"The planes appeared on the horizon around 10 a.m. and sent a chill through the city. Flying in as low as 1,000 feet to 1,500 feet above New York City, they circled the Statue of Liberty before flying over Manhattan, Staten Island and New Jersey. Before they vanished, hundreds of frightened people had jammed emergency phone lines, and thousands of terrified people evacuated from buildings in the city and across the river in New Jersey. 'I was crying and praying to God to forgive me my sins because I thought I was going to get killed,' said Kathleen Filandro, who fled from 1New York Plaza when she spotted the planes."
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To distract Althouse from criticizing Obama in shorts.
*sheesh*
"Obama's people", shouldn't we be capitalizing both of those letters? They are one of the top terrorist organizations on the planet now.
Hearings!!! We need hearings! The AG should investigate. Caldera should be interrogated. Get the FBI. Crimes, these are crimes of massive proportions. Bush, blame Bush! Emanuel should be indicted. Cover up.
OK, now that the Libwacko stuff is out of the way, Caldera should be fired to show BO is serious about screw ups in government; an example to others. This is a true what the hell was this guy thinking moment.
Of course, Caldera won’t be fired. The pictures came out just fine. BO gets to send his nice post cards; a legacy in the making. Now get the guy some long pants, a waffle or two, and move on.
Sources said the chief reason for the panic-inducing flight was to create souvenir pictures of Air Force One flying over the Statue of Liberty to be given out - like a presidential tie clip - to family, friends or supporters .
So our taxpayers dollars are ultimately supporting perks for donors.... I'm shocked, shocked...
Brought to you by the Committee to Reelect the President
""Why did Obama's people buzz lower Manhattan with a jumbo jet and an F-16 fighter?"
Because he could.
I recall hearing those words about another failed president.
The plain as day attitude of the Obama Administration is seen in this one action. They are from the Chicago cell of the new World Administration, and as such treat NYC as a minor tourist attraction where you can get really neat pictures. People on the ground, what people...the days of Wall Street ruling this planet are Gone With the Wind.
I find myself somewhat disappointed that the President was not aboard Air Force One getting a $400 haircut.
Sources said the chief reason for the panic-inducing flight was to create souvenir pictures of Air Force One flying over the Statue of Liberty to be given out - like a presidential tie clip - to family, friends or supporters ..
Well that's precious. So much for reducing our carbon footprints. Oh nevermind, silly me. That's just for the great unwashed.
I wonder with summer coming if Obama will drop the White House thermostat to the point he can grow snowcones.
So our taxpayers dollars are ultimately supporting perks for donors.... I'm shocked, shocked...All the more shocking because yesterday's picture of Obama sitting in his USAF golf cart tugging on his shorts would make a great Presidential souvenir. No need to terrify the good citizens of NYC with a man-caused disaster false alarm.
Sgt:
Good stuff you shared with us. I just googled this part of your phrase "souvenir pictures of Air Force One flying over the Statue of Liberty".
And so far there are only two other web hits besides yours.
Because they're stupid?
Obama and his staff are typical modern politicians. Their mindset is that of "Wouldn't it be neat if..." without bothering to think through the feasibility or consequences of their actions. Since they're good people, with good intentions, there's no need.
Reminiscent of the Berlin airlift, Obama wanted the plane to drop waffles for al the poor starving NYCers suffering through his economy.
It is his now.
Why didn't they just photoshop it like the rest of the proles?
Yes, Scotty.. I don’t care we are violating the fraking prime directive.
Beam the human Andrew Sullivan to downtown Manhattan World Trade Center site.
Now... Scotty, I'm giving you a direct order.
"Obama's people", shouldn't we be capitalizing both of those letters? They are one of the top terrorist organizations on the planet now.So the Pentagon is one of the top terrorist organizations on the planet now. Interesting theories coming from the Right these days.
Sources said the chief reason for the panic-inducing flight was to create souvenir pictures of Air Force One flying over the Statue of Liberty to be given out - like a presidential tie clip - to family, friends or supporters .
Wow, them's some expensive chotchkies!
