Obama Admin Tries to Blame Bush for GSA Vegas Extravanganza

[Dont Taz Me Bro]

This is really pathetic and one of the things that pisses me off about this administration. They will not take responsibility for anything. The fact of the matter is, I never once even thought of blaming Obama for what happened here and I doubt most Americans would blame him for it anyway. I blame the people in charge of the GSA who authorized this. The outrage in Congress has come from both parties equally so there never appeared to have been any partisan finger pointing in the first place unless I missed it.

So why can't the president just comment on what happened, tell people that it's being dealt with appropriately and be done with it? Why does his administration once again have to try and blame Bush for something that is clearly not even remotely his fault? Why create a partisan issue out of something that never was? This is yet another example of how this president is not a leader and why I simply have no respect for him.

The former head of the General Services Administration blasted the Obama administration Monday for blaming its predecessor over the lavish Las Vegas conference thrown by a division of that agency.

Lurita Doan, who headed the agency under then-President George W. Bush until her resignation in 2008, told Fox News that President Obama's team is trying to "divert attention" from its own scandal.

Obama officials last week pointed to rising costs under the Bush administration to suggest that the $820,000 Vegas conference could have been avoided -- if only the Bush-era GSA had acted.

Read more: Former GSA Head Rejects Push To 'blame' Bush Administration Over Vegas Conference | Fox News

 

[Katzndogz]

IF it is true that everything obama does is really Bush's fault, why is obama even the president. We should bring Bush back and cut out the middleman.

 

[Conservative]

Well, Obama DID inherit the GSA from Bush

 

[NLT]

Barry is getting lamer and more pathetic with every passing day.

 

[PoliticalChic]

This is really pathetic and one of the things that pisses me off about this administration. They will not take responsibility for anything. The fact of the matter is, I never once even thought of blaming Obama for what happened here and I doubt most Americans would blame him for it anyway. I blame the people in charge of the GSA who authorized this. The outrage in Congress has come from both parties equally so there never appeared to have been any partisan finger pointing in the first place unless I missed it.

So why can't the president just comment on what happened, tell people that it's being dealt with appropriately and be done with it? Why does his administration once again have to try and blame Bush for something that is clearly not even remotely his fault? Why create a partisan issue out of something that never was? This is yet another example of how this president is not a leader and why I simply have no respect for him.

The former head of the General Services Administration blasted the Obama administration Monday for blaming its predecessor over the lavish Las Vegas conference thrown by a division of that agency.

Lurita Doan, who headed the agency under then-President George W. Bush until her resignation in 2008, told Fox News that President Obama's team is trying to "divert attention" from its own scandal.

Obama officials last week pointed to rising costs under the Bush administration to suggest that the $820,000 Vegas conference could have been avoided -- if only the Bush-era GSA had acted.

Read more: Former GSA Head Rejects Push To 'blame' Bush Administration Over Vegas Conference | Fox News

What the heck happened to originality????


He used Bush already!


Here are some of the things Barak Obama has blamed for the financial mess he can't seem to do anything about:

The Tea Party
Political gridlock
ATM machines
Republicans
Paul Ryan
Eric Cantor
John Boehner
The Tsunami in Japan
Greece
Italy
Too little government spending (no really, he did say this.)
Too few taxes
The debt debate
George W. Bush
Standard and Poor's
Wealthy people who want to keep what they earned
Oil companies
Ireland
Slurpees
Portugal
The War in Iraq
The War in Afghanistan
The heat wave in the midwest
Health care costs
A lack of government subsidized green energy
Math errors
Corporate jet owners
The Gulf oil spill
Millionaires and billionaires
Rich fat cats
Wall Street
Hedge fund managers
Some car that can't get out of the ditch
The debt limit
Congress and their resistance to spending more on stimulus programs
Vacationing in Las Vegas
The American form of representative democracy
People who don't eat their peas
Everything else in the world except Timothy Geithner and himself
Those People and Things Obama has Blamed for the Financial Mess

 

[blastoff]

More of the Obama team not being ready for prime time again, so they went back to the lame excuse file one more time and then kept their fingers crossed no one would remind them they came to town with a lot of hope and bent on change to the status quo. But now it's Bush's fault they failed to change something. It really helps to be a bit of a slow leak if one wants to be a good Dimocrat.

 

[Quantum Windbag]

How can it not be Bush's fault? Just look at this video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JcQcn6-bIs#!

 

[waltky]

Granny says mebbe dey should look into Panetta too...

Criminal Charges Recommended in GSA Scandal
April 17, 2012 WASHINGTON (AP) - As Congress investigates an $823,000 General Services Administration conference at a Las Vegas resort, a fired GSA executive who threw a party there on the taxpayers' dime has been sent a letter by his former agency demanding $1,960 reimbursement for the party in his room.

