Bloomberg Questions Air Force Dumb & Dumber
A fighter plane and a presidential jet, known as Air Force One when the president is on board, buzzed over lower Manhattan last week.
Scaring the holy heck out of the city by allowing a low-flying Air Force One clone and an F-16 to buzz lower Manhattan for photo op. Dumb. Deeming those photos classified. Even dumber.
Mayor Bloomberg took a little shot at Team Obama today, questioning the public relations-savvy of the administration's decision to keep the publicity photos of low-flying plane under wraps.
"If I were them, I think I'd get less publicity by putting them out rather than by keeping them in," Bloomberg said. "They did not ask about coming up here and flying that plane around and they did not ask me about the photos either."
The glamour shots taken during the $328,835 low-flying photo op sparked fears of a terrorist attack and caused scores to run for cover, but the Obama administration told the New York Post today that the infamous publicity stills would never see the light of day even though other pictures and even video are already public.
"Look in the papers. There are the photos," said the mayor who seemed a little amused by it all. "I don't know what could possibly be classified. Maybe there's some national interest that I'm not familiar with."
The White House didn't tell all necessary local authorities about the government-sponsored photo op that involved a Boeing 747 and an F-16 fighter jet whizzing past the New York City skyline -- and instead told those in the know not to share information about the super secret photo op with the public.
President Barack Obama ordered an internal review to determine who made the decision, and director of the White House Military Office Louis Caldera shouldered some of the blame for the mission.
"I take responsibility for that decision," he said. "While federal authorities took the proper steps to notify state and local authorities in New York and New Jersey, it's clear that the mission created confusion and disruption. I apologize and take responsibility for any distress that flight caused."
