This may be the low-hanging blog-fruit of the day, but with the exception of putting a bunch of barrels on the subway marked "Swine Flu", can you think of anything that would spook New Yorkers more than low flying planes? The White House is suffering some serious embarrassment today after a botched "Highway to the Danger Zone" photo-op involving one of the Air Force Ones in lower Manhattan. From WSJ:
On Monday morning, one of the 747s used to ferry around the president of the U.S. was dispatched to the Statue of Liberty, escorted by fighter jets. Assignment: Get some fresh glamour shots of the plane.The notification process seemed to have been completely lost in the black hole of bureaucracy, and the Mayor didn't even know about it (let alone your average New Yorker). Hot Air has some video footage of the chaos that ensued.
The Air Force said the flight needed to remain confidential. So while New York police knew about it, as did at least one person in the mayor's office, regular New Yorkers remained in the dark.
As a result, to onlookers Monday all across downtown Manhattan -- where the World Trade Center once stood -- the photo shoot looked like a terrorist attack. People watched in horror as a massive aircraft, trailed closely by F-16 fighters, banked and roared low over the city, in a frightening echo of the events of Sept. 11, 2001.
Fearing the worst, thousands of people streamed out of the skyscrapers and into the streets. Some buildings ordered evacuations.
The President was forced to issue a hasty apology, and because of this numbskullery, the planned Obama as Jesus artwork set to go up in Union Square would probably be best delayed.
See what the others have said:
8 comments:
I'm sure there was some sort of conspiracy plot going on...
Yeah, the White House conspiracy to make themselves look like a bunch of assholes.
They should have just said they hit a bunch of birds and were trying to avoid landing AF1 in the Hudson.
Nice work zoomies.
That's a pretty amazing level of idiocracy. Having said that, I must first state that I am I am in no way making fun of the september 11 tragedy. That having been said, I will now say that in a way I can't help but chuckle to myself just a little over the panicing New Yorkers. Anybody who has spend any time there knows they are pretty strange and easily spooked even over shit that isn't worth getting spooked over.
Hey, man, we aren't all like that. I didn't see it, but I sure as hell heard it, and to be fair it certainly *sounded* like someone was coming in for a strafing run or something. I chalked it up to my overactive imagination, so imagine my surprise when it was all over the news the next day.
Of course, if it had been another kamikaze attack, I'm not sure what good streaming out into the streets and running around like chickens would have done, anyway.
Amagi,
Sorry about the spooking, but just think...you could've been in the background of the Air Force One file photo on the whitehouse.gov website!!! Why do you hate america?
Dillinger, actually as someone who lives here I can attest to quite the opposite, NY'ers are for the most part a pretty resilient tough bunch. The ones that freak out are the transplants who move here from other states and the tourists.
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