting up, including circuits hypothesized to be involved in regulating emotion, and circuits known to be involved in resolving conflicts.” Westen and his colleagues will present their findings at the Annual Conference of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology Jan. 28.

    Once partisans had come to completely biased conclusions — essentially finding ways to ignore information that could not be rationally discounted — not only did circuits that mediate negative emotions like sadness and disgust turn off, but subjects got a blast of activation in circuits involved in reward — similar to what addicts receive when they get their fix, Westen explains.

    See Randy, simple explanation. You’re a drug addict, and that’s why you’ve become addicted to a black and white partisan perspective. You’re no different than the meth heads in trailer parks, other than you haven’t sold your computer yet for a fix :)

    I forgive you pumpkin, clearly this addiction is beyond your control.


  72. Spudge_Boy says:

    Sorry for off-topic incoherence. I was responding to the trolls who are crowing about Alito – and the coming overturn of Roe v Wade.

    I can’t wait for them to over turn Roe vs Wade. As soon as they do, they will lose every single one of the fence sitting moderate anti-abortion people. They won’t have a grand plan any longer.


  73. dano347 says:

    Just commenting on hypocritical republicans, little one.


  74. dano347 says:

    “DO YOU NOT REALIZE THAT ABORTION = MURDER? ”

    Comment by Randy — January 31, 2006 @ 3:07

    And “collateral damage” in a war of choice is…


  75. Ken says:

    OK. Even though I too am guilty of going off topic, can we please get back to talking about bush? Laura, that is…

    I agree with Cyra Brown (#32). Newt “Hey Look At Me I’m A Reformer Even Thought I Had to Resign Because of Corruption” Gingrich made such a huge deal over the Lincoln Bedroom Brouhaha, but now it is perfectly OK to pimp the First (Ol’) Lady for $50K a pop. Egads!


  76. dano347 says:

    “Little one”; – Not You Spudge! Reptilian Randy.


  77. WaltTheMan says:

    The only concern that I have about abortion is that banning it would mean a growth in Republican ranks as the largest proportion of them are done for rightists teens who knock up their sisters. Perhaps, thats what they have in mind. That way, elections would not have to be rigged, come 18 to 20 years.


  78. dano347 says:

    “[. . .]a private reception with members of Congress and their spouses.

    This is another chance to influence legislators directly without a media presence looking over their shoulders. The members of this “club” are married to current and former members of congress. Former members of congress – who’ve since become lobbyists. This is the “K Street Project” in drag. Trotting out Jan English for bi-partisan window-dressing doesn’t change the reason for the increased amount; the possibility that this particular avenue for quid-pro-quo graft will be curtailed shortly by legislators who don’t like what they see in re-election polls – making this might be their last “payday at the club”, is.


  79. mr ho says:

    Dear Ms Laura,
    I am having some Hobo Stew made with potatoes, tomatoes, corn and some water, maybe some hamb meat.

    Its free and you can actually talk to someone whos not gonna kiss your bootay, you knowm what you called us, Oh, yes.
    The Chattering CLass.

    I dont drink, but try not to drink too much, we wouldnty want a repeat of this moral gathering would we?

    mr ho say call fi fi fo-fo fo fi fi


  80. mr ho says:

    Imagine Royalty on the Floor!

    Im Mesmerized I tell YA, IM IM APPALED I TELL YOU!

    Royalty on the FLOOR, In the Dirt! amongst the CHATTERING CLASS!

    Im Devasted totally, Just ..Just Devastated!


  81. WaltTheMan says:

    Hey, let’s not be too hard on Laura – she has to roll the twins and W up to the second floor of the White House when she’s in Washington. And people wonder why she looks forward to Camp David and Crawford.


  82. Max-1 says:

    #79 Comment by mr ho

    BRAVO – ho – BRAVO


  83. Joe Sixpack says:

    $50K? For lunch? For that kind of cash, they damned well better have a salad with the main course.

    Correct me if I’m wrong, but just what the hell dinner is going for?


  84. Lily says:

    It amazes me when someone who is so anti-abortion can, e.g., send someone a letter saying, “I wish your mother had had one!” (Sent to Bill Press. I’m not attempting to slur anyone here.) This goes beyond “partisan brain” and into the profane. Maybe partisan brain on steroids?

    btw, unbelievable, got mine today so I’m going to be in a really bad mood!


  85. RightPunch says:

    Lily,

    It’s partisan brain coupled with hatred, bigotry, fear, anger, ignorance and a complete lack of social skills. It’s trailer park meets trashy partisan. The poor thing just ain’t right.



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