CBS's "Early Show" on Wednesday completely skipped any follow-up on the gaffe of having Air Force One fly over New York City on Monday, terrifying residents. Instead, the program highlighted stories on Barack Obama's first 100 days and still found time for a piece on male celebrities and whether or not they are gaining too much weight. ABC's "Good Morning America" and NBC's "Today" both had segments on the developing story and the revelation that the exercise, designed as a photo op for the White House website, cost $328,000. ABC reporter Jake Tapper intoned, "Asked if the President thinks the costs in both money and stress were worth it, the White House said no."
He also explained to viewers that Senator John McCain had written a letter to the Defense Department, charging, that the flight "represents a fundamentally unsound exercise in military judgment and may have constituted an inappropriate use of the Department of Defense resources." Tapper labeled the debacle a "terrifying photo op." "Today" correspondent Lisa Myers covered similar ground and speculated, "And what about the cost to taxpayers during a financial crisis?" She featured a clip from Steve Ellis of the organization Taxpayers for Common Sense. He charged that the "government wasting money on a photo shoot really flies in the face of fiscal responsibility."
The "Early Show" did cover the subject on Tuesday. Co-host Maggie Rodriguez called the situation "outrageous." The program featured a full segment and co-host Harry Smith complained, "Alright, this is just one of those things that defies explanation, that defies logic, that defies common sense." However, offering no follow-up on Wednesday, especially when new information is available, is hardly an example of impressive journalism.
A transcript of the April 29 "Today" segment and the "Good Morning America" segment, follow:
Today
7:31
MEREDITH VIEIRA: But first, fallout from the controversial photo-op fly-by in New York City involving one of the President's planes. NBC's Lisa Myers has the latest. Lisa, good morning.
LISA MYERS: Good morning, Meredith. The President has ordered an investigation into what is now almost universally regarded as a boneheaded decision. A memo obtained by WCBS in New York reveals that the FAA knew the operation could cause public concern but ordered New York police to keep it secret anyway. This was the scene on the streets of Jersey City in lower Manhattan near Ground Zero when a near-empty Air Force One roared by, shadowed by two F-16 fighters making multiple low passes over the area for a photo shoot. Jersey City 911 operators were bombarded.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: That was a stealth fighter and a commercial airplane. It went to New York and came back towards me. I got pictures of it.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: The people have evacuated my building.
911 OPERATOR: The police are aware of it. It's just a test.
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Okay, now you're saying it's a test?
MYERS: An embarrassed White House said neither President Obama nor his senior staff signed off on the measure.
BARACK OBAMA: It was a mistake, as was stated. It was something we found out about along with all of you, and it will not happen again.
MYERS: The White House says its military office wanted a new stock photo for the White House website of the President's jet with the Statue of Liberty in the background. Why weren't New Yorkers warned? A spokesperson for the FAA blamed the military, saying it labeled the mission hush-hush. And what about the cost to taxpayers during a financial crisis?
ROBERT GIBBS: I haven't been in the cabin. There's not like a taxi meter so I don't know how much.
MYERS: The White House and the Air Force said the flight started out as training missions, and turned into a photo mission with only Air Force personnel aboard. The Air Force says the overall cost of operating the planes over those hours was more than $328,000.
STEVE ELLIS: (Taxpayers for Common Sense): Americans across the country are pinching every penny worrying about how they can make ends meet and then to see their government wasting money on a photo shoot really flies in the face of fiscal responsibility.
MYERS: But an Air Force spokesman argues there was no net added cost to taxpayers because these planes would have been on training missions even if there were no photo shoot. The White House declined our request to release any of the photos. Meredith?
GMA
7:31
DIANE SAWYER: But we also have some more news at this half hour about that strange decision by the U.S. government to have the photo opportunity over New York City.
SAM CHAMPION: Oh, yeah. Yeah.
ABC GRAPHIC: Mistakes on a Plane: Did FAA Know It Would Cause Panic?
SAWYER: Turns out, we've learned a lot more about what went on behind the scenes. And Jake Tapper has that for us this morning. Jake?
TAPPER: Fearing another 9/11, people in and around Manhattan saw Air Force One flying unusually close to the skyscrapers and called 911.
911 OPERATOR: Hello. This is 911. Do you have an emergency there?
UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Oh, no!
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: It looks like planes are going- kind of into the building. Everybody's outside going crazy.
911 OPERATOR: What's trying to go in the building?
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: They say, like, a plane was trying to go in one of the buildings.
911 OPERATOR: A plane?
TAPPER: President Obama assigned a top White House official to investigate why White House Military Office Director Louis Caldera signed off on the flight to New York, to get a photo of Air Force One alongside the Statue of Liberty.
BARACK OBAMA: It was a mistake, as was stated. It's something we found out about along with all of you. And it will not happen again.
TAPPER: In a letter to Defense Secretary Gates, Senator John McCain demanded answers of his own. Saying the photo-op, quote, "represents a fundamentally unsound exercise in military judgment and may have constituted an inappropriate use of the Department of Defense resources." The Air Force estimated the total cost of this terrifying photo op at more than $328, 000. Asked if the President thinks the costs in both money and stress were worth it, the White House said no. For "Good Morning America," Jake Tapper, ABC News, the White House.
—Scott Whitlock is a news analyst for the Media Research Center.
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Look at the videos
April 29, 2009 - 12:10 ET by SouthernRootsWhere was the photographer that was taking the "photo op" shots?
I won't be wronged. I won't be insulted. I won't be laid a-hand on. I don't do these things to other people, and I require the same from them. - J.B. Books (John Wayne)
Bingo
April 29, 2009 - 20:39 ET by jed58Cannot believe, well yes I can, that people are too stupid to ask, "well it were an aerial photo op, what was the photographer flying in"?
