Last week, after President Obama's reference to Las Vegas as a bad place to blow some cash when saving for college set off a fury in these parts, I had asked to speak to Steve Wynn for my AOLNews.Com piece. His spokeswoman told me he wouldn't be available by my deadline, so I moved on. Just now, as I was prepping for this week's podcast, I found that they had, in fact, sent along a statement from The Steve about The One.Since it's Steve Wynn and his bowel movements seem to matter to everyone obsessed with all things Vegas, I figured I'd go ahead and put this on the record since I seem to have it exclusively:
“The president seems to have a proclivity that is a strong tendency to bash Las Vegas at every opportunity that he gets. He seems to have forgotten that the tens of thousands of people who work in our hospitality industry as cooks, housekeepers, porters, stewards, dealers, doorman, waitresses, cashiers and all the rest, probably voted for him and are now the victims of his ridicule and disdain. The president’s uncontrollable desire for inflammatory rhetoric has taken a very unfortunate turn against the very people who had hopes that he would help them.”
By the by, many folks have written to dismiss this flap. I wouldn't. Look at this:
My piece was No. 1 for three days on the fourth most-popular news site on the Web. Clearly, people found it of interest.
6 comments:
Congrats!!! Maybe you can write a follow-up on the Reid racism flap, and have another update with Wynn's comments. Keep the controversy alive.
Steve isn't keeping the controversy, such as it is, going. Obama goes first and then is replied to by the Nevada congressional delegation including Democrats. Elitists, like Obama, don't like Vegas (that's a too late hint to Jim Murren)and speak of it contempt.
SG
The gambling industry wants it both ways. On the one hand they portray gambling as harmless entertainment but when Obama merely says that people should not use tuition, rent or home ownership cash at the tables or slots, they go crazy. I love Las Vegas and visit often but I'm tired of Wynn and Addleson using my hard earned cash to influence politics.
Paragraph 2 is the truest statement ever written, sir! Our obsession is kinda pathetic, but great fun.
Jeff in OKC
Anon, re: corps using $ for politics: That'll be one of the big outcomes of the Supremes decision on corporations spending on campaigns -- a lot more direct activity. However, there is an interesting flipside, which is that consumers can vote with their dollars if they don't like who those companies are supporting. Should be really interesting this year.
Well, just becase some "people found it of interest" doesn't make this a truly relevant story. Again, it just seems like the media want controversy, the local pols want to gin up poll numbers, and the casinos want as much free advertising as possible. And while I like Steve Wynn's casinos, I just don't get his politics.
http://slashpolitics.lvcitylife.com/2010/02/is-steve-wynn-self-aware/
As Steve Sebelius said when linking to your piece here (btw, congrats!), it seems a little odd for Wynn to say this about Obama when he recently tried to take away his dealers' tips (after saying he wouldn't, which then pushed the dealers to form a union).
Again, this seems to be a whole lot of nothing and outside of Nevada the rest of the country is just laughing at us. (I'm visiting the family here in Cali, and they're all finding "Obama-Vegas-gate" utterly ridiculous.)
Post a Comment