What was the teleprompter thinking? Man, what an idiot. OBAMA PLANE PHOTO OP STARTLES NEW YORKERS Comments: 218Read Comments Leave a Comment By DAVID SEIFMAN, MURRAY WEISS and JEREMY OLSHAN Air Force One photographed over Staten Island.Have Photos of the Stunt? E-mail them to photo@nypost.com or Upload Photos Here. TODAY'S HOT TOPICS JOHNNY DAMON PATTI SCIALFA THE REAL HOUSEWIVES OF NEW YORK CITY more topics NATASHA RICHARDSON VICTORIAS SECRET JACOBY ELLSBURY AMANI TOOMER MARK SANCHEZ JOSH LUCAS KELLY MONACO hide topics THIS WEEK'S HOT TOPICS VICTORIAS SECRET THE REAL HOUSEWIVES OF NEW YORK CITY PATTI SCIALFA more topics MICHELLE RODRIGUEZ SIMON COWELL NATASHA RICHARDSON MICHELLE OBAMA KELLAN LUTZ KELLY MONACO BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN hide topics Last updated: 5:03 pm April 27, 2009 Posted: 3:33 pm April 27, 2009 A jumbo jet being chased by a F-16 fighter jets buzzed Lower Manhattan this morning, panicking New Yorkers, many of whom were forced to evacuate their office buildings. Have Photos of the Stunt? E-mail them to photo@nypost.com or Upload Them Here. It was not a terrorist attack, however, but a photo opportunity for Air Force One, sources told the Post. President Obama was in Washington at the time, but the low-flying 747 circling the Statue of Liberty was one of the planes used as Air Force One, sources said. The NYPD and the city were notified of the planned flight, but did not share that information with Mayor Bloomberg and other New Yorkers, many of whom said they were terrified. MORE: White House Apologizes For Air Force One Photo Op Hours after the incident, a furious Bloomberg called the photo-op "insensitive." "First thing is I'm annoyed - furious is a better word - that I wasn't told," he said. "Why the Defense Department wanted to do a photo op right around the site of the World Trade Center catastrophe defies imagination. Poor judgment would be a nice ways to phrase." Bloomberg said federal officials notified the NYPD and another city official, whom he declined to identify, of the flight plan. "Had I known about it I would have called them right away and asked them not to," he said. "The good news is it was nothing more than an ill considered, badly conceived, insensitive photo op - with the taxpayers' money." Dominick Caglioti, who works at the Mercantile Exchange, thought the worst as he saw the jets hurtle toward his window just after 10:30 a.m. After learning it was all a photo op, he was furious. "It's so stupid because they tell you about every fire drill, but they didn't tell us about this," he said. The planes flew over the Verrazano Bridge, buzzed the left ear Lady Liberty and then continued up the Hudson past Jersey City and then circling back toward Staten Island, federal sources told the Post. Thousands flooded the streets downtown as buildings called evacuations. "There is situation outside. We don't have any further information," went one announcement at the Embassy Suites downtown. After hearing it was all planned, many of those in the streets complained New Yorkers should have been warned. "You don't do this to people down here after all we have been to," said Jillian Pizzarello, who also works at the Mercantile Exchange. According to the Department of Defense, that Presidential Airlift Group began its aerial photography mission at Andrews Airforce Base. "This mission, involving the VC-25 and an F-16, was conducted in conjunction with normally scheduled continuation training for assigned aircrew members," officials said.
<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Jn0tMMYEkQU&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Jn0tMMYEkQU&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>
I think it is fair to state that if this had occurred under Bush or a McCain administration the MSM would have had a veritable sh*t fest........Olberman would have been frothing at the mouth trying to push the venom out past his lips. This kind of seals the deal that the MSM is in Mr. Obamas' hip pocket.
"Thousands of workers from Merrill Lynch, American Express and other companies in the buildings that ring the former World Trade Center site hustled for the exits. Many stood outside their offices, nervously looking up into the sky, while hundreds of others walked north, along the West Side highway, as thousands of people had done the morning of Sept. 11, 2001." Obama has done more stupid, weird stuff then all presidents combined since George Washington.
Yeah but rumor has it that he owns a law degree - hidden in a vault - somewhere. Along with transcripts and a birth certificate, supposedly. And he is pretty good at reading a teleprompter - when it's working. Improvisation and being quick on his feet, well not so good. But hey nobody is perfect.
Keeping all the masses trained.......trained to be scared......typical game! Psy Ops 101 at work, and it did work very well.....just look at peoples reactions in NYC from the various press interviews. Our government is very very sick!!!
You can bet your last buck it would be wall to wall coverage had Bush pulled a stunt like this, and rightfully so. This kind of jaw dropping stupidity is just another example of the gross incompetence that is going to prove very, very dangerous to our country.
The man who made this decision had 30 years of military and public service, which is about 30 years more than all of you combined. It may have been ill conceived in the present climate and badly timed, but it is something the WHMO does on a periodic basis, in this case with ample notification. On Monday afternoon, the Director of the White House Military Office, Louis Caldera, released a statement saying, "Last week, I approved a mission over New York. I take responsibility for that decision. While federal authorities took the proper steps to notify state and local authorities in New York and New Jersey, it's clear that the mission created confusion and disruption. I apologize and take responsibility for any distress that flight caused."
Sorry.....he does not have 30 years of service more than I. I see they have their "fall guy" in play already for the cover.....too funny.