Categories: Potter Gold

Dept. of Homeland Idiocy

In which Air Force One does a low-level fly-by of the Statue of Liberty…

by Andrew Potter on Monday, April 27, 2009 1:47pm - 10 Comments

In which Air Force One does a low-level fly-by of the Statue of Liberty for a photo shoot, and in the process gives cardiacs to hundreds of Financial District employees. The WSJ even has video.

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  • Sisyphus

    Another plea for sympathy for Financial District employees ?

    • Lord Kitchener’s Own

      Well, yeah, lol and all but still. I can see how someone working in downtown Manhattan might be just a bit freaked out by a low flying 747 cruising at basically building height.

      You’d think someone would have given people who work in the area where two planes flew into two large buildings and completely destroyed them a “heads up, we’re going to be flying a big commercial jet really low in your neighborhood, tailed by a couple of F16s”.

  • madeyoulook

    The new de facto CEO of almost every bank in the country was just flying by to say hello. What’s the problem?

    • Lord Kitchener’s Own

      LOL and all, but (not to be pedantic, but) it wasn’t ACTUALLY Air Force One (the President was NOT on board).

      This was just a PR photo shoot for the Air Force.

      Also, as for the “de facto CEO of almost every bank in the country” riff, I’d run that by Krugman and see what he thinks of it, ’cause I’m pretty sure HIS big gripe with the Obama administration is that they HAVEN’T nationalized the big banks. There are just as many intelligent people who think Obama hasn’t done ENOUGH as those who think he’s done too much (which I take as a pretty good sign).

      • madeyoulook

        Run that riff by whomever you’d like, LKO. Let me just check back through the files to the last time I cared what Komrade Krugman had to say about matters economic. Searching. Searching. Stand by. Searching. File not Found. End of Search.

    • Sisyphus

      Apparently That One was not on board. Also it seems that when He is not on board it is not Air Force One. It’s something else. Stimulatin’ Boogie Board One ?

  • oompus boompus

    Either you think that all those professional PR flaks never heard of photoshop or digital video compositing, or there must be some other reason why the pentagon decided to scare the pants off everyone in NYC. Presumably, in these days of crowded messages from leviathan – CDC flu, treasury and fed, bailouts, etc. – it’s more important than ever to keep your brand of leviathan out there and in the forefront of the public mind.

    • Critical Reasoning

      Good point, oompus. Why go to all the trouble when they could have easily faked the image?

      • madeyoulook

        Air Force One plus backup 747 plus Marine helicopters plus limos. etc., etc., all to have a field trip to tout some wind turbine factory in– Iowa, was it? Now an empty backup plane to have a pretty photo next to Lady Liberty. With a fighter or two tagging along for fun. Quite the carbon footprint you’ve got there, Mr. President. Jet-setting Al Gore would be proud.

        For some bizarre reason I cannot shake the image of Michael Moore wondering aloud: Why spook New Yorkers? They voted Democrat! Surely they could have found a photogenic spot in the god-fearin’ MidWest to terrify? They don’t call it flyover country for nothing…

        I could not imagine being a New Yorker, who lived through 9/11, getting jolted this way. Whatever negligent twerps at Defense and FAA and NYPD knew of this and didn’t speak up to say “No F’n way!” deserve jail time, never mind a lost job.

        McDonald’s has to pay how many hundreds of thousands because some ditz’s coffee was hot? I smell a huuuge class action, far more deserving, over this.

        • Lord Kitchener’s Own

          Fair enough on the trip to Iowa I suppose. The President could have spent the day on the train.

          As for the photo shoot though… WHAT??? You think the Air Force got permission from the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES for a PHOTO SHOOT??? I think you may just be overestimating the degree to which POTUS micro-manages every single think that happens in the United States of America. I’d be shocked if this PR exercise got approval any higher up the chain of command than a one or two star general. I could be wrong though. It’s possible the President spends a fair amount of his day watching dailies from the filming of those Marine Corps ads where the Marine kills the dragon, or the Army ads with the basic training shots morphing into tanks in combat, but I highly doubt it.

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