Right-wing media absurdly compare Michelle Obama to Marie Antoinette
Right-wing media have repeatedly compared First Lady Michelle Obama to Marie Antoinette, the eighteenth century queen who was executed during the French Revolution.
"Pampered" Michelle Obama is a "modern-day Marie Antoinette"
Tantaros: "Material girl Michelle Obama is a modern-day Marie Antoinette on a glitzy Spanish vacation." In an August 5 column in the New York Daily News, Andrea Tantaros claimed "Michelle Obama is a modern-day Marie Antoinette on a glitzy Spanish vacation." In the column, Tantaros criticized the First Lady, suggesting "while many of us are struggling, the First Lady is spending the next few days in a five-star hotel on the chic Costa del Sol in southern Spain with 40 of her 'closest friends.' "
Malkin: "Andrea Tantaros rightly dubs Mrs. O a 'modern-day Marie Antoinette.' " In a July 5 blog post, Michelle Malkin criticized Michelle Obama's "lavish Spanish adventure," and referred to Tantaros' column stating, "Andrea Tantaros rightly dubs Mrs. O a 'modern-day Marie Antoinette.' " Malkin added, "Like Mrs. O's old Chicago socialite pal Desiree Rogers liked to say before her profligate, negligent ways got her kicked out of the White House: Laissez les bon temps rouler."
Beck on state dinner: "I feel like I am watching King Louis and Marie Antoinette." On the May 20 edition of his radio show, Glenn Beck remarked that a state dinner at the White House in honor of Mexican President Felipe Calderòn made him "feel like I am watching King Louis and Marie Antoinette." Beck said "we could be much more frugal" and that "there's no need for all of this extravagance." Beck then asked, "How are these people treated as the common man? This isn't the common man."
Beck: An outfit worn by Michelle Obama shows she's "out of touch," and like "Marie Antoinette." On the July 14 edition of his radio show, Beck highlighted the outfit worn by Michelle Obama on her visit to the Gulf coast in order to compare her to Antoinette. Beck claimed he'd "never been more embarrassed for the First Lady" and stated "this is the biggest outrage I think I've ever seen from a First Lady." Beck said that Obama was wearing "a white designer dress with black spotches -- splotches -- all over it." Beck then suggested "if that doesn't look like Marie Antoinette saying 'oh you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to relate to the problem. I'm going to have a designer dress that's all white but looks like it has oil spots all over it. Let them eat cake. I'm just like you, oh peasants!' "
Erickson: "How long before the Marie Antoinette comparisons start?" When asked by CNN's John King what he believed the "top three bullet points that are driving the day's conversation in and outside Washington" were on August 4, RedState.com editor and CNN contributor Erick Erickson replied that one would be that "Michelle Obama, her daughter, friends, and security take over 60 rooms at a hotel in Spain while Barack Obama celebrates his birthday home alone." Erickson then asked, "How long before the Marie Antoinette comparisons start?"
American Thinker invokes Antoinette's "let them eat cake" comment to criticize Obama's trip to Spain. On July 27, American Thinker's Ralph Alter claimed that the "pampered" Michelle Obama has taken "maximum advantage" of her "unlimited expense account as first lady." Alter opened his post by invoking Antoinette, stating: "When Marie Antoinette was told the peasants had no bread, her famous rejoinder was the suggestion to 'Let them eat cake.' " Alter also claimed that like Antoinette, "Barack and Michelle are living very large at the taxpayer's expense without so much as a second thought."
Marie Antoinette comparison based in part on Bo plane falsehood
Right-wing media use Bo plane falsehood to compare Michelle Obama to Marie Antoinette. Tantaros and Alter based their comparisons of Michelle Obama to Marie Antoinette in part on the false claim that the Obama's dog flew on his own "separate aircraft to vacation with them in Maine."
The Obamas' dog flew to Maine with Obama support staff, not on his own separate plane. As PolitiFact.com noted, the claim that the Obamas' dog Bo flew on his own plane to Maine is "false." PolitiFact explains: "it's ridiculous to claim that [Bo] has his own airplane. He traveled on a government-owned plane with government staffers who didn't fit in the small Gulfstream G3 that the First Family had to take because of the physical limitations of the Trenton airport runway."
