“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.”