Once again the White House shows that it is populated with people with the mental and emotional maturity of a college fraternity. Nice to know the people from Animal House are in charge isn't it?
Everybody....TOGA!!!!
What really got Obama furious? During the breakfast meeting to discuss this, Caldera took a waffle. BO sent Rham Emanuel to track him down and get the waffle back.
It was one of those unnecessary distractions that are keeping Obama from making history.
So the Pentagon is one of the top terrorist organizations on the planet now. Interesting theories coming from the Right these days..
Well garage, Jason was most likely being sarcastic. On the other hand, good Democrats like Murtha and Durbin were quite serious when comparing our military to terrorists and running concentration camps.
Nice to know the people from Animal House are in charge isn't it?.
Actually I'd take Otter, D-Day and Bluto over this class of nitwits any day.
Obama to Caldera: "Leggo my Eggo."
Remember, even from that low height, it is difficult to see the people!
Mission Accomplished!
To refresh the country's metaphor supply.
"Like a 747 screaming down Wall Street, the Obama approach to the economy is never more than a few degrees away from disaster. Bankers are evacuating. In these uneasy times, only one thing is certain -- Obama won't take the blame."
I wonder if those terrified NYC workers have any different thoughts in our use of 'enhanced interrogation'?
Perhaps this reminder of that fateful day puts things back into perspective for some folks.
Interesting that the administration has a September tenth mentality, but the people on the ground know better.
Similar to the enhanced interrogation brouhaha.
Nice to know the people from Animal House are in charge isn't it?
"You fucked up. You trusted us."
"Mr. President, the photo op didn't go as well as planned. The pictures are all spoiled by office workers running for their lives."
"But what about these people here? They're not even in the flight path, and they're freaking out more than anybody!"
"Oh, them? They're just running for their lives because the administration announced the next phase of its economic plan. Ignore that -- it's typical for this time of day."
"He's a skilled tyrant trained and groomed his entire life for this moment. We must revolt or secede to escape this OPPRESSION!"
"He's an empty suit that can't do anything!"
Didn't these idiots ever hear of PhotoShop? What does it cost to operate Air Force 1 and an F16?
garage Bush isn't President anymore so you need to come up with new slogans ;-)
I think it is an interesting comparison to the "torture memos" and soon to be released additional Abu Ghraib photos. While the political machine of the White House is laying the groundwork to show just how "evil" the previous Presidential Administration was; some idiot signed off on a propaganda flight that reminded millions why the previous Administration was willing to torture enemies. Nice context.
BTW, NASA did a similar thing in Houston a few years back, by flying the 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft around downtown Houston chased by NASA T-38 jet trainers (which look like very much like the F-5 fighter model, and to untrained people just like F-16s). The same reaction occurred then (under President Bush), so you'd think their would be some lessons learned.
As for Bloomberg...why didn't the NY authorities, who were contacted and told...not tell him?
Out of cell range?
This move is definitely funny from a distance but watching that clip of people running and screaming outside of Goldman really brings it all back. It's chilling.
It also reminds us that we don't see that footage anymore. In fact, I rarely hear people refer to "9/11" anymore without some sense of irony. It seems that it's only used as a cudgel to beat the former Bush administration with. Either for complicity (see: Rescue Me as the latest example) or for malfeasance (they used it to scare us!).
You know, it's kind of a shame that they didn't fly Air Force 1 over the Capitol as part of the photo op. It would have been fun to see senators, congressmen, and staff running screaming out of the building!
So who were the people who saw it and didn't run? Waiting for official directive that running should commence>
> = ?
Big Mike:
It would be nice to see where else they planned to do these photo-ops.
Maybe a Capitol shot was going to be done today? I bet some loose lipped FAA traffic controllers would know.
I suspect one over the Golden Arch in St. Louis was planned as well.
I guess if you wanted to do a follow-up of 9/11 to see how many people still suffer from PTSD, you could count the number of people who freaked out from this.
: (
"Big Mike said...
Didn't these idiots ever hear of PhotoShop? What does it cost to operate Air Force 1 and an F16?"
NO KIDDING.
