archy

Turn the bum over to a collection agency
There are so many ways a story like this could be framed: the rhetoric of personal responsibility, the bankruptcy bill, the frat-boy lack of consideration of Bush himself, the national debt, or the general incompetence of the Bush administration. I can't choose, so I'll just give you the story and let you craft your own commentary.

Three hotels, including the Rogue Regency, the Red Lion and the Jacksonville Inn, report they have been waiting almost six months for bills generated mostly by the U.S. Secret Service during President Bush's whirlwind tour through Jackson County, according to an article by the Mail Tribune newspaper.

Owed $3,332.72, the Red Lion Hotel in Medford sent a letter on March 28 to the president at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

The letter written by the hotel's accountant Kirsten Yunuba Stephens, said: "My question to you: Is this how you help balance the budget at the White House by ripping off retailers in the towns you visit? If that is the case please do not come back to the Rogue Valley."

[...]

At the Red Lion, Stephens said that a member of the Secret Service asked last week for a $400 refund on the bill because he believed his agents hadn't used a particular briefing room. She said she pointed out that a refund wasn't possible because the rest of the bill had not been paid.

As the old joke goes: there's nothing like good leadership, and this is nothing...