Stupid Is As Stupid Does.
In all it’s HD glory. More pictures released causing great embarrassment of the Washington idiots.
Still can’t believe someone thought this would be a good idea. Email exchange below:
(CS Monitor) Before the event, Col. Scott Turner, commander of the Presidential Airlift Group, appeared to be optimistic about the flight even providing a cheerful weather forecast in an email to George Mulligan, the deputy director of the White House Military Office.
“So far we appear to be on track for our photo shoot around the Statue of Liberty on Monday,” he writes. “Wx looks like it will cooperate and the FAA has aligned ‘all the stars’ to protect the airspace for us.”
Just to be sure nothing could go wrong, Turner asks Mulligan, “Do you have any issues/reservations, whatsover?”
Not at all. Mulligan even asked for a souvenir of the flyby.
“Sec Caldera and I have no issues,” writes a confident-sounding Mulligan. “Wish I was flying with you (or at least on the ground to see it) . . . it’s going to be quite a sight. Score me a 8×10 glossy if you think of it when you get the pics back.”
A seemingly excited Turner responded, “You bet — Boeing has agreed to the cost of the prints; you can wallpaper your new office with 8×10s!”
You can say this for Mulligan, he shouldn’t have any problems scoring any photos with the release of 146 of them yesterday.
Unlike the jolly exchange between Mulligan and Turner, at least one person expressed concern about the mission. USAF Maj Gen Brian P. Meenan, wrote, “Odds could be remote but for your SA — NYC populace can be sensitive to airplanes that appear lower than normal or tracks not normally seen over the NYC area. Influenced by 9/11. Have seen one or two instances of civil aircraft cleared for visual arrivals that triggered inquiries to media and local officials concerning unusual flt activity from folks on the ground.”
Apparently his concern was dismissed, however, and the flight commenced that Monday morning.
After
Shortly after the flight, things got gloomy. One email provided a real-time assessment of how the public was reacting to the mission.
“Web site blog comments ‘furious’ at best. Twitter search reveals ‘tweets’ regarding two F-16’s chasing commercial airliner. Rate of 1 tweet per minute and growing,” it reads.
We had plenty of those blog comments. Like:
“We are hurtling toward a government of the stupid, by the stupid, for the stupid”. just another example.” and “Haven’t these DoD dimwits ever heard of PHOTOSHOP???” and “This just proves that you don’t need a “brain” to get a job in the Federal Government.”
No way out
Credit this same person, however, in realizing that there was no way out of it. “No positive spin is possible. Admit mistake,” the email reads.
As you recall, this advice was taken. Only hours after the event, Louis Caldera, the director of the White House Military Office, released a statement taking full responsibility for the fiasco. Less than two weeks later Caldera resigned.
Of course, the objective of the flyover — despite its result — was not to create panic as Turner explained in an email: “Again, my apologies sir. Real intent here was to honor NYC, not cause mass chaos,” he said.
Three Stooges
One Pentagon spokeswoman summed up the event appropriately: “Nothing like having everyone point the finger at someone else so we ALL look like a big bunch of buffoons … can you say Moe, Larry & Curly!??!?!”
You can read the full report here. Be cautioned, however, that the report is 553 pages and is 121mb (it takes awhile to download).