"BTW, NASA did a similar thing in Houston a few years back, by flying the 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft around downtown Houston chased by NASA T-38 jet trainers (which look like very much like the F-5 fighter model, and to untrained people just like F-16s). The same reaction occurred then (under President Bush), so you'd think their would be some lessons learned."I was waiting for this comment -- someone trying to tie it back to a Bush Administration precedent as a way to justify or at least minimalize it. You guys just don't give up, do you? I don't recall terrorists flying any airliners into Houston office buildings; so it's difficult to imagine that the people there had any memory of a prior terrorist attack.
But I work in 10 Exchange Place, Jersey City, and I do recall the events of 9/11/2001. Thousands of us in the securities industry are still dealing with PTSD. Yesterday I saw people weeping and hugging each other. I was so frightened by the flyover that I found it nearly impossible to concentrate on work for the entire afternoon.
This "photo op" was incredibly callous as well as stunningly stupid; as are the comments calling for those of us impacted by the flyover to get a grip.
The funny thing is that this happened just in time to be a major topic during the 100 day jubilee Obama and the networks had planned for Wednesday.
Didn't these idiots ever hear of PhotoShop?
Exactly the right question to ask. It would take a good photoshop artist a day to produce a stunning image. Cost? $1500 at most?
It would take a good photoshop artist a day to produce a stunning image. Cost? $1500 at most?.
I'm guessing Chip Ahoy could have done it at a fraction of that cost in the interest of helping Obama with that $100 million in spending cuts.
@AJ, the Gateway Arch in St. Louis isn't gold. It's silver. Sorry 'bout that.
This is the sort of thing that puts me in stitches.
I must have a copy of one of those photos -- an Obama AF1 backup, Liberty Island with the statue and NY harbor in the background, NY and NJ citizens pouring out of buildings in terror -- priceless.
What's comforting is the usual lefty commenters are keeping a sensible distance from this supremely stupid gesture on obama's part. There is simply no excuse for it and more importantly NO WAY to tie it back to Bush, so we will hear crickets on this till they can find another stick to beat the republicans with.
"The National Collector's Mint has created a commemorative to honor the first 100 days in office of our historic new President! This non-monetary, specially-commissioned, privately-minted proof is 42mm in diameter, dwarfing every United States circulating coin ever minted! It's clad in 71 mg of .999 Pure Silver and proof-struck to produce the frosted images and mirror-like background so treasured by collectors. The obverse features a venerable portrait of President Obama struck over a background of stars and stripes with the words with which he inspired a nation: 'I won.' The reverse features Air Force One soaring above the Statue of Liberty. The detail is so stunning that you can see fleeing New Yorkers in the streets below! Authorized by the White House Military Office and benefitting the Committee to Re-elect His Oneship, it's available only from National Collector's Mint for $19.95. Limit five per purchase. Order now!"
Scott,
I understand PTSD. I know there are people still having problems. I would point out that there was a previous thread on the plane dumbness of this event. This survey thread has slightly more humorous bent to it, and commenters are gong with that. sorry.
Having said that...
Greg,
That is a great spoof. Do you normally write their copy? I'm ready to order 20 for my grandkids. A real historic keepsake :)
People acting as if Obama would allow them to come to harm is un-American and disloyal. They need to be identified and shipped to reeducation camps.
Beta Conservative said...
Interesting that the administration has a September tenth mentality, but the people on the ground know better.Beta Conservative, I was thinking the very same thing, so I made a
video about it.
Big Mike:
"Golden Arch" sorry I must have been thinking about that thing above McDonalds (it was almost my lunch time) :)
As we said in the office here, because we like to talk like Canadians, "fuckin' gongshow amateur hour, eh?"
"'Obama's people', shouldn't we be capitalizing both of those letters? They are one of the top terrorist organizations on the planet now".
America has been one of the top terrorist organizations on the planet for several decades now, and internally, since at least the 19th Century.
