$2.2 Million for Two Buses! Marathon Coach?

[CrabbyMilton]

Yeah Airforce 1 has to be armored to a point as well. But then again, if it had as much armor as the secret service would like, that 747 would never get off the ground. It would be interesting to see what these 2 things look like inside.

[bottomacher]

The article says that additional work will be done  by the secret service after delivery, just like the houses the presidents live in after they leave office. I expect that the real money will be spent there.

[Len Silva]

One of those buses will be used by the republican nominee as soon as they get Secret Service protection.

[CrabbyMilton]

If the president really needs protection on his trip, he could have gotton one of these.
http://www.mcicoach.com/media-center/2011-08-05-la-county.htm

[belfert]

I understand anyone currently in office who is campaigning and gets Secret Service protection has to pay for use of planes and other transportation based on what an ordinary citizen would pay.  If it costs $1000 for a first class ticket from DC to San Francisco then the campaign pays $1000 each for the president and those accompanying him for campaign reasons.  Presumably he would he would pay for use of the limo based on car rental rates and use of the bus based on charter costs.

It would be a serious handicap to the sitting president if he/she had to pay the full cost of using government transport for campaigning.  I doubt there would be much support for just letting the president have no security during a campaign and moving around like other candidates.

Yes, I know some wouldn't mind to see the current president without security, but what if the next president was someone you support?

Does anyone make a coach bus in America?  MCI and Prevost are made in Canada.  Isn't Setra made overseas?  Silver Eagle doesn't seem to be making buses.

[ktmossman]

The President probably doesn't actually spend much time in the bus.  His real transportation is via normal Presidential secured transportation. They probably stop a couple miles from the destination and move him to the bus.  The bus is really a short-term campaign prop and maybe a mobile office (although the expense of outfitting it with secure comm would be more than the cost of the bus.)  Probably light armor if any.  My guess is that Hemphill is not an approved vendor for armoring a vehicle for the federal govt., much less the Secret Service.

[luvrbus]

They are using ArmorCore for skinning and bullet proof glass and no Trent told me they did not pay a 1/2 million each for the shells they will still have the prevost roof and front and rear caps that is about all he would tell me but the price is not a fix price probably will cost more.
And FWIW they have 2 with the Armor Core siding in their fleet now leased to the government and they are building 2 on the X3 chassis for some mid eastern prince

[CrabbyMilton]

Obama will not always be in office so across the board Secret Service should be enforced otherwise, we change the rules as we go along and we can't set that as a standard(even though Obama does this all the time). MCI's are built in Canada but at least they are based in the USA so that's as close we can get. Other than skoolies, the only buses I can think of that may built here are are some of those rental car shuttle buses that you see at airports such as ELDORADO NATIONAL. GILLIG is built in America. There was a company called SBM that built a limited number of over the road buses built on FREIGHTLINER chassis while they mostly built double deck sightseeing buses that had the front cap of an MCI E4500. Their website doesn't seem to exist anymore so unless that changes, I think they are now defunct. There are a bunch of bus builders that use FREIGHTLINER chassis many of which can be used for over the road but I have heard mixed feeling about their overall quality. SILVER EAGLE has their website up but they have said that new specs are coming soon for about 2 years now.

[Busted Knuckle]

Might first thought is (and I'm still not convinced other wise) that Hemphill didn't buy or pay for the chassis at all, but rather ordered what they needed and the govt picked up the tab!
Then Hemphill has a blank canvas to start with and a blank check to go with it!

Jeremy I love the video of the pres limo getting high centered on the ramp! That is awesome and shows that Obama is not all "brotha" or he'd had "bags" on that ride and coulda raised it to clear the ramp! LOL!
  BK 

[muldoonman]

Total waste of our freaking tax money!! This guy doesn't have a clue. On the other hand, they will be for sale at a government auction in the near future.

[CrabbyMilton]

They'll likely be sold off at some point years from now. Most likely though, they'll be stripped clean of the armor, communications equipment, and furniture. But hey, whomever ends up with these things can HOPE to find CHANGE in between the cracks.

[artvonne]

  We started out with a President who was a General on the front lines of our Colonial Army, who stood beside his fellow men taking shots from the British, freezing and starving with them in the woods around New York, trying to eat his food with wooden dentures. I really think the guys who founded this country, who willingly pledged their fortunes and their sacred honor to fight for it, would be appaled at what we have turned the Office of the President into. Does anyone think it was safer for a man to expose himself in Public 200 years ago with everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, walking around armed with pistols?

  Let him buy his own damn Bus like anyone else who wants one. We did.

[Van]

I just heard it's the "One Nation Under The Bus Tour" also the bus is dubbed as the "Death Star" from Star Wars

[boxcarOkie]

I just heard it's the "One Nation Under The Bus Tour" also the bus is dubbed as the "Dark Star" from Star Wars

On da road agin ... on da road agin ... Okay, here you go.  Aw, what is a bus or two among friends, c'mon. 

I believe that there are two forces struggling to dominate this country. Reinvention and nostalgia. The first seeks to imagine and work toward a better future by changing the status quo. The second insists that things were better in the past and works to undo change (any of the above would certainly qualify). Oddly, the opposing forces have come to be represented by colors. Blue and red. It's no secret where my sympathies lie (you will most always find me in the gray areas).

As I've always been a big fan of reinvention. My life is a testament to it. There is simply no way that a scared, sickly, vaguely educated white pasty faced kid from the middle of a Johnson Grass Prarie in Oklahoma gets to live the life he's living now without being willing to scrap old, unworkable ideas and start over

(Of course it also helped that I didn't have a rosy past to feel nostalgic towards).

Which brings me to the point. I'm confused by people who seek to return to a life that wasn't that great to begin with. Oh, I get it if you used to be the ruling class. If your childhood memories include watching your granddaddy sip a mimosa on the veranda while being serviced by the upstairs maid, then sure, nostalgia makes sense. But, if you're like me and didn't know anyone who had a veranda, let alone a maid, let alone an upstairs, then why not consider reinvention?

Maybe we can make this country a better place to live. It's certainly a more exciting way to go. You know, an uncertain future, filled with mystery and adventure. Of course, if nostalgia wins the day, if we are to attempt to reverse the course of history, then I will do my best to cooperate -- starting with buying me a bullet proof Prevo with smoke black limousine acrylic windows and hitting the campaign trail in 2012.

He's most likely going to pay for it with his spare "change."

(oh, I think I just hurt myself!).

BCO

[RJ]

Debt Man Driving??