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W.H. makes CEOs pay for lunch

celticlord

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W.H. makes CEOs pay for lunch - Eamon Javers - POLITICO.com

Four of the most powerful business leaders in America arrived at the White House one day last month for lunch with President Barack Obama, sitting down in his private dining room just steps from the Oval Office.

But even for powerful CEOs, there’s no such thing as a free lunch: White House staffers collected credit card numbers for each executive and carefully billed them for the cost of the meal with the president.

The White House defended the unusual move as a way to avoid conflicts of interest. But the Bush administration didn’t charge presidential guests for meals, one former official said, and at least one etiquette expert found the whole thing unseemly – suggesting it was a serious breach of protocol.

“I’m sure they have their political reasons for doing that, but I think it’s not what quote, hospitality, unquote is all about,” said Letitia Baldrige, who headed Jacqueline Kennedy’s White House staff in the early 1960s. “We’ve got to relax about this. To have people to the White House and worry about the price of things is laughable.”
Is it just me, or does this just absolutely scream "Jimmy Carter"?
 
LOL yea, they can pay for it themdamnselves.
 
If I was a CEO and I went to the White House to eat, i'd be scared if they made me pay for my meal, because then i'd think they would try to serve me cat or dog or something. Then after I started eating it, Ashton would leap out and yell, "You just got Punk'd!" Then i'd start crying maybe, because i'd have a flashback to the last time some people tried to get me to eat dog. It was years ago. I'd never eaten dog before, and I wasn't about to start that day no matter how pushy those folks were.

"Just give me some more of the copilot", I told them, extending my plate.
 
If I was a CEO and I went to the White House to eat, i'd be scared if they made me pay for my meal, because then i'd think they would try to serve me cat or dog or something. Then after I started eating it, Ashton would leap out and yell, "You just got Punk'd!" Then i'd start crying maybe, because i'd have a flashback to the last time some people tried to get me to eat dog. It was years ago. I'd never eaten dog before, and I wasn't about to start that day no matter how pushy those folks were.

"Just give me some more of the copilot", I told them, extending my plate.


Dog isn't bad. It has a gamey taste, though. There were dog farms in Korea when I was there.
 
There is a part of me that says, "WHAT?" If Obama invited them to lunch at the White House, I would expect their meals would be paid for.

But, their reasons are they didn't want the appearance of impropriety, which I can understand. Plus, I'm sorry, these people makes MILLIONS of dollars. They can jolly well pay for their lunch.
 
So let me get this straight liberals, you invite someone over to your house for dinner or lunch or whatever, do you ask your guests to pay for their own meals or to reimburse you on the cost of the food you provided for them?

I couldnt imagine having folks over to my house for dinner and then telling them they need to pony up money to help pay for the food.

I take it etiquette and manners are outside your realm of dignity?
 
So should we be checking the bank accounts of people we invite over for meals? I'm having a BBQ this weekend, and one of my guests makes a lot of money. I'm gonna ask the capitalist pig to pay for his own darned burger. I might charge him a portion of the water bill if he flushes the toilet. Rich jerk.
 
So you think the CEO's should have been treated like the kings they think they are? Did Jimmy Carter do this, or is that just your stock insult for The Messiah?
If I invite someone to lunch, I pick up the tab. That's how manners work, even in the White House. Those CEOs were several orders of magnitude better than kings--they were guests.

The Jimmy Carter reference comes from the smallness of it--that sort of ineffectual bean counting strikes me as reminiscent of Carter's cardigans and other half measures to "conserve" during the energy crisis of the late 70s.
 
Shouldn't this thread be in the other BN forum? I don't think something from POLITICO is mainstream.
 
If I invite someone to lunch, I pick up the tab. That's how manners work, even in the White House. Those CEOs were several orders of magnitude better than kings--they were guests.

The Jimmy Carter reference comes from the smallness of it--that sort of ineffectual bean counting strikes me as reminiscent of Carter's cardigans and other half measures to "conserve" during the energy crisis of the late 70s.