Robert Peck was set to testify in the second day of hearings before the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee on the agency's misuse of taxpayers' money. Peck was commissioner of the Public Buildings Service at the GSA, which is in charge of federal buildings and supplies. Another witness, current Deputy Commissioner Susan Brita, was instrumental in asking Inspector General Brian Miller to investigate the 2010 conference. His stinging report was made public April 2. Since then, the agency head resigned, two deputies, including Peck, were fired and 10 employees have been placed on administrative leave.

Brita had emailed Peck in July that the inspector general found no substantive agenda for the Las Vegas conference. She said expenses for a clown suit, bicycles used for a team-building exercise, tuxedos and a mind-reader didn't lend themselves to the claim of a substantive conference. Brita also questioned why a regional administrator in charge of the conference, Jeffrey Neely, received only a disciplinary letter that "is not even a slap on the wrist." Neely on Monday asserted his right to remain silent at a hearing before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

At Monday's hearing, Miller, the inspector general, revealed he's investigating possible bribery and kickbacks and already has recommended criminal charges to the Justice Department. "We do have other ongoing investigations including all sorts of improprieties, including bribes, possibly kickbacks, but I'd have to check on precisely kickbacks," Miller told the committee. He added later, "We have recommended criminal charges."

More Criminal Charges Recommended in GSA Scandal | CNSNews.com

See also:

Report: Defense Secretary Panetta Defends $860,000 Cost for Weekend Trips Home
April 17, 2012 - Defense Secretary Leon Panetta on Monday defended the $860,000 that taxpayers have paid so far for weekend flights aboard military aircraft to and from his California home.

“I’ve gone home because my wife and family are there and because, frankly, I think it’s healthy to get out of Washington periodically just to get your mind straight and your perspective straight,” he told reporters Monday at the Pentagon.

The defense secretary last week admitted that he has paid about $17,000 of the $860,000 in travel costs — about 2 percent — for the trips to California. “Normally, I’ve flown home commercially. In this job, I’m obligated to be in touch with communications and have to fly on a secure plane,” Mr. Panetta said.

Each round-trip costs taxpayers $32,000, and Mr. Panetta is required to repay just a fraction of the cost — the equivalent of a commercial round-trip ticket — for the personal travel, according to federal rules.

Source

 

[SniperFire]

This would be hilarious if not so patently pathetic.

 

[Navy1960]

GSA has been a problem for a long long time and in my humble opinion President Obama missed an opportunity here to call to task the entire procurement system and take the high ground here. While I do believe its a little much to point the finger of blame to a previous Administration even though the same staff has been around since then. I will say though that the President did fire Martha Johnson or if you will accepted her resignation over this matter. Personally, though purchasing by the Federal Govt. has been an issue for some time and not just this Administration its been an issue over several Administration and would have been nice to have seen the President use this as an opportunity to finally take them all to task, including DOD. Just a thought, when you have a Federal Govt. that takes 12 years and over a billion dollars to replace the Presidential helicopter and then ends up without a single one and cancels it, or digs a multi-billion dollar hole in the Nevada Mtns. to store spent nukes and closes that without a single nuke, is it any wonder then that same Govt. would not hesitate to take the Emperor package in Vegas?

 

[LordBrownTrout]

Hey, why not. Bush gets blamed for everything else.

 

[Katzndogz]

When is he going to blame Bush for the Secret Service failure?

 

[BlindBoo]

What is the source for this accusation? Unnamed White House Offical?

The Obama Administration took swift action against the General Services Administration for its excessive frill-filled conference reaffirming that there is no place for clowns and mind readers in official government business.

 

[LordBrownTrout]

When is he going to blame Bush for the Secret Service failure?

They're already postulating a theory on that one.

 

[PredFan]

How absolutely pathetic is obama?

 

[LordBrownTrout]

What is the source for this accusation? Unnamed White House Offical?

The Obama Administration took swift action against the General Services Administration for its excessive frill-filled conference reaffirming that there is no place for clowns and mind readers in official government business.

Well, we still have plenty of clowns running the show.

 

[Jackson]

How absolutely pathetic is obama?

Incredibly pathetic!

 

[RoadVirus]

GSA has been a problem for a long long time and in my humble opinion President Obama missed an opportunity here to call to task the entire procurement system and take the high ground here.

But instead, he decided to play the moron and blame Bush. Blaming Bush doesn't require as much work as actually fixing the problem.

 

[kiwiman127]

Isn't this about the third thread on this?

This like a time warp! You folks sound like the liberals when "W" was in office!!! And during that time, you folks defended "W" at each opportunity just like the libs are doing now.

And people think both ideologies aren't the same in any manner!!!

Are we sure it isn't Bush's fault? Maybe it's Clinton's fault!

 

[Amelia]

What is the source for this accusation? Unnamed White House Offical?

The Obama Administration took swift action against the General Services Administration for its excessive frill-filled conference reaffirming that there is no place for clowns and mind readers in official government business.

Took swift action?

How much many more expensive junkets was Jeff Neely allowed to charge to the taxpayer AFTER the Vegas fiasco was first reported?