Obama’s Golden Champagne Tower

September 19, 2012 By

Okay, in fairness, it’s not really Obama’s champagne tower, worth over $100,000. It’s Jay-Z and Beyonce’s golden champagne tower and it was a centerpiece of last night’s Obama campaign fundraiser (his 141st this year) at Jay-Z’s 40/40 club, where for a mere $40,000 per person, folks got to hang with the president and hear his pearls.

There’s nothing more to be said, really, except the picture and accompanying story come to you courtesy of the UK press, as both of Obama’s fundraisers in NYC yesterday (amounting to a take of over $6,000,000) were “pen and pad coverage only” – no mics or cameras allowed. Because transparency…and the sustaining of illusions.

The US press keeps on dealing those double-standards. Does anyone doubt that if Romney attended a fundraiser with that monstrosity in place, the press would have obediently put away their cameras, or quietly accepted such a ban? We all know they’d be screaming about transparency, elitism, evil rich money barons (as opposed to non-evil rich creative types) and the out-of-touchness of it all. They’d splash it all over the papers, lead the nightly news with it and the cable shows would wax wroth and and declare, “no one can go to a party with that vulgarity at its centerpiece and then convince the American people that he understands their hardships! Bad optics! Poor judgment! More people are on food stamps this week than at any time in the nation’s history, and this will not play well on the breadlines! Capitalist pigginess! Clearly, the END of his candidacy! His candidacy died, today!” They’d go into the streets and find people to shake their heads at such a callous display of wealth and greed, while so many people are struggling.

Obama is lucky in the incuriosity and obedience of his media, and yeah, I’d say it pretty much is his media, now.

The rest of us? Not so lucky.

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About Elizabeth Scalia
  • David

    A mere $40,000 … that’s about my yearly income.

  • Rhinestone Suderman

    Our ambassador to Libya, and at least three members of the staff, have been murdered. Our embassies are under attack all over the Middle East, and there are unremitting “Green on Blue” attacks on our troops in Afghanistan.

    But the president can’t be bothered to attend to this. He’s too busy partying, with Beyonce. Oh, no, he and his administration are doing something. . .

    They’re trying to blame the attacks on a badly made video, that supposedly inflamed the Islamic world. They even dragged the man who made it, into custody.

    So much for freedom of speech!

  • Rhinestone Suderman

    They’re also trying to blame the attack on Coptic Christians. 7 Coptic Americans have been put on trial, in absentia, for their alleged involvement with the video.

    If they are convicted, is America going to ship them to the Middle East for punishment?

    At one time, I would have said “No, certainly not!” Today? I don’t know, I just don’t know. . .

  • Ted Seeber

    I would sure like to see a local ordinance someplace that required the following for all visiting politicians:
    1. They must take public transportation. If they have to do something for security reasons, they need to charter something with the city’s transportation authority that fits into the already existing schedule. No closing freeways or disrupting existing transit schedules allowed.
    2. All fundraising dinners MUST be open to the public free of charge. You can pass the hat. You can invite people. You can restrict access to the candidate. But you must be prepared to feed all comers, regardless of socioeconomic status or even residency.
    3. Every campaign stop should have a charitable aspect.

    I personally think these three rules- passed as local nonpartisan ordinances so as not to affect free speech at a federal level- would go a long way to repairing our faith in democracy- and introducing candidates to the type of people they don’t normally meet.

  • kmk

    Looks like an altar–creepy…
    K

  • http://jscafenette.com Manny

    “Does anyone doubt that if Romney attended a fundraiser with that monstrosity in place, the press would have obediently put away their cameras, or quietly accepted such a ban?

    Very good point. And if George Bush had been president with the killing of the ambassador, would the media be accepting the president’s lie that it was an unplanned event? No, just the opposite. They would be holding Bush’s feet to the fire, as it should be. But Obama always, always gets softball treatment from the media. It’s disgusting. It’s subverting the electorial process. There has to be some consequence to the MSM’s endorsement and covering for Obama.

    By the way, on a separate subject, I just wanted to tell you I really loved your Prayer at Adoration blog just before this one. I missed the allowed comment time. I used to think, what’s so important about adoration? Isn’t Christ with us everywhere? Yes, but I’ve come to find that a reverent chapel with His very presence there in front of you removes the mundane element and makes it so much more holy. It does make a difference.

  • http://Pathos Wild Bill

    The parties that are held as fundraisers for presidential canidates are often very close to ORGYS. For instance the guy who threw the one in May for Willard is well known for his parties? Until we get some sort of ironclad public campaign finance you will always hear about wild parties for political canidates. This is one reason lots of people run for office. The idea of doing something for the people that elected them is a JOKE from either the D’s or the R’s.
    I know there are a few sincere people in political office but it is getting harder to find them.

  • daisy

    I’ve been reading the sniping for days now and I have to ask. Are people pissed that the president went to a fundraiser at a nightclub or are they pissed that he hung out with wealthy black people?

  • Rhinestone Suderman

    No, daisy.

    We’re P*sed that he skipped numerous intel briefings, and warnings of attacks against our embassy in Libya. We’re P*sed that he didn’t beef up security, despite reports that something was going down on 9/11. We’re p*sed that he appointed the obviously incompetent Hillary Clinton to be head of the State Department. we’re p*sed that his response to this atrocity has been so weak—I mean, sending in the FBI to round up the killers? Seriously?

    We’re p*sed that, when the attack came, and our ambassador was murdered, he lied about it, tried to pin the blame on an obscure video allegedly mocking Mohammed—so much for the First Amendment!—then, at this time of crisis, tooted off to Las Vegas, for a little fundrising, and golden champagne towers. Hey, American embassies may be under attack, and Americans may be getting killed, but it’s party time!

    That’s what we’re p*sed about.

    (And that’s a pretty feeble attempt to play the race card; you’re gonna have to do better than that.)

  • Rhinestone Suderman

    If this had happened under Bush, progressives would all be shouting slogans like, “Bush partied, people died!” and demanding he be impeached. That wouldn’t be considered being P*sed, or “Sniping” of course, but noble and righteous anger. It all depends on whether a certain politician has a “D” or an “R” after his name, right?

  • LisaB

    @Daisy,

    To add to Rhinestone’s great post…. we’re p*sed that the sychophants in the “mainstream” Media cover for him while he does all of this p*ssy stuff.

  • daisy

    No, I’m not playing the race card. That’s not my style. It’s just that people seem to be more upset about him going to the 40/40 club than they were about his going to Sarah Jessica Parker’s house and the snide comments started BEFORE the attack in Libya. I’m angry that he went to a fundraiser party after that tepid speech when the bodies arrived at Andrews Air Force base and that he’s not even giving the appearance of really giving a hoot about Mr. Stevens but the location of the party doesn’t piss me off the way if seems to piss off other commenters both here and elsewhere.

  • Mandy P.

    @daisy,

    There have been plenty of unhappy comments about his appearances at SJP’s fundraisers, and Clooney’s, and Anna Wintour’s, etc and so on. It’s the optics of the ginormous tower of hundreds of thousands of dollars in champagne bottles juxtaposed with the ME burning down, our people being killed and drug through the streets, and the economy being in total shambles. Our credit rating has been downgraded *twice* in a year. Unemployment has only gone down because the sheer number of folks dropping out of the workforce altogether. The joint is a mess! And it keeps getting worse, hence the *growing* anger over the high dollar partying. So I will reiterate, it ain’t the location of the party that’s upsetting nor is it who he was with. It is the sheer opulence of that champagne tower contrasted with the suffering of the nation that has people angry.