AF-One Terrorizes New York City!!!

[desertoasis]

I don't think anybody is really "grading" the President on this.

Oh I doubt that...Rush, Ann, Newt, Dick, and the rest of the gang will certainly find a way to blame POTUS for it, somehow.

I know this because Michael, Al, Jon, Steven and Jack and THEIR gang all pulled the same crap with the last tenant of the Oval.

My beef isn't with New Yorkers, though I find their reaction a little bit confusing (the plane already had a fighter escort...if it was REALLY gonna fly into a building, wouldn't the fighters have shot it down already?). My beef is with the media for making this a major incident. It was a misunderstanding and a lack of communication between government elements. Caldera screwed the pooch and ticked off Bloomberg, he's probably gonna get the pink slip because of it. Is this really as big a deal as everyone's making it out to be?


I guess all I can say is that while freedom of the press is fun, BOY does it piss me off sometimes.

 

[desertoasis]

So you really just want to swap one hysterical news story for another. Swine Flu, which is the bug I assume you are referring to, is like to be just as anti climatic as SARS, and it definitely doesn't need more news coverage than it is getting.

SARS didn't kill anyone in the United States (in fact, only eight people in the US were even confirmed to have contracted it during that crisis). For that reason, SARS was not viewed as a major crisis here. However, 774 people did die from it elsewhere, out of a little over 8,000 cases. It may have been anticlimactic here in the US, and a product of the media frenzy, but it was certainly a crisis elsewhere.

I didn't consider SARS to be anticlimactic, and I definitely have my head on the bulletins from Secretary Napolitano (hearing it straight from the source means the media can't distort it and play it up). I won't be convinced this isn't a potentially big deal until all these cases popping up in the US are proven to be other things.

I'm just not a big fan of dying...sorry, that's just how I roll.

 

[Redux]

Oh I doubt that...Rush, Ann, Newt, Dick, and the rest of the gang will certainly find a way to blame POTUS for it, somehow.

I know this because Michael, Al, Jon, Steven and Jack and THEIR gang all pulled the same crap with the last tenant of the Oval.

Still waiting, when it happens post a link.

 

[Cron]

Yea, seriously. I expected more from my brethren than hysterics. Most of those wall street brokers live in Jersey anyway.

Word.

I work in the City, but strangely I didn't find out about this 'crysis' until just reading this thread (AW - my #1 news source!). I see low-flying airliners all the time, and I've yet to see anyone get phased. Maybe it was the F-16 that caused concern, but still...

 

[AJB37]

SARS didn't kill anyone in the United States (in fact, only eight people in the US were even confirmed to have contracted it during that crisis). For that reason, SARS was not viewed as a major crisis here. However, 774 people did die from it elsewhere, out of a little over 8,000 cases. It may have been anticlimactic here in the US, and a product of the media frenzy, but it was certainly a crisis elsewhere.

I didn't consider SARS to be anticlimactic, and I definitely have my head on the bulletins from Secretary Napolitano (hearing it straight from the source means the media can't distort it and play it up). I won't be convinced this isn't a potentially big deal until all these cases popping up in the US are proven to be other things.

I'm just not a big fan of dying...sorry, that's just how I roll.

Hmm, well swine flu has yet to kill anyone in the United States, yet killed 149 worldwide (well only in Mexico) out of ~2440 reported cases. While their have been more case in the US, I still think it is the over hyped pandemic that SARS was supposed to be. And 8,000 cases with 774 deaths is nowhere near a global pandemic. Every few years the media finds some new illness that is sure to wipe out mankind in the same manner the black plague decimate Europe. Yes, Secretary Napolitano and the administration are making statements about swine flu, but I think they would not have responded in the same manner if the media had not convinced everyone that they are going to get swine flu for the person coughing next to them on the plane. With only ~212 case in the US (which is ~.000071% of the total pop) odds are fairly slim that you or anyone you know or they know will catch swine flu, and even smaller that they'll die.

 

[SkywardET]

The current ammunition from this incident is "how much did this stunt cost the taxpayers?" As if that argument has had any relevance to any discussion ever...

