Just because the inauguration was the example he used doesn't make it any less disturbing. I don't understand this at all... this would have been a great opportunity for Bush to build bridges with the world, seemingly a no-brainer, and yet you have this very defensive reaction by the White House. Be gracious!

Why build bridges when you can construct your own reality? Spending more money, admittedly self-raised money, but money all the same, to celebrate your election than to help over 100,000 dead in some of the poorest areas of the world reeks of arrogance to the rest of the world. Roosevelt cancelled his inauguration in 45 out of respect to the horrors of war. I wish that this president was capable of balancing a tremendous natural disaster into that equation and doing something resembling decency. I sincerely doubt it though.

What's the deal with the cost of the inauguration? Are we crowning an emperor or something? Bush's vote counts the same as mine (neither of us live in swing states).

It's estimated that the 2005 Bush inaugural will cost between $30M to $40M, making it the most expensive in history. OK . . . Clinton spent $23M on the 1993 inaugural & $33M on the 1997 inaugural. That's a 43.5% increase in spending for Clintin's inaugurals.

While I could't find the actual amount spent on the 2001 Bush inaugural, I did find that pre-event estimates thought it would be between $30M to $40M. (And none of the amounts I could find included security, BTW.) At most, that's a 21.2% increase over the amount Clinton spent in 1997. The percent increase over the 2001 inaugural must be far lower. To be fair, in light of recent history, these numbers really don't mean anything in relation to tragedy in Asia.

So, had the unfortunate earthquake/tsunami never happened, would folks be complaining about what Bush is spending? And is it fair to assume (you all know what happens!) that the $35M Bush has pledged to earthquake/tsunami relied is all that will be done?

My next question is: How much have those complaining given? Perhaps Mr Olberman would like to let us know the amount his check was for before he points fingers?

Besides the various relief entities this website has already mentioned, might I also suggest Catholic Relief Services? The vast majority of donations go directly to relief efforts & you can even choose for your donation to go directly to the current tragedy in Asia. That's what I did.

It's fun and easy to complain of liberal bias, but his remark is certainly food for thought.

Since it was the Bush administration that proposed spending such an immorally low amount on aid, it seems fair to make the inauguration comparison. Biased, perhaps, but hardly unfair.

Do we have proof that $35M is all the US gumment is going to give? Now if it turns out that it is . . . well, I'll be pretty PO'd. If more is forthcoming, it'll make some folks - like Olberman - look foolish. I'm not trying to defent the Bush admin. But I'd rather wait & see before pointing fingers. I'm sorry, I haven't read as much about this as perhaps I should, but is it possible that $35M is all that could be committed on such short notice? Not to mention that the death toll, sadly & shockingly, keeps rising to numbers nobody was even predicting 4 days ago - at least not in the reports I've read. These numbers have blindsided pretty much everybody. Perhaps next week will bring more news from Bush. I do hope so. In the meantime, I've made my donation.

And frankly, I still think the amounts are apples & oranges. If the tragedy had happened a few months before or after the inaugural, the amount spent on the festivities wouldn't even be discussed.

"If more is forthcoming, it'll make some folks - like Olberman - look foolish."

Since it is very possible that the reason more aid might be forthcoming is pressure from the likes of Olberman, I doubt he should feel foolish.

But then of course, a politician would never allocate more money than he originally intended due to political or media pressure.

Keith Olbermann
Born: Jan. 27, 1959 in New York City
In high school he worked as a play-by-play announcer for the school hockey team on WHTR under then sports director, Chris Berman. He Graduated from Cornell University in 1979 with a bachelor of science degree in communications arts.In June of 1997 it was announced that Olbermann would be leaving SportsCenter. There were many reasons that combined to his resignation such as his desire to live in New York City ( It was hard for him to get around in Bristol because he can't drive due to an accident that damaged his depth perceptoin ), his appearance on "The Daily Show" caused problems because he did not get permission from ESPiNheads to appear on the show, and his desire to take on something more serious like regular news which he will be covering on MSNBC in the fall.