Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley is on a "trip" away from his home turf and, unlike Washington's secretive Mayor Adrian Fenty, has actually announced this to the public, which of course is paying for it.
And people are watching the price tag, you better believe, since Maryland has literally negative-infinity dollars in discretionary spending available for its executive's overseas jaunts.
While Barack Obama's sexy date night in New York City last weekend cost tens of thousands of dollars, for one night, O'Malley's weeklong trip to Europe will cost the state approximately $8,000, according to a spokesperson. But since we're in a global deflationary spiral, that is basically the entire GDP of Maryland, now.
O'Malley began his trip at the D-Day 65th anniversary "celebrations" in Normandy, France, over the weekend, with Obama. O'Malley's excuse was that he went to honor the various Maryland soldiers who fought on that day, including Tom Hanks and Tom Sizemore and maybe Matt Damon. These soldiers "represented the best that Maryland had to offer," O'Malley said, not realizing that they were just rich Hollywood actors.
Then O'Malley flew to the exotic resort of a country Bosnia and Herzegovina. What fun! The conservative Washington Examiner newspaper was sure to point out that on this trip he would "meet with an official accused of war crimes," who moonlights as, well, the country's Defense Minister. Oh boy!
But the real fun begins on Wednesday, when O'Malley goes to socialist Sweden to learn how to make Maryland more socialist, with its roads and stuff:
Part of that figure will cover O’Malley’s visit to Sweden on Wednesday, where he plans to meet with business and government representatives and to take a tour of an “eco-friendly city.”
Might as well meet with Osama, for a tour of Tarnak Farms.
Jim Newell writes for Wonkette and IvyGate.