BTW, I think this whole affair with the plane has been overblown. I work in downtown Manhattan and neither I nor anyone I work with was in the least aware of either the plane or the small panic it caused until we heard about it on the evening news last night. Additionally, when I went out to get lunch yesterday, I didn't hear anyone in the streets talking about it. Granted, it was a stupid move by all involved to NOT make this event known before hand, but the city was hardly gripped by widespread terror yesterday morning. I'm much more creeped out when I emerge from the subway in the morning and the sky above is abuzz with a dozen or so black police helicopters, all simply hovering in place, obviously observing, watching for...something...on the ground below.
After Pearl Harbor, there were no doubt endless people that wanted an endless Mournathon for "The Victims and Their Families". For America to mother them, comfort them. And many who if asked would claim they were "hopelessly traumatized" by the Events of Dec 6th, and wanted full notice of any plane squadrons coming in or on maneuver.
And for Marines and Army in Hawaii to refrain from artillery and machinegun firing. "It's like it makes me relive The Day of Infamy" all over again, one blubbering financier at the time possibly cried.
They, if they did whine, were basically told to shut up and get over themselves. We had bigger things on our mind, like killing Japs...
Its been almost 8 years. Since then, NYC has been the media and legal center for propagandizing and action against the Army Monsters of Abu Ghraib, the evil war in Iraq, for precious terrorist rights, against the CIA and any "intrusions" by the Nazi-like NSA or Bush Administration.
Almost 8 years have passed. Plenty of time to do all things needed to ensure another 9/11 didn;t happen again. Just as Americans in Hawaii felt they had nothing to fear of any 2nd strike after a few months because of war measures taken.
But NYC has led the way in litigation in not ensuring the nation was safe from terror on flights, but that Muslims opposed to America do not have their rights "trammeled" by the nation...as they are just civilian criminals no different than bank robbers and best dealt with by "dedicated lawyers in the adversial process".
No wonder they ran like "victimized-yet-again!" rats.
Granted, a dumb stunt by Obama's people and the military. But so few in NYC actually serve that they also complained about a small squadron of F-16s doing a flyby a few years back as a scary threat - instead of instantly recognizing them as any Vet would as "Our Guys".
I would have given a lot of money to have had video cameras set up in front of the NY Times, 30 Rock, Columbia University Faculty Lounge, and ACLU HQ just to film the screaming, hysterical rodents boiling out of those places into the Streets of bluer than blue NYC.
I don't mean to suggest, by the way, that those who were scared were not actually or should not have been scared; I merely point out that many people in Manhattan were not even aware of the event until it was a news event.
"I wonder if those terrified NYC workers have any different thoughts in our use of 'enhanced interrogation'?
Perhaps this reminder of that fateful day puts things back into perspective for some folks".
I was a witness on "that fateful day" of the destruction happening only blocks away from my office, and I didn't then, I didn't later, and I don't now see any justification for torture. Ever. Period.
Then stop torturing us with your nonsensical Nader-voting drivel.
Robert Cook - I think it if you and your co-workers could see and hear the plane from your window, as many at the WFC, Jersey City and Battery Park did (see the video made by the woman from her apt in Battery Park - tell me what YOU would think if you witnessed it)you would feel differently. So if I was over at 60 Wall St, I wouldn't have known about it either and that's "downtown." People in the South tower didn't realize the North tower was hit by a plane until people who were watching TV called them to tell them to get the F out.
Seriously, would you have shrugged it off if you witnessed it or saw it fly past your window?
So, are we to believe Obama was or was not on the plane during the photo op.
I'm not sure what the point of a photo op of the plane flying near Miss Liberty would be. But a photo of the president talking on the phone with the statue visible through a window, or perhaps staring out a window at the Statue -- Bush-like -- might be something.
In any event, those photos are not likely to be released now.
Has anyone alerted the tourists near Grand Canyon?
America has been one of the top terrorist organizations on the planet for several decades now, and internally, since at least the 19th Century..
I find it fasicinating that you could consider your country a terrorist nation yet have no problem living and working here.
Unless of course you're just full of shit.
Better the terrorist you know than the terrorist you don't know, I guess.
@CarmelaMotto, Robert Cook and I come down on different sides of the "enhanced interrogation" issue, but I respect his right to believe what he believes.
