'Air Force One' photo-flop costly: One job

That's it? It looks like it was snapped with a disposable camera by the f-16 pilot. Is there a higher resolution version available? Maybe someone can verify what boats were in the water to determine if this is even from the same day.

Cordera--what was he thinking?

With Harry Truman, "The buck stops here." With Obama, "the buck stops anywhere except here." Especially with any White House aide on whom Obama can place the blame. If Obama knew, it's malfeasance. If he didn't know, it's misfeasance.

PhotoShop only costs $700.

I can't believe the fuss being made over this. A plane flew by Manhattan. Big deal.

Yo, Danforth. Obama also apologized for the incident right after it happened. You want him to resign over this or something?

And he already said he didn't know. I don't disagree with you for blaming him, but neither does he!

Ornery:

that was the problem...he wasn't thinking...

Totally worth it, sweet pic.

"If Obama knew, it's malfeasance. If he didn't know, it's misfeasance."

With all the things on the President's desk, he's going to know about this? Please...

Yes Danforth, I completely agree with you, if even one of the literally hundreds of thousands of workers in the Executive Branch of government makes a bone headed, albeit relatively harmless decision, the President should be held fully responsible and resign immediately! We all know a President Biden would never embarrass himself or us.

PhotoShop only costs $700.

Posted by: Blaine | May 8, 2009 5:01 PM

...And they could have removed New Jersey in the background. To see it is to smell it.

Danforth what would you like? Should Obama resign? Maybe Caldera should kill himself?

If you want to criticize Obama aim a little bit higher there are plenty of subjects to diuscuss other than this small, stupid and inconsequential fly by.

Look at the shadows of the monument on the ground and then look at the shadow on the engine mounts of the plane, different angle? I say photoshop!

Okay...now it's time for Caldera to hit the talk shows and tell us the real truth. Who knew about this bonehead move? Was anybody actually on the plane....like some of Obama's buddies perhaps..Bill Ayres, Rev. Wright, Rezko, Hugo Chavez etc.

Danforth,

Since you dislike our leaders so much, why don't you move to Somalia? I understand that country needs someone like you who knows everything and can unite the people.

Party Gal Bruce,

By that standard your guru Bush should have never taken office. But then, without Rehnquist, he WOULDN'T have taken office.

By the way Danforth, I got a letter addressed to someone else today. Should I let the post office know, or should I contact the White House?

Bozo "called the flyover wrong and vowed it won't be repeated," How many times areyou dopes going to let this incompetant juvenile get away with this BS. The media, properly, would have crucified, Bush for incompetance, the first time he tried this stunt. Yet the slobbering media just murmurs, he's a good guy, he'll get better with every rendition of this line put forward by first a adolescent. This guy is a bumbling nightmare. I hope we survive.

I can't believe the fuss being made over this. A plane flew by Manhattan. Big deal.

Posted by: Mike | May 8, 2009 5:08 PM

Unless of course the Bush White House thad authorized the photo op. Then it would have been front page for weks!

Just another body thrown under the bus by the annointed one. Might as well get used to it, he makes no mistakes. That's the change you voted for. hehe

He threw his grandma and spiritual advisor under the bus, why not Louis Caldera?

This is an example of how intimate the aerospace and defense community is with the Pentagon. Boeing needed a nice picture of the V25A and the Pentgon sent it up for a spin.

Louis Caldera may have taken the hit, but I'll bet you anything that the guy who ordered the photo shoot came to the Pentagon right out of Boeing or Raytheon or L-3, and he was just doing a good turn for his old buddies.

How many other costly good turns get swung this way?

When the PotUS flies BOTH planes are engaged....meaning HE COULDN'T FLY ANYWHERE THAT DAY AND THERE'S NO WAY HE DIDN'T KNOW.

This is even too stupid for the govt to have done it.

Maybe what REALLY happened was: A wacko Air Force 1 Pilot took the plane on a crash-course... the F-16 planes started chasing it... and luckily they talked him down... without having to shoot down the plane.

The cover-up was: "oh, it was just a photo-op".

And the pictures? "Oh, those are all classified as top secret".

Huh? Photos of a plane... that has already been photographed 100s of other times... are now "top secret photos"?