This was a bad move, regardless of what you crybaby-criers (the ones whining about whiners) think. A strawman analogy would be having a military parade march through a graveyard over the graves. Perhaps we should go back to making imprecise "B-2 flyover of 3 carriers" photo ops before we go along routes that for some just open up some wounds.

As far as blaming the POTUS? I'll save that for the actions of Turbo Timmy and his ilk after they finish their looting of the country.

 

[MAKE VAPES]

Seriously? You think this is going to really matter to the average Obabma fan? Besides, this was a DOD event from what I've read - nothing to do with the White House. I'm no Democrat, but if you're going to criticize the President on something, make it something legitimate. All of the Republican hand wringing over Obama and how they all can't wait to point out the tiniest perceived flaw is embarrassing and pathetic. This is the kind of stuff we criticized the liberals for when Bush was in office, but as it turns out, the right is no better at playing the game.

Brett

turnabout is not fair play? It was his plane after all!

No, I wasn't serious... a mispercieved stab at the all the percieved POTUS blaming of the past...

 

[MAKE VAPES]

OH WAIT...

(Some) Oceana Hornets are grounded for lack of gas money (budget) right?

Maybe the cost thing is valid after all, gas would have better burned training ass kickers!!!!

 

[exhelodrvr]

This was a WH staff mistake, not Pentagon:

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2009/04/president-ob-28.html

 

[Fred]

SARS didn't kill anyone in the United States (in fact, only eight people in the US were even confirmed to have contracted it during that crisis). For that reason, SARS was not viewed as a major crisis here. However, 774 people did die from it elsewhere, out of a little over 8,000 cases. It may have been anticlimactic here in the US, and a product of the media frenzy, but it was certainly a crisis elsewhere.

I didn't consider SARS to be anticlimactic, and I definitely have my head on the bulletins from Secretary Napolitano (hearing it straight from the source means the media can't distort it and play it up). I won't be convinced this isn't a potentially big deal until all these cases popping up in the US are proven to be other things.

I'm just not a big fan of dying...sorry, that's just how I roll.

You do realize roughly 36,000 people die in the US from the "common" flu every year, right?

 

[2ndGen]

My personal view is that, it is not hard to figure out that it is the Presidents plane, its not like it doesn't have quite the unique paint scheme. It also had a fighter escort. I don't think it is a big deal, being blown way out of proportion by the media (surprising I know). The WH let local law inforcement know, what more do the people want?

I would assume as well that the photo op was worked into the crews regular training schedule. Those pilots are probably flying that thing 5 days a week. Anyway, in my opinion, the President can do what ever he wants with his plane, if he wants a new photo of it for his guests aboard the plane, so be it.

 

[Big Biff]

I know that "The Greatest Generation" would shake their heads in disgust, when considering the media coverage, and those who were "scared". Can you imagine folks during WWII acting like such a bunch of pansies?
Maybe, in a few hundred years, some folks will evolve to have no spine and a yellow birthmark (in the shape of a stripe) down their backs.

For reference please see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_War_of_the_Worlds_(radio)

 

[fc2spyguy]

You do realize roughly 36,000 people die in the US from the "common" flu every year, right?

These are not 36k healthy people they're already sick and the flu is just the nail. At least for a very large portion of them.

 

[nittany03]

These are not 36k healthy people they're already sick and the flu is just the nail. At least for a very large portion of them.

And I bet the same thing happens w/ swine flu. Every once in a while a healthy young person gets regular flu and dies, too. When your number's up, it's up.

 

[C420sailor]

As a former New Yorker, I got used to seeing F-16s flying DCA over the area every day and night post-9/11. I lost friends in the attacks---they charged into the buildings and never came back out. You could smell the smoke in the air for months after the attacks. While the only exposure that most Americans had was through their TV/interwebs, we lived it.

That being said, these people need to shut the fuck up. Seriously, a 747 lazily flying around the NYC area with an F-16 in tow? People will look for just about anything to piss and moan about.