I can put myself in the place of one of the interrogators, and if I failed to use every technique available to me, and if as a consequence of that failure even so much as one American died, I don't think I could live with myself. As I say, Robert believes otherwise and that's his right.
You notice that I didn't use the word "torture." Torture is what was done to John McCain, leaving him partially crippled for life. Nothing on the list of approved interrogation techniques permanently injures anybody.
That is some funny fucking shit that R. Cook is puttin' down. That cocksucker, who voted for Nader, thinks we are the top terrorist nation in the world.
You flaming fucking douchebag - go fuck yourself. You should move to Iran - those are your kind of peeps over there. Oh, right, they would hang you in public for what you do.
Oh dear, was that too rude? Shame on me. Maybe I should change my name to Jeremy.
It's gets better, Drudge is highlighting a story that the the Fed's knew the flyover would cause a panic but threatened the police, etc. who they informed, that there would be trouble if they let news get out.
These are the people who will be running your health care, and auto industry, and banks. Get used to seeing this sort of thing happening more and more. They don't have to be evil or incompetent; the system is barely large enough for them to handle now. It will only get worse.
So, LBJ is being escorted to the Presidential helicopter - among a group of other copters - and the escort points out and says, "Mr. President, this one is yours."
"Son", LBJ replies, "they're all mine."
Funny, for such an evil malevolent force in the world - terrorist nation and all that - there sure are alot of people wanting to come here.
Nobody wants to go to Tehran? Or Cuba? How about Sudan? What gives?
I like Mike :)
A NYC TV station reports:
Federal officials knew that sending two fighter jets and Air Force One to buzz ground zero and Lady Liberty might set off nightmarish fears of a 9/11 replay, but they still ordered the photo-op kept secret from the public.
In a memo obtained by CBS 2 HD the Federal Aviation Administration's James Johnston said the agency was aware of "the possibility of public concern regarding DOD (Department of Defense) aircraft flying at low altitudes" in an around New York City. But they demanded total secrecy from the NYPD, the Secret Service, the FBI and even the mayor's office and threatened federal sanctions if the secret got out.
The FAA may have been afraid that some leftover terrorist with a shoulder-launched missile would have time to retrieve it from wherever it was stashed, position himself for a shot, and knock Air Force 1 out of the sky. (Or force the F16 pilot to interpose his own plane.)
All the more reason, IMAO, to use PhotoShop instead. Considering how tech-savvy we were told this new administration is, they sure make some moves that scream "not tech aware."
Now the AF is claiming it was a training mission and that it cost $328K+. They refuse to state who was the passenger in the AF1 plane. Also refuse to state why it was not told to the people in Manhattan nor why the planes flew so low and so close to the buildings nor what would be done with the photos.
http://gretawire.foxnews.com/2009/04/28/they-say-it-was-as-training-mission-hhm-the-cost-328000/
One of the guys at powerline noted this strangeness inthe WH story line.
from an AP story:
WASHINGTON – An administration official says a presidential Boeing 747 and a fighter jet flew low near ground zero in New York City Monday because the White House Military Office wanted to update its file photo of the president's plane near the Statue of Liberty.
This official said the White House Military Office told the Federal Aviation Administration that it periodically updates file photos of Air Force One near national landmarks, like the statute in New York harbor and the Grand Canyon.Note that the plane, a VC-25a, has been flying for 20 years, and the Statue of Liberty has been there for a hundred years more. What needed to be updated?
The resultant photo would be an instant Failblog classic with the caption (emanating from the plane):
"BarackObama: Look at the idjits running! ROTLF! about 16 hours ago from TwitterBerry"
Be curious to know who besides the crew was on AF One? What insiders were on there getting a perk? Who is on the flight manifest will tell a whole lot about which higher ups knew about and authorized this flight.
Threat Level: Orange!
Experience Level: Green!
I think he did it as a tribute to the 9/11 hijackers.
Love your poll. It's high time we begin quantifying idiocy so we might adequately assess and respond to the dangerous risks it poses.
This chart shows the current Obama Idiocy Threat Level: Obama Idiocy Threat Level
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