Leslie Paige, a spokeswoman for Citizens Against Government Waste, a watchdog group, said if the federal government is looking to cut costs, eliminating purchases of Mr. Obama's books is a good place to start

This. Because $70 k is a HUGE DRAIN on our economy. We'd be back to 4% unemployment by now if they hadn't spent all that dough on those books.

/Meanwhile, no word on how much the U.S. Government spends buying bibles.

AdolfOliverPanties: $70,000? In terms of the budget, it doesn't even add up to pocket change lint.

FTFY.

GaryPDX: You know who else had copies of his book sent to all his installations/embassies?

Nixon?

_{/you dolt}

Even worse, I heard that Obama is funding hundreds of embassies to store these books. They have this dude called an "ambassador" and maids and cooks and Marines and everything. I wonder how much that costs.

All US embassies have libraries. And they're open to foreigners so that they can learn about the USA. Probably a few of them would like to read Obama's memoir.

But public libraries are SOCIALISM

Rapmaster2000: Even worse, I heard that Obama is funding hundreds of embassies to store these books. They have this dude called an "ambassador" and maids and cooks and Marines and everything. I wonder how much that costs.

Man, I want to work at an Obama Book Store.

GaryPDX: You know who else had copies of his book sent to all his installations/embassies?

Drew Curtis?

The government has wasted more than $70k on something even more useless since I began typing this sentence.

You know what else?

He had his picture put up in every military office, barracks, and recruiting station. He is indoctrinating our troops into his liberal socialist ideology!

u mad republicans?

Someone sounds butthurt that they found all their money they donated to the Cain campaign actually was spent to buy his books.

The Moonie Times? Not clicking. I hate to sound like I'm plugging my ears and shouting "La, la, la," but The Washington Times is literally owned and run by a cult leader who claims to be Jesus.

There's no indication the White House knew about the purchases, which overall represent just a fraction of the nearly quarter-million dollars Mr. Obama donated to charities last year and his more than $1.7 million in overall income. Mr. Clay said book orders are normally made directly by embassies based on "their experience and knowledge on the ground of the intended audience."

So most likely the people at the Embassies are buying the book to give out and Obama doesn't even know.

I do think however Obama should donate all the money he gets from the purchases of his book from the federal government to charity.

Books? Specifically, 0bama's book? Cut that noise.

You know what else we need to cut? Planned Parenthood. Because they MURDER babies.

Then, we need to cut WIC for the pregger WHORES and BASTARD babies. No more wasting 10USD a month on fruits and vegetables. That'll teach 'em.

Oh, and you know who else we're wasting money on? Those lazy farking veterans. Seriously, get off of your lazy ass, WELFARE QUEEN, and get back to work. What's that? You have PTSD and cannot work? Well, you're obviously just looking for a handout. We're going to cut VA Hospital spending while we're at it. That'll teach you.

And one last thing. Grandpapa, you lazy oaf, get out of that wheelchair and out of that dirty, poorly staffed, shady nursing home and GBTW! Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour, doesn't say anything about taking care of you in your old age. It's time you stop sucking on that Government teet and contribute to society again!

/Vote Republican

GAT_00: So, $70,000 for books. At $25/book, that's 2800 books. Assuming each country has an embassy and there are 195 countries including the US, so 194 embassies, that's 14 books per embassy with some left over. Sounds like good gifts to hand out to me.

This. Can we please focus on the low-hanging fruit with respect to the debt/budget/deficit?

Hint: foreign aid and direct aid to the poor are not the problem and have always been way less than 1% of the budget.

I would like to discuss how defense spending is problematic, and that there is also a revenue side to the budget that needs to be adjusted in the form of higher taxes on the rich.

Or whatever, we can carry on with how the 14 copies of the President's memoir that were provided to American embassies are the real outrage of the day.

/give me a break

thurstonxhowell: The government has wasted more than $70k on something even more useless since I began typing this sentence.

Probably. Well, definitely. The concern here is that it could personally benefit the President through book royalties, something only loosely alluded to in the article. However, he's been extremely careful about not getting tripped up by stupid crap like that; I bet he's already arranged to have any royalties donated to a fund for the families of State Department employees killed in the line of duty or something like that.

GAT_00: So, $70,000 for books. At $25/book, that's 2800 books. Assuming each country has an embassy and there are 195 countries including the US, so 194 embassies, that's 14 books per embassy with some left over. Sounds like good gifts to hand out to me.

Same with the pictures of the current (changes every 8 years at least) president. They hang'em on walls everywhere.

This is an outrage?

Well at least you can read books. All G.W. Bush published was the plot numbers of those 4,000 dead soldiers from his two wars of 'must make daddy bush happy'.

I definitely plan to get all worked up and outraged by this. Just as soon as I'm done being worked up and outraged by the last thingy I was told get all worked up and outraged about.

$70,000 in terms of government finance... nothing at all. They probably spent 1000x that on hand sanitizer.

Lady Beryl Ersatz-Wendigo: This is an outrage?

Well, this one sort of seems valid after all the wailing and gnashing of teeth Fox News had over Obama's vacation. What was the menu item they tagged as elit? Caprese, was it not?

AdolfOliverPanties: $70,000? In terms of the budget, it doesn't even add up to pocket change.

Its not even a rounding error to the rounding error of the State Departments budget.