Political Crack

Headed For The Remainder Bin

$5,000 a photo? Relatively speaking, he can’t give them away.

Gas prices may be up, but there’s something that’s apparently a little cheaper these days: A photo with President Bush. Yesterday, Bush headlined a fundraiser for the New Jersey state GOP, where donors could pay $5,000 to pose for a photo with the Commander in Chief. Expensive photo op, right? Well, that’s actually cheaper that what donors paid just a year ago for a grip and grin with Bush. Last summer, GOP officials around the country charged at least $10,000 a pop for presidential photo op, a bargain compared to the $25,000-a-flash Bush commanded during some Republican National Committee fund-raisers back in 2000 and 2004.

[snip]

Last summer, the GOP relied instead on other administration emissaries like Karl Rove, Vice President Dick Cheney and former President George H.W. Bush. They all campaigned for Tom Kean Jr., who ran for (and ultimately lost) New Jersey’s U.S. Senate seat. For the record, a photo with Rove cost donors $1,000, while pictures with Cheney and Bush’s dad were priced at $5,000. But that’s peanuts. In June 2006, donors at a Kean fundraiser paid $10,000 a piece for a photo op with First Lady Laura Bush.

4 thoughts on “Headed For The Remainder Bin”

  1. My son’s best friend was injured in Iraq in January. He sent a photo of himself with Bush from Walter Reed. Josh lost his eye, and the use of his right arm and leg. Bush was sitting on the bed while Josh stood on his crutches.
    I had to cut bed-hog Bush out of the picture before I could stand to look at it.

  2. The campaign finance laws say an individual can donate a total of $2300 for the primary campaign and $2300 for the general election campaign. The loophole is that Bush is not up for election in 2008, so these exhorbitant fees are not considered campaign contributions. But, they are contributions to the Republican Party, which then launders the money and donates it to the campaigns of various Repub candidates. If the Democrats did this it would be a law violation, but, of course, the Repubs are not subject to ordinary laws.

Comments are closed.