Monday, June 21, 2004

The Daily Howler notes today that Jodi Wilgoren of The New York Times and Nedra Pickler of AP have been writing about John Kerry's wealth in excruciating detail, while saying little more about Bush than that he "spends his down time trying to be more of an everyman" (Pickler) at his "sweltering ranch" (Wilgoren).

Well, I'm the guy who told you about Bush's rather expensive boots (UPDATE: sorry -- I misread that; Bush's father was the boot buyer), but I just found out about something else Bush doesn't stint on -- something for his ranch.

Portable toilets.

You probably don't remember this AP story about Black Tie Services -- it ran just as we were on the verge of invading Iraq. Black Tie provides portable toilets ... but not just any portable toilets:

Boasting amenities that range from tuxedoed attendants to brass fixtures and oak paneling, upscale portable restrooms are showing up everywhere from weddings to PGA tournaments to President Bush's ranch.

...Black Tie is among a handful of companies across the country that specialize in the restrooms, which from the outside look like plain white trailers.

The surprise is inside, where vanity mirrors, flushable toilets, full sinks, piped-in music, air conditioning and dishes of potpourri make the restrooms almost indistinguishable from those in a home or nice hotel.

... the trailer suites ... range from a couple of bathrooms to more than a dozen and average around $3,000 to rent ...


That $3,000, I gather, is for one night at your mansion, beach house, or, perhaps, "sweltering ranch." Now, how does that compare to your run-of-the-mill porta-potty? This is not my area of expertise; all I know is what it says in this document from the California state government:

The current cost for a portable toilet alone with weekly servicing including delivery to, and pick-up from, the worksite ranges in price from approximately $90 to $110 per month.

So Bush clearly likes to go in style.

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