What a difference...

4 years and a Democrat president elect make:

Giving Bush a Pass:

This week's inauguration story came ready with two interesting news angles: the huge cost (in contrast with the dire situation in Iraq) and the unprecedented security...And it might have been helpful in the limited media debate that did take place about the inauguration's costs to point out that if the $40 million to $50 million raised for the GOP's parties had been donated to the war effort, as some have suggested, the money would have covered only about six hours of the U.S. military's operations in Iraq. (Costs are running roughly $110,000 per minute there.)

Coronation costs:

Barack Obama's inauguration is set to cost more than £100m making it the most expensive swearing-in ceremony in US history...Barack Obama's inauguration is set to cost more than £100m making it the most expensive swearing-in ceremony in US history.

So never mind that we are in this horrible recession and people are losing their homes and so on and so on because what is about $150 million when we are talking in trillions these days?