READER'S POST #1 - Did Media Matters Mislead its Readers?

By: 32slim32

I came across this while researching Bush’s vacation days:

“Bush Spent 5 Times More On Flights To Texas Than Obama‘s Christmas Vacation Costs”

http://www.politicususa.com/en/cost-obama-christmas-vacation-bush

First, I just love the rationale and the defense they use. “You can’t be upset about a $4 Million vacation when Bush spent $20 Million in 8 years flying to Crawford”.

Second, let’s look at how they arrive at that $20 Million figure. From the fourth paragraph of the article linked to above:

“During Bush’s two terms, the cost of operating Air Force One ranged from $56,800 to $68,000 an hour. Bush used Air Force One 77 times to go to his ranch in Crawford, TX. Using the low end cost of $56,800, Media Matters calculated that each trip to Crawford cost taxpayers $259,687 each time, and $20 million total for Bush’s ranch flights.”

By “Media Matters calculated” they mean they took the number published by CBS’ Mark Knoller of 77 trips and multiplied that by $259,687 (a CBO number they reference). Mr. Knoller always gives the grand total of “vacation days” for Bush vs Obama every couple of months or when Obama goes on vacation, whichever comes first. I have searched for his “official list” but all I find are the “summary reports” he gives us. I did however find a nice list at:

http://www.kwtx.com/centraltexasvotes/misc/37768449.html

KWTX is located in Waco, TX, which is where Air Force usually flew in and out of. They do say the list is UNOFFICIAL, but it lines up with Mr. Knoller’s numbers on trips. While the list does not provide where the President flew in from or where he departed to every time, it does list several. Upon reviewing the list (which is no means complete) I have found at least 27 times that Bush went to the ranch in which he did not fly from DC and right back to DC like Media Matters number reflects.

Trips where Bush was going west and stopped at the ranch en route or returning from the west and stopped do not add $259,687. One trip, Bush flew to a ceremony in Little Rock, AR for President Clinton, went to the ranch for two days, then went on an official POTUS visit to Santiago, Chile. That trip didn’t cost $259,687. The return flight from Chile they stopped at the ranch and that didn’t cost $259,687. Several of Bush’s visits to the ranch were from official visits or campaign stops in Houston and Dallas, which again didn’t really quite fall into the parameters of the Media Matters conservative estimate.

Anyway, it is very possible that the Media Matters $20 Million could be off by as much $7 Million just based on these 27 trips. Please note, I am not saying that Bush NEVER flew from DC to the ranch and back. I just think the number that Media Matters published is a tad bit on the over inflated side, just because of their basic assumption that all 77 trips were for the sole purpose of going to the ranch. 

List of GWB flights (2002-2008):

Arrival Date	Departure Date	Arrive From	Depart To
4/24/2002	4/29/2002	Unknown		New Mexico
6/14/2002	6/17/2002	Houston		Atlanta
9/26/2002	9/30/2002	Houston		Unknown
10/24/2002	10/26/2002	Campaign		Los Cabos
11/4/2002	11/5/2002	Dallas		DC
10/29/2003	11/4/2003	Dallas		DC
1/9/2004	1/12/2004	Unknown		Monterey, Mexico
8/3/2004	8/4/2004	Dallas		Davenport, IA
8/10/2004	8/11/2000	Florida		Arizona
8/18/2004	8/26/2004	Wisconsin		Las Cruces, NM
10/8/2004	10/11/2004	Unknown		NM, CO
10/23/2004	10/25/2004	Florida		CO, IA
11/1/2004	11/2/2004	Dallas		DC
11/18/2004	11/19/2004	Little Rock, AR		Santiago, Chile
11/22/2004	11/28/2004	Santiago, Chile		DC
3/22/2005	3/28/2005	Western States		Unknown
3/31/2006	4/3/2006	Cancun, Mexico		Cincinnati, OH
6/16/2006	6/18/2006	NM		DC
7/21/2006	7/23/2006	CO		DC
8/3/2006	8/13/2006	South TX		DC
8/29/2006	8/30/2006	New Orleans, LA		AR, TN
11/4/2006	11/7/2006	Greely, CO		DC
4/5/2007	4/9/2007	LA		AZ
8/22/2007	8/27/2007	Kansas City		NM & WA
11/8/2007	11/12/2007	Houston		Unknown
5/2/2008	5/4/2008	St Louis, MO		Greensburg, KS
7/18/2008	7/20/2008	Houston		Unknown

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