I'm righteously invested in stopping YOU, and people like you, from making false equivalency arguments, which is what you were doing.
Now, I understand you don't like getting your dishonesty called out. You liked it a lot better before I got here, when you still had some credibility and respect. It's got to be frustrating, and you let us know that by showing us how teed off you get when I catch you. Too bad, so sad.
Being a hypocrite is YOUR SIDE's flaw, for the most part. It's not a "both sides do it with equal vigor" kind of thing.
That's not keeping score. That's calling for accountability.
You're the known partisan hack and paid troll who tried a bogus false equivalency argument and got caught, and then couldn't restrain yourself from showing the resultant personal animus on this UNRELATED thread!
You scorekeep because that is what's important to you. It's as plain as your fraudulent phony hypocrisy that is on display everyday here.
And please, note who's got credibility in this argument, and who doesn't. Here's a hint - it's NOT you.
No one believes that you aren't partisan for the right. You denying alignment with Republicans isn't worth the paper it's not written on.
Can you link to anything I have written here that is gushy and complimentary to Republicans? Because I can link to plenty where I have criticized and dumped on them pretty hard.
Are you up to the challenge?
You've repeatedly, almost exclusively, pushed the rightwing philosophy. And guess what? The Republicans are on the right.
Another lie, isn't it Sue?
And the day I have to accede to YOUR unreasonable demands hasn't arrived yet.
I made up NOTHING. You just don't want to admit it.
You're the lying paid troll here, dummy, and everyone knows it.
It's what is expected from you, Sue. Name calling, insults, it's all there. Good job.
The absence of evidence is not evidence of absence, doofus.
And calling a dummy a dummy isn't calling someone a name, just like it's not calling a convicted murderer a name when you call him a murderer, or when you call a person who supports the right a person who supports the right, just like I did to you.
You TRY to claim that you don't have a side, but that's a ridiculous claim. EVERYONE has a side. On many arguments, there are MULTIPLE sides, but YOU stupidly try to claim that you don't HAVE a side.
And you do so because you're trying to dishonestly portray yourself. And that behavior was uncovered by me about a year ago, and it really tees you off, and so you go after me all the time.
And everyone sees this, doofus.
I agree that is it a Democratic thing, I have also read some of the most appalling things on other websites regarding our first lady, none of which I am either willing or able to repeat here. The simple fact is that there is a racist strain running rampant in the Republican party and the sooner you realize that the sooner it can be dealt with.
And I don't have a "side", as I have said repeatedly here. Many of you do, that is fine. I don't. I am 100% responsible for what I say, not someone who you think is on my "side".
Are there racists in our midst? Absolutely. And are there people who hate the Obamas simply because they don't like black people? Sadly, yes. But unless I see a direct racial reference then I don't just assume there is one, when there is clearly a political motive in place, as there is here.
You see, unlike many here it isn't either/or for me.
I do have respect for certain Democrats and Republicans when they act like statesmen and women, just not when they act like politicians.
Everyone has a SIDE. On some arguments, there are MULTIPLE sides! RightON argues for the same SIDE that Republicans are on almost all issues. He can deny it, but it's undeniable!
rightON has posted like enough on here to show while he is definitely a proponent of small government\lox taxes, he isn't a fan of the Republican Party and their collective stupidity either. Oh, and he supports marriage equality for gays, which is a "left viewpoint".
I loathe the Republican party, have said so many times.
But it's always been a dishonest portrayal, based upon the things you've said in other venues.
And it used to be that you got away with that kind of a statement. But I held your feet to the fire, and you haven't been able to squirm away, and your true colors have shown through, and you can't hide your allegiances any more, despite your desires to do so.
Too bad, so sad.
Is this direct enough for you?
Rush: The media thinks "Mrs. Obama deserves" her vacation because of our "slave past"
Rush: The Obamas "look at it as though they are owed" their "special" food and clothes "because of racial discrimination"
There's no evidence that they're calling her an uppity black woman - except that they're comparing her to Marie Antoinette and she's a black woman, that is.
This is NOT rocket science.
George and Laura Bush's Tea with the Queen
And, in case anyone is wondering, this took place in June, 2008, well into the Financial Crisis.
Oh, I soooo love the way right wingers love to think of themselves as regular old folk.
