They must be feeling the pain in Vegas, one of the epicenters of the housing implosion. Metro Las Vegas was adding 50,000 jobs a year a few years ago -- more than the whole state of Maryland. Now they're losing thousands of jobs. Since Obama was speaking particularly about companies getting government bailouts, we can only conclude that Vegas wants bailout money to be spent on gambling junkets.

After Obama said:

"You can't get corporate jets, you can't go take a trip to Las Vegas or go down to the Super Bowl on the taxpayer's dime."

The mayor says, from AP:

"Mr. President, I understand the enormous burden you carry in dealing with the worst economy since the Great Depression," Goodman wrote in the letter, sent late Tuesday.

"I also understand the need for accountability, but your comments are harmful to the meetings and convention industry as a whole and Las Vegas specifically," he said.

And the local congresswoman says:

"Please, let's stop the attacks, let's call a cease-fire and let's recognize the true cost of these words in real dollars lost as a result of canceled meetings and other functions that will not be held in Las Vegas," Berkley said.

"Mr. President, I support your efforts to curb corporate excesses in your recovery plan, but from the neon lights of Las Vegas to the Chicago skyline, from the white sands of Hawaii to the Kansas heartland, tourism means jobs," she said. "We need your support and we need the business more than ever before."