Me, and tens of thousands

Dear S J Towse,

Will you join Laura, me and the entire Republican Party leadership as we gather on the evening of July 21st here in Washington, D.C., to celebrate my first term of office?

And while I am honored to be recognized, the truth is, much work remains to be done and none of what we have accomplished to date would have been possible without you.

Your steadfast support has made the Republican Party America's majority party.

[...]

So all of us -- Senate Majority Leader Frist, House Speaker Hastert, Vice President Cheney, Laura and I -- owe you a deep debt of gratitude for your support.

And all of us want to recognize and honor the commitment and sacrifices you've made for our Party and our nation.

[...]

Let's celebrate our Party's leadership and our nation's spirit and strength together.

Sincerely,
George W. Bush

The enclosed letter from House Speaker Dennis Hastert goes on for four pages and invites me to dinner (or to just make a donation if I can't make dinner so I can be listed as an Honorary Co-Chairman of the Dinner).

"Tickets to The President's Dinner are $2,500 each, or you may purchase a table of ten for your friends and family for $25,000."

Gosh.

I was honored.

If I contributed at least $150, I could get a "unique, limited edition, numbered, four-photograph series entitled 'George W. Bush, The First Term.'" How could I pass up such an invite?

Then I found out they'd sent his nibs an invitation too. ... and who knows who else.

Come to think of it, if I were going to spend $5,000 on a Republican Party fundraiser, I would've signed up for the local party recently and had my picture taken with our gov.

What a Christmas card photo that would've been.