Changing a story on the fly (New info on AF1 incident)

I believe this is what a real journalist would call "lied."
http://www.newsday.com/news/printedition/ny-usfly033568691dec03,0,3535588.story?coll=ny-news-print

By Ken Fireman
WASHINGTON BUREAU

December 3, 2003

Washington - The White House has changed one aspect of its account of President George W. Bush's surprise Thanksgiving visit to Baghdad: the spotting of Air Force One by a British Airways pilot.

... Yesterday, after British Airways had denied that account, the White House said the radio conversation actually took place between the British pilot and the control tower in London. The tower's response was apparently based on false flight plan information given to protect the secrecy of the trip.

more

Not that the media will report this as a Bush lie.

Of course Bush was piloting the plane himself (he's was a decorated Fighter Ace during Vietnam) and when he heard the radio chatter he thought "those Secret Service sissies will want to abort, but Our Brave Men And Women In Uniform need me to boost their moral, and in any case without me who will lead that super-secret commando raid to capture Saddam AND Osama?". So he executes a triple inverse barrel roll, and dive down on the luckless BA plane from out of the sun and shoots it down with one burst from AF1's 8 50mm cannon.

On all those "W"s that disappeared from the White House keyboards when Dimbo "assumed" office. Ya think?

That's where the WMDs are... being flown around the world in BA 747s. Those Bastards are just trying to make Our Great Leader look like a bumbling incompetent liar.

First, it was AF1 sighted near Bagdhad (BA: Huh? The two pilots in the area deny it!), then it was AF1 sighted near England (BA: Sorry, too many pilots to query, old bean!)

No lie is perfect, especially coming from the imbeciles in the Bush House.

different day, same basic lie...
Facts really are meaningless to these slimeballs, aren't they? And they are so blind and stupid they don't even realize how factually unencumbered they are...
It's such a two-year-old mentality: I want it, now, because I do...
No other justification necessary.

What the eff do they have to lie about? What difference does it make who they were talking to? Are they just compulsive liars? Is Ollie North in charge? :shrug:

DU'er...;) If they hadn't told the story, they couldn't have reported the incident to prop up the Squatter and make him look oh! so manly. Plus they wouldn't have been able to use the word 'dramatic'.

:bounce:

but Dustin Hoffman (Wag the Dog) IS!

....because he says he was on a plane that crossed paths with that AF1 flight. Truly. No joke. He didn't see it, though.

Anyone with a scanner could have listened and heard that a pilot saw AF1, giving away the secrecy. By the standards set forth on this mission, AF1 should have turned around once identified.

... for filing a false flight plan if you or I did it?

Air Force One always files a false flight plan, regardless of the President. The difference between you or I doing it and the White House is enormous. Its a question of national security.

but I would think still somewhat dangerous, considering it's a war zone you're flying into. I imagine I'd want my own people knowing just who I am in that situation. Or did they announce themselves once they crossed into Iraq?

even if their lives depended on it! What a sorry lot.

them.

I don't understand the new story. Was AF1 flying over Britain? Or did the bogus flight plan call for it to be over Britain? Did a pilot see AF1 and the control tower deny it? Do they have a pilot now, who says that he is the one who talked to the tower? None of this makes any sense to me whatsoever. And I agree with the poster above, what are the points to these lies? And I mean really - not sarcastically or jokingly, but really - why these lies?

And I don't really understand how the WhiteHouse could know this conversation even took place, and still not know who the pilot was. :eyes:

As far as why? It's simple. This 'mystery plane' anecdote is a literary device, otherwise known as a 'News Hook' in the PR business. It provides a colorful little tidbit that people can use to remember the PR story, as well as pass it on to others. Think of it as a bit of 'color' the PR guys put on the whole staged event.

It's completely fabricated, of course, and if the WH had known any better, they should have come up with a 'hook' that wouldn't involve an unknown third party (given their obvious lack of credibility on, well, everything nowdays).

But really -- they aren't as good at this stuff as people make them out to be. It's just that they have a huge, huge pile of money, and that will take a person pretty far all by itself.

...but, in earlier reports, it was very clear that bush was immediately made aware of the sighting of Air Force One, and he almost aborted the trip. Now, an article in the Scotsman has Bartlett saying that "...Bush and his senior aides were not aware of the spotting until Air Force One was on its way home from Baghdad."

http://www.news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=2253612

Does this administration tell the truth about anything?

The Jumbo Jet was bouncing around the dark sky, and President Bush was visiting in the cockpit. Airplanes always facinated him. He was standing near the door, behind Dr.Rice, massaging a cramp in her shoulders. Suddenly a mystery communication sputtered over the cockpit radio.

"Santa to Air Force One! Santa to Air Force One!...Do you read me?" A faint jingling accompanied the jolly Cockney voice which crackled over the mid-night airwaves.

"A Santa impostor with an English accent?" Bush hiccupped, swilling the last of his quart-size Lone Star. "What will the terrorists think of next?"

The co-pilot glanced up nervously. "Sounds like Al Qaida...we're turning back to Texas...launch defensive ordance..." he commanded, nudging the steering controls, while flipping a glowing-red toggle switch on the instrument pannel. The great plane banked slightly as a wooshing sound could be heard for a few seconds above the droning of the engines.

President Bush excitedly opened another bottle, then unseen, slipped his hand down the back of Condi's tight pants.

Abruptly the cockpit radio crackled to life again..."Hey! Dammit! Quit firing those sidwinders!" the voice squawked, dropping all pretense of jollyness, "I'm just taking my reindeer out on a test run."

"Hold your fire," Bush slurred, that's some sort of sleigh out there!" He took another look out the window, while squeezing Condi's buttock tightly. "Keep going to Baghdad, I'm going to bed, and don't wake me and Condi up til we land."

"Anything you say Mr. President," the pilot said, rolling his eyes and turning the plane back on course.

And so shoppers, remember that Santa Clause may not be around forever. So next time you go to the mall, be sure to check your Christmas list twice and by all means don't forget the duct-tape!

they look so silly .