I wondered the same thing,
April 29, 2009 - 21:09 ET by balboaI wondered the same thing, then figured he was in the jet fighter.
appreciate it but
April 29, 2009 - 22:04 ET by jed58First, it is a single seat version, second, you do not do professional aerial photography through a canopy, third, even if it were a two seater a professional photographer could not get the equipment to fit back there, fourth, you do not take aerial shots that close to the subject aircraft, fifth, you are being lied to...
The panic caused by this mess
April 30, 2009 - 09:10 ET by grumpyoldbSince this event caused such a panic in NYC, and from what I have read, this was a purely intentional act. I believe that whoever organized this "photo op" should be charged with commiting an act of domestic terrorism.
What MORON would think "oh yeah, we'll fly a large aircraft straight at New York City, and have it look like a fighter or two is chasing it.... No problem, this won't bother people who suffered through the worst terrorist attack on U.S. soil in history when people rammed large aircraft in to buildings at all....."
The idiot should be arrested. The flight crew (of all the aircraft) should be suspended pending an article 32 hearing to see if they protested the orders to fly in like that.
There is no excuse for what was done at all...
Uhbama was outraged...that
April 29, 2009 - 12:16 ET by HockeyKidUhbama was outraged...that he won't have his "My Plane and the Statue of Liberty" pic on the WH website. (Unless, of course, they got the pic and he's dumb enough to still use it.)
"Beauty is only skin deep, but liberal's to the bone." - me
photo-op' this
April 29, 2009 - 12:26 ET by foolnomorewhats the matter with burning tax payer$ dollars,it's shameful how the blame street media ,yet keeps selling it-self to this.
Any first year animation
April 29, 2009 - 12:27 ET by StewMcKinAny first year animation student with a $2000 computer and $1000 worth of software could have created the same effect. But hey, what's another $300,000 - it's defense spending after all!
Democrats leave craters in all urban areas
April 29, 2009 - 12:31 ET by j17ghsJust like the site of the former World Trade Center, other urban areas under the control of Democrats for decades (i.e., Detroit, New Orleans, East St. Louis) have charred, delapidated structures and big holes in the ground.
O'bummer certainly did the fly-over in Stalinist fashion, terrifying the populace with the power of his regime and to gloat over the hole in the ground created by the Anus-of-Evil: his Muslims in collusion with Soros and the Clintons.
This stunt was pretty darn
April 29, 2009 - 13:10 ET by Dan The Man 2This stunt was pretty darn stupid and indicative of Obama' tenure so far; stupid is as stupid does. But, it really doesn't matter how much money it cost to pull the stunt as it doesn't matter how much money it costs to ferry Obama and his entourage around. These costs are the cost of doing government business, period.
The military aircraft might have flown missions anyways and used of fuel and sometimes ordinance. These are budgeted in big squishy accounts. When we start counting these expenditures we will start going back to the Carter years of not enough training or poor equipment because of budget constraints. This was rampant during the Carter and Clinton years.
So who cares if it cost 350K to flyover, its not the money but the idiocy of the event. Lets keep our eyes on the ball.
Louis Caldera Goes Under the Bus
April 29, 2009 - 13:17 ET by slickwillie2001Great video, 'Under My Bus', of course to the tune of 'Under My Thumb': http://www.pjtv.com/video/ZoNation/Under_My_Bus/1796/6580/
C'mon people
April 29, 2009 - 14:04 ET by cocodrieDon't y'all remember all those reports about SUVs causing wrecks, driving off cliffs and running over their owners without anyone's help?
Obviously Air Force One decided to take a joy ride accompanied by six of his little friends. He didn't tell anyone so, the abominable administration knew nothing of it.
Haven't y'all seen the cartoon Johnny Jet Plane?
Jesus Loves You so much He died for you
Scare Force Dumb...
April 29, 2009 - 16:10 ET by Pilgrim1949As a former zoomie whose last duty assignment was in the Public Affairs Office at Andrews AFB (back when folks nicknamed it Goober One....if that'll date me enough), I had friends in the 89th Military Airlift Wing -- the org that flies the Pres and other VIPs, including all those congressional porkers (who knew, swine flew!).
Even with the caveat that, as in how musicians get to Carnegie Hall -- practice, practice, practice, all pilots and crews have regular training flights, the selection and timing of this particular one does rank up there as being pretty rank....up there!
It is consistant with the narcissistic Bleater of the Free World (who bleats as well overseas as any potential sacrificial lamb might), that The One who probably daily recites "L'etat, c'est moi" would also have a "Let them eat cake" attitude towards all those peasants running around like scared little mice.
As per the norm, Sergeant Schultz "knew nothing, nothing" about anything until his sycophantic staff informed His Royal Majesty of the flyby.
Yup, ready for that 3:00 AM phone call, that's our PresBo!
Um, Pilgrim....
April 29, 2009 - 16:13 ET by BlondeIf Goober One doesn't date you, dude, your SN might. :)
Excellent post, tho. Thanks.
I hope he fails, too.
Savings, what Savings
April 29, 2009 - 21:42 ET by DustBunny01According to the AP; President Obama recently asked,
I believe the number floated about was $100,000 each. Setting aside the costs related to the F-16s; the Obama Administration has wasted the phantom savings of at least 3 departments to update the publicity photo of Air Force One.
Does this President actually believe that he will bring spending under control?
I Think The Correct Term Is
April 30, 2009 - 11:37 ET by JustAl. . . Imperial Hubris, if Wikipedia was accurate His "O"lliness's upturned nose would be next to the definition (or perhaps it would be the entire definition).