Junior Florida Republican staffer charged $1.3 million to party credit card

By GottaLaff

My Twitter pals Symbolman (who co-authored Going Rouge, the Coloring and Activity Book) and Hoptoad4 stumbled upon something interesting in the St. Petersburg Times.

All that was missing was a Big GOP outing at the Voyeur club:

She was a 25-year-old junior staffer when the Florida Republican Party gave her an American Express card.

Over the next 2½ years, nearly $1.3 million in charges wound up on Melanie Phister's AmEx — $40,000 at a London hotel, and nearly $20,000 in plane tickets for indicted former House Speaker Ray Sansom, his wife and kids, for starters. Statements show thousands spent on jewelry, sporting goods and in one case $15,000 for what's listed as a month-long stay at a posh Miami Beach hotel, but which the party says was a forfeited deposit.

So much for all that "fiscal restraint" talk, huh? But hey, what's $1.3 mil between friends?

Even after a series of embarrassing revelations over profligate credit card spending by the likes of Republican U.S. Senate frontrunner Marco Rubio, Sansom and incoming House Speaker Dean Cannon — and pending state and federal investigations of party finances — revelations of the huge charges on Phister's card had veteran GOP fundraisers apoplectic.

Apparently, legislators abused Phister's card, too, as well as their own. Weeee! It's a spending party for the party who says they hate spending!

Did I mention that political donors are livid?

"I can't believe it. Someone should be hanged for that," Mark Guzzetta, a Boca Raton developer who has raised millions of dollars for Republicans, said of the party allowing so much spending on a low-level staffer's card.

I bet Democrats are just as guilty though, right? No, more guilty. Guiltier than guilty. Isn't that what the Rushpublics always say?

And we all know the last thing any member of the GOP would ever suggest is emulating the Dems. That's Number One on their List-O'-Sins:

The Florida Democratic Party requires staffers and leaders to use their own credit cards and seek reimbursement for appropriate expenses. That's now the practice at the Florida Republican Party, and fundraiser Hoffman suggested it's about time.

Finally. Bipartisanship.

H/t: TexBetsy

VIDEOS- Bill Maher on Leno re: Afghanistan, Banking Rates, Tiger Woods

By GottaLaff

"I thought the whole cowboy-liberator dreamworld was over, but this is more sameness I can believe in." Ouch.

On Tiger Woods, The News, and Afghanistan Decision:



On Banks, Credit Cards, Religion, Mother Theresa:



H/t: Ryan

PHOTOS: Larry Summers nods off at credit talks

By GottaLaff

No. No, no. Couldn't he down some coffee and prop his peepers open with toothpicks to avoid embarrassing photo grabs like this:

White House National Economic Council Director Larry Summers (right) rubs his eye while . President Barack Obama speaks to the press after a meeting with executives from the credit card industry at the White House today. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images)

(Photos by one wide-awake Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images)

"He DID nod off, doing the head on the hand and then head falling off the hand thing,'' the print press pooler reports. "All other officials in the room appeared fully awake.''

Come on. What is so hard about staying awake during work hou---... .... ZZzzzzzzzzz.

H/t: BuzzFlash

Do-over: Fed Moves to Overhaul Credit Card Regulations

By GottaLaff

From the Department of Better Late Than Never:

The Federal Reserve on Thursday will vote on sweeping reform of the credit card industry that would ban practices such as retroactively increasing interest rates at will and charging late fees when consumers are not given a reasonable amount of time to make payments."

We owe you a debt of thanks.

John Sidney McGrammless is "bleeding red ink"

By GottaLaff

Phrasing is everything:

A Democratic National Committee (DNC) memo on Monday said Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) is spending more money than his campaign takes in, and raises the question of a “budget crunch.”

“The McCain campaign’s balance sheet is starting to bleed red ink and look like it did last summer,” according to the memo, which said that the GOP campaign spent nearly $5 million more than it raised.

And he'll improve the U.S. economy how? He can't keep his own books straight. A look back at the good old days:

The memo, from DNC research director Mike Gehrke, said McCain’s burn rate — the term used to describe how much a campaign spends compared to what it takes in — has doubled in June from the previous two months.

It now stands at 122 percent, the DNC stated, noting that “the prior record was 113 percent last July, when the campaign was on the verge of collapse.”

Yeah, he'd be a trustworthy steward of our money. Next up: Mockery. To be fair, keep in mind that Cindy Lou needs her hair salon appointments and private jets:

The memo also takes a swipe at McCain for relying on credit cards, saying that the campaign reflects the candidate’s “love for AmEx debt.”

Last month, Senate financial disclosure forms showed that the McCains had a six-figure credit card balance.

Oh-h-h, suh-nap!

The memo raises the question of a “budget crunch,” arguing that McCain’s presidential Federal Election Commission filings for June show no expenditures for “polling.”

The McCain campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

J Sid wanted so much to exhume his bff Phil Gramm from his political grave for comment, but was unsuccessful. He couldn't dig deeply enough to expose the a** he's been covering.