Mr. Shaman
Senior Member
- May 4, 2010
- 23,892
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- #61
"Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) was on CNN last night, and host Anderson Cooper pressed her to get specific about what programs she would cut to reduce the deficit.
"Republican Paul Ryan has suggested sharp cuts in Medicare and Social Security. Are you willing to make cuts there?" Cooper asked. But Bachmann wasn't initially interested in discussing Medicare and Social Security. Instead, she responded to Cooper by arguing about a much more pressing matter: the cost of President Obama's upcoming trip to India.
"Well I think we know that just within a day or so the President of the United States will be taking a trip over to India that is expected to cost the taxpayers $200 million a day," Bachmann said. "He's taking two thousand people with him. He'll be renting out over 870 rooms in India. And these are 5-star hotel rooms at the Taj Mahal Palace hotel. This is the kind of over-the-top spending, it's a very small example, Anderson."
But wait: $200 million a day? Snopes.com says that the $200 million figure, which has been picked up by right-wing blogs, is "probably false." Snopes traced the rumor back to an anonymous Indian government official, quoted in a Press Trust of India article published on Tuesday. Factcheck.org calls the claim "highly doubtful," and points out that the entire war in Afghanistan currently costs about $190 million a day."