April 28, 2009

Curious George: Air Force One photo-flop? Normally, I just roll my eyes at this kind of media/public reaction to non-events, but in this case, I tend to agree with the "what the hell were they thinking" crowd. Comments?
posted by flurker 15 years ago
  • Yeah, stupid egos. Whoo, whoo, we got secrets! And if the idiots would have thunk it through, they would have realized what a great publicity thing it could have been. Announce it on the radio in the AM: Air Force One salutes the people of New York! "At some'oclock this morning, AF One will commence a flyover in honor of the people of NYC. During this flight, pictures of AF One will be taken with the Statchu of Libr'ty. yadda yadda puff puff repeat." Instead you get the military wienies* in there with a "mission"--NYC ought to be grateful they didn't accidentally carpet bomb. Dicks. Please do not think I have no respect for the men in our services. I do. What I have no respect for is OFFICERS and the WH military office. If they want to be a LEADER, they need to get the hell in front instead of hiding in the back.
  • What BlueHorse said - they should have told people beforehand what the scene was so as not to cause panic.
  • This is why the term "military intelligence" is an oxymoron.
  • Greenhouse gases, noise pollution and more degradation to the environment. Pointless flying. And the cost of fuel? It's as if the country has gone energy bulemic. Waste, waste, waste: a fine mantra when there's no good excuse. Give it a rest, most of these jets.
  • There is probably some standard secrecy rule regarding the flight path of air force one, which combined with regular ol' beaurocracy led to this incident. That doesn't mean there wasn't also some intent to frighten the public in NY. It wouldn't be the first time (orange alert), and the recent pig flu outbreak in the city could be a motivation. Although, I have no idea how long this event took to plan or how much faster intelligence gets outbreak news than the public, so this is just half-arsed tin foil speculation. Unfortunately, the US government talks to its citizens like children, so we'll probably never get a straight answer on why this was kept secret.
  • Apparently the information was delivered to a mayoral underling who then "failed" to advise the mayor. I smell "scapegoat", but there is also a sense of a failure to understand the impact of an 8-year memory.
  • The Bloomberg official who was notified was Marc Mugnos, director of operations for the Office of Citywide Event Coordination and Management. Mugnos didn't immediately respond to questions about why he didn't tell the mayor; Bloomberg's spokesman Stu Loeser issued a statement saying: "He has been reprimanded and a disciplinary letter will be placed in his file." Mugnos. Now there's a name...
  • "Mugnos only pawn... in game of life". "Candygram for Mugnos! Candygram for Mugnos!"
  • Yeah, this is a bit astounding in it's sheer idiocy. Truly.
  • Informing the mayor doesn't assuage the effects on the citizenry. Not telling him isn't part of the cockup, IMO.
  • Oh, waxboy. When you get to be my age, you realize that you should never attribute to malice what can best be explained by stupidity. Which isn't to downplay the extreme amount of malice, petty and otherwise, in the halls of gummint.
  • I think everyone involved is silly. I think all photo-ops are at best, pointless, but more often dishonest. At the same time, they shouldn't need to make a big deal out of taking some pictures. Taking pictures shouldn't be headline news, shouldn't require massive warnings and hand-holding.
  • PHO TO SHOP *coughs, chokes, falls over, dies*
  • "Felony stupidity" has a nice ring to it.
  • What is so funny here is that all the comments believe the cover stolry that the plane was on a photo op! sure. Went with two fighter planes into an area where planes are forbidden to go--for photos? and when the defense guy said he takes responsibility, did he offer his resignation or was it then asked for by the president. nah...what was being tested was detection time, and to do that, the test needed to be kept secret, and then when so many folks panicked, they came up with a cover story. Want a photo op? you do not need NY City if you are shooting the place and not the city. MSM, TV and comments here went for the lame excuse/story fully.
  • Postroad is onto something here. But the "detection time test" theory is just a ruse to cover the truth... Somali pirates hijacked Air Force One not knowing Joe Biden had snuck on board for a quick cigarette, and then threatened to dump swine flu onto Manhattan from it. Obama jumped in a jet and single handedly chased them down, in a kind of Independence Day meets Air Force One rip off, saving Joe and the day. Sadly Arlen Specter had just told Nancy P., "Yeah, right, the day I see Air Force One fly through Manhattan, that's the day I'll switch sides". Either that or it was aliens.
  • OMG! Everybody panic.
  • I think everybody did panic. Ruke# 1, folks: Don't believe the media. And Twitter. Especially not Twitter.