Yessss, I am sure Andrea Tantaros and her contracts with the Daily News and Fox have her struggling real BAD!
Last week Rush was trying to mock saving energy and he couldn't resist drawing Obama in to the baseless smear, so he said that the Secret Service would never let the President's transportation be the Chevy Volt.
Like they'd let the President travel in ANY car other than a chauffeur driven bulletproof vehicle equipped with its own air supply and an encrypted phone? Like he doesn't understand why EVERY President gets that secure transportation? After all, haven't we had several Presidents shot and killed, and a couple of others shot at?
Their denial of reality is either astonishingly ignorant, or it's a bogus ploy to enflame their base by asserting that this uppity black woman is taking what she isn't entitled to.
Of course we know that it's not that they don't understand the value of protecting Michelle Obama, and of course they know that the only way to have any kind of a private life is to go massively overboard by renting out an entire floor of a hotel (look at what Hollywood celebs do to keep their lives private), and so it's clearly NOT excusable ignorance.
It's a politically partisan ploy to enflame the people who listen to them. Dishonest to the core.
Guess you missed the Reagan years and their 'support' from the msm about their lifestyles.
They were ripped for remodeling the whitehouse and getting private contributions to buy new china and you would have thought they were the most insensitive couple ever, let alone presidential couple. The msm refusal to get any thought about this opulence in such difficult times shows how they are invested in making this administration succeed. Which by the way, ain't working for Americans but is adored by leftys.
It is even doubly troubling for these two creatures because, I'll whisper it, the First Lady is a black woman.
Sorry Mickey and Tanny, you are Motel 6 material..get used to it.
I meant the bars at Motel 6. Besides, I was being nice. Some people say that Tanny prefers truck stops but the truckers threw her out.
I will join the Republican Party so that I can say these thing and will be considered 'nice'.
When told that the people had no bread, Marie Antoinette said "Let them eat cake."
Cake does not fit in with Michelle Obama's anti-obesity program....
:-)
Next time you read, see and/or hear B.S. from foaming-at-the-mouth idiots like those quoted above, just let your mind hear a crowd of bigots screaming:
"NI66ER! NI66ER! NI66ER! NI66ER! NI66ER!..."
'Cause that's exactly what they're thinking.
Nice try, but the racist ploy is losing more steam than the summer of recovery.
The vast majority of conservatives in Congress today are acting about as un-American as is possible.
Working together to help rebuild what was left to rot by the Dick-n-Duhhbya Show would be a sign of true patriotism.
Just saying "No, no, no!" is not.
Oh, Michelle Obama is rich, but she's also African American, and America's First Lady.
Well, she shares at least 2 of these 3 characteristics with Laura Bush, so it must be the other one that's causing these attacks.
Right. Got it.
Now, during a recession, err excuse me, during the summer of recovery, the mrs. trapes off to a foreign country with a bunch load of friends and security, at our expense and that doesn't deserve scrutiny? If you're going to waste millions, at least do it in this country to move along that 'summer of recovery'!
We now can see why she's finally proud to be an American! (in a Spanish resort on our dime!) Ain't America grand!
Laura Bush is an incredibly graceful, classy, and intelligent woman. She was an awesome first lady. She did great work promoting education and literacy, breast cancer research, and AIDS prevention in Africa. Michelle Obama certainly had some big shoes to fill and so far, I think she's been doing an amazing job. We've been lucky to have some wonderful first ladies in recent history--they all deserve our respect.
Attacking Laura Bush inappropriately after Michelle Obama is attacked inappropriately is even MORE offensive than doing it on its own! Why don't you see this?
There's no evidence that Laura Bush was drunk.
The "classy" comment was uncalled for.
There's no evidence that the accident was anything other than an accident.
Two wrongs don't make a right.
Laura Bush's accident from 40 years ago is not comparable to this event.
Michelle Obama is paying for the extra rooms herself.
The Secret Service is having to staff a few more people, and the cost is a little more to protect her overseas then they have to do when she's sitting in the private living quarters at the White House, but that's the price we pay for ANY member of the President's family, and it's a price we shouldn't quibble about - they shouldn't be required to stay in their home all the time.
She gets to go on vacation, and when she does, she has to travel in a secure way as the wife and child of the President of the USA. There's nothing wrong with her taking a vacation.