I suspect that Obama knew all this, and weighed the decision against the blowback he knew would come (yes, from you included) about "kissing the feet" of corporate CEO's. You see, there is nothing the White House can do that is not immune to ridicule from the right, it's just a matter of choosing the Path of Least Exposure.
 
Heaven help us if he invites any rich foreign leaders over. :doh Sh*t, *I* will send them a check for their damn lunch.
 
I suspect that Obama knew all this, and weighed the decision against the blowback he knew would come (yes, from you included) about "kissing the feet" of corporate CEO's. You see, there is nothing the White House can do that is not immune to ridicule from the right, it's just a matter of choosing the Path of Least Exposure.
What part of treating guests with respect eludes you? Why does the lunatic left insist on making a virtue out of boorishness?
 
What part of treating guests with respect eludes you? Why does the lunatic left insist on making a virtue out of boorishness?

Because the lunatic right suspects a conspiracy every time a corporate leader enters the White House. You know it's true.
 
People wonder why others appear "petty" with Mrs Obama's $540 sneakers. When you see stuff like this, it's not hard to see where the eyerolls were coming from.
 
Because the lunatic right suspects a conspiracy every time a corporate leader enters the White House. You know it's true.
Hogwash....that conspiracy nonsense is also a staple of the lunatic left.

Even so, there is a plausible question (and criticism) for the CEOs being there at all--patronage politics is supposed to be so 19th century, after all--but, regardless of why someone's at the White House, if it's too much trouble for Dear Leader to show some class, then perhaps Dear Leader should remove himself from the White House in favor of someone slightly more civilized.
 
Because the lunatic right suspects a conspiracy every time a corporate leader enters the White House. You know it's true.

:spin::confused:

Time out. You claim it is the right that creates conspiracy theories every time a business leader enters the White House????

Thank me if I am wrong, but I am pretty sure its the left that hates corporate America and despises corporate leaders and their profits.

What am I missing here? Did we not just spend the last 8 years watching and listening to the left complain about oil companies in the White House, Haliburton, etc, etc???:confused:

How did the mantle suddenly switch to rights creating conspiracy theories on business leaders going to the White House??? I would love to hear an explanation on that one.
 
So should we be checking the bank accounts of people we invite over for meals? I'm having a BBQ this weekend, and one of my guests makes a lot of money. I'm gonna ask the capitalist pig to pay for his own darned burger. I might charge him a portion of the water bill if he flushes the toilet. Rich jerk.

That depends. Are you a public official where the taxpayers are paying for your BBQ?
 
Heaven help us if he invites any rich foreign leaders over. :doh Sh*t, *I* will send them a check for their damn lunch.

Did you read the reasons for charging them? It wasn't, "Just cause we felt like it." It would appear that that reason would not apply to foreign leaders.
 
So you think the CEO's should have been treated like the kings they think they are? Did Jimmy Carter do this, or is that just your stock insult for The Messiah?

If the President invites you to lunch at the White House, you shouldn't have to pay for it. That's just common hospitality. You're a guest.

Jesus people, put aside the partisanship and use your heads. :roll:
 
If the President invites you to lunch at the White House, you shouldn't have to pay for it. That's just common hospitality. You're a guest.

Jesus people, put aside the partisanship and use your heads. :roll:

I think someone ought to make a T-Shirt that says:

"Don't Feed Me Bro!"

in honor of this event.

PS: You have the best screen name I have ever seen. Cracks me up every time I see it!:rofl
 
:spin::confused:



Thank me if I am wrong, but I am pretty sure its the left that hates corporate America and despises corporate leaders and their profits.

.

Uh, no, what we hate is corporate leaders making huge bonuses when their companies are taking losses and getting government stimulus money. What we hate is corporations not paying their taxes, or worse, getting government assistance because they slipped a couple hundred thousand dollars into some slimeball Congressman's war chest.
 
But even for powerful CEOs, there’s no such thing as a free lunch: White House staffers collected credit card numbers for each executive and carefully billed them for the cost of the meal with the president.

They can afford to pay, what is the issue
 
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