Why does the White House need photos of Air Force One? Is there some question as to which plane it is? Does the flight crew have difficulty identifying it amongst all the other 747s with the Presidential Seal painted on the side?
In light of the bad economy I think that the person who authorized this inexcusable waste of taxpayer dollars should be made to reimburse the taxpayers.

What a terrible photo! Hazy day, pollution over New Jersey, bad angle on the Statue of Liberty, boring background, window reflections, etc. etc. Very unprofessional work. The guy should have been fired for spending $350,000 and picking such a terrible day to shoot.

"Look at the shadows of the monument on the ground and then look at the shadow on the engine mounts of the plane, different angle? I say photoshop!"

Posted by: not buying the photo | May 8, 2009 5:44 PM

What on Earth are the photo conspiracy theorists going on about here? Is there any rational basis to support such a theory? Examine the photo at higher magnification: there is no shadow cast by "the monument", much less is there an apparent contradiction in the angle of the sun and direction of shadow.

And most importantly, this version of the photo is awful. I don't know if a cloud, vignetting, or obstruction caused the dark area in the bottom right, but the glare at the top right is easily corrected, as is the muddy low contrast. WH clearly didn't want to put any time or money into this penance/Friday news dump.

I want to see the passenger logs. Surely some of the biggest Democratic donators on board.

The first thought that should come to everyones mind is "Sacrificial lamb".
So much for transparency. This whole administration from "H" on down is a compete disgrace.

I like your stories, but the copy editing is getting really rough.

Example: The White House hasn't only released... [followed by] The White House also has.... [on following paragraph]. In other words,
if you leave the 'has' out, you won't need to cal 'haz-mat'.

Please clean up your grammar room
before your boss finds out and scraps this vital blog site.

"
Look at the shadows of the monument on the ground and then look at the shadow on the engine mounts of the plane, different angle? I say photoshop
"
Right. Obviously a cover-up by the same guys who faked 9/11.

How about a list of who was on board? I find it a bit of a stretch that this was a "photo op". Obama throws another one under the bus.

Mike said "I can't believe the fuss being made over this. A plane flew by Manhattan. Big deal. "

Great, when can the taxpayers expect your check to cover the expense incurred. It should not be too much of a "big deal" for you.

As a professional photographer, I can honestly say as a photo, this shot is a big disappointment, especially for what it cost.

Couldn't they have used a Hasselblad 52MP camera with a decent polarizing filter?

Why does the White House need a Military Office? Isn't the Secretary of Defense enough? Talk about wasting taxpayer's money!

Big deal.

Any New Yorkers who were scared by this are cowards! They dishonor the souls that were lost on 9/11.

Once again, the wrong person has been fired.

[If]----It was President Bush that did this, little billy r. would have his panties in a bunch on this debacle- but he's/her a no show on this one.

Hey billy r. and Don Fitz...where has your body count of dead American Soldiers fighting for us been lately? C'mon boys...what's up? Oh, yea....OBAMA!--Duhhh,

Paulo

Hey billy r. and Don Fitz...where has your body count of dead American Soldiers fighting for us been lately? C'mon boys...what's up? Oh, yea....OBAMA!--Duhhh,

Paulo

Posted by: Paulo | May 9, 2009 3:29 AM

Do you mean the body count in the blunder of Iraq, or the real war on terror in Afghanistan that was left to rot by the short sighted Bush and republican administration?

According to bill r there were no democrats in charge of anything for the last 8 years.

According to bill r there were no democrats in charge of anything for the last 8 years.

Posted by: UnfrozenCavegirlBlogger | May 9, 2009 11:18 AM

For 6 of those 8 there were none.

This is NOT a photo of the plane..too many discrepencies..any photographer can see that..,not a scheduled shoot for sure from a one man jet? Someone went on a joy ride...Caldera "approved it" WHO ordered it?..Transperancy? I think not.more lies to remember at election time..we will NOT forget..they are piling up...

Billy R,

You need corrected again - democrats were in charge of the Senate from May 24, 2001 when Jumpin Jim Jeffords left the GOP and went to the dark side. The evil empire held control of the Senate thru 2002.