How Much Did that ‘Air Force One’ Photo Op Cost?
Email"Another way you could have done that picture — Photoshop!" fumed Jon Stewart last night on The Daily Show, satirizing the "Air Force One" photo op that caused a Manhattan panic yesterday.
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"Air Force One flight over NYC, how much $ did it cost the taxpayers?" tweeted Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., this morning. "Stay tuned…"
We don’t yet know how much this photo op cost, but this March 2006 report — "THE COST OF PRESIDENTIAL AND VICE PRESIDENTIAL POLITICAL TRAVEL" — prepared for Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., then the chair of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, "assumes that flight operating costs are $56,518 per hour for Air Force One," a figure "based on the per-hour cost figures cited by GAO for fiscal year 2000, adjusted for inflation."
– jpt
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Posted by: MayBee | April 28, 2009, 11:04 am 11:04 am
Who was on board this flight?
Posted by: Maria | April 28, 2009, 11:05 am 11:05 am
Forget that. How much DID IT RAISE….for Obama 2012??
That’s the more important question.
Posted by: Scare Force One | April 28, 2009, 11:08 am 11:08 am
Why is John Stewart complaining?? I’ll bet he had a great view of lower Manhattan.
John was probably one of the high roller passengers on that donor pay-off flight.
Posted by: Scare Force One | April 28, 2009, 11:11 am 11:11 am
Mr Tapper,
Aren’t you affraid of being targeted by the left for this sort of reporting???
This was Bush’s fault anyway!
Posted by: chris | April 28, 2009, 11:14 am 11:14 am
HOW DID the incompetent Homeland Security Sec’y Janet Napolitano handle this ? Was she aware of what was going on ? If not, did she get word that the country might be under attack ? Did she scramble fighters ? Looks to me like our enemies were sent a message that our national security is lax again.
Posted by: Ron | April 28, 2009, 11:19 am 11:19 am
Jake, Isn’t it true that there are regularly scheduled training missions for Air Force One? If this “photo op” was folded into a regularly scheduled mission, wouldn’t that change your estimate of how much such a thing might “cost”?
It seems that would be a basic journalistic question, no?
Posted by: Lisa | April 28, 2009, 11:21 am 11:21 am
Seems like a waste of fuel in our push towards conservation and green energy.
Posted by: Huh | April 28, 2009, 11:23 am 11:23 am
Why is John Stewart complaining?? I’ll bet he had a great view of lower Manhattan.
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If you had actually watched his show last night – you would have seen the segment he did on this.
Posted by: Facts first Please | April 28, 2009, 11:28 am 11:28 am
As far as DHS is concerned, I’m pretty sure they knew and alerted the proper authorities last week. This is a case of NYC first-responders being out of the loop and too segmented to coordinate.
Posted by: JC | April 28, 2009, 11:31 am 11:31 am
This was just crazy. You actually think Obama didn’t know. Of course, he knew. He will do anything for publicity. He is not the President, the teleprompter is. The man suffers from attention deficit disorder. He was so far ahead of Justice Roberts that he flubbed his Oath of Office. That was his fault. I cannot believe he cannot talk without a teleprompter. What is wrong with him? Smartm he is not.
Posted by: Jane | April 28, 2009, 11:41 am 11:41 am
Shame on those people for scaring the heck out of us New Yorkers. And I agree with John Stewart, this could have saved a lot of money using Photo Shop.
Posted by: Lesley | April 28, 2009, 11:43 am 11:43 am
Was this a reward to donors?
Did Obama use this flight to payoff his supporters.
He needs to release a list of who was on board, immediately.
I am sure he wants to change the subject asap simply to avoid the question.
Posted by: Nobama | April 28, 2009, 11:50 am 11:50 am
Talk about a bunch of boneheads (the photo op decisionmakers AND Stewart…).
Posted by: Ken | April 28, 2009, 11:50 am 11:50 am
Jake, Isn’t it true that there are regularly scheduled training missions for Air Force One? If this “photo op” was folded into a regularly scheduled mission, wouldn’t that change your estimate of how much such a thing might “cost”?
It seems that would be a basic journalistic question, no?
Posted by: Lisa | Apr 28, 2009 11:21:53 ________________________________________
Training mission my A**! I hope George Soros enjoyed the view of all those people scattering. This was a payback for politcal contributions. Slick Willie hasn’t got anything on this guy.
I would like to see the flight manifest but I know that won’t happen.
Posted by: Don't waterboard me Bro! | April 28, 2009, 11:51 am 11:51 am
C’mon ABC, do your job as reporters and uncover the flight manifest to compare with b.o.’s donor lists.
Posted by: Corey | April 28, 2009, 11:54 am 11:54 am
“John was probably one of the high roller passengers on that donor pay-off flight.”
Is this the new right wing lie?
That this was a sight seeing tour for donors?
Posted by: Ryan C | April 28, 2009, 12:06 pm 12:06 pm
Why a Red Tail?
Posted by: MayBee | April 28, 2009, 12:07 pm 12:07 pm
RyanC, Isn’t it amazing how quickly they come up with these stories? Very active imaginations among the right-wing. They should get into writing screenplays.
Posted by: Lisa | April 28, 2009, 12:13 pm 12:13 pm
Actually I would like to know where Joe Biden was yesterday. I bet Obama wanted to know his where a bouts when he heard about this too. “AF1 is WHAT? WHERES JOE!”
Posted by: Don't waterboard me Bro! | April 28, 2009, 12:14 pm 12:14 pm
When Jon Stewart says it is bad, you know it is really bad
Posted by: DJ | April 28, 2009, 12:41 pm 12:41 pm
for the record, it is wrong to call it AF1 when the president is not inside.
Posted by: Question | April 28, 2009, 12:49 pm 12:49 pm
How brilliant of Cheney to terrorize the area surrounding Ground Zero while the enhanced interrogation debate is ongoing.
Posted by: mad | April 28, 2009, 2:07 pm 2:07 pm
In response to MAD’s claim below that this is Cheney’s fault, You need to check you facts “Biden is the Vice President”. Cheney does not have access to the plane. So I agree that this is another reckless example of spending which this administration is doing that doesn’t help the American People. Does this Administration think if funny to watch scared American’s in New York running scared? Were they taking pictures of the scenes below? Are they going to show all the pictures taken? Are they going to release who was on that plane???????
Posted by: Truth or Lies | April 28, 2009, 2:25 pm 2:25 pm
In response to MAD’s claim below that this is Cheney’s fault, You need to check you facts “Biden is the Vice President”. Cheney does not have access to the plane.
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My goodness!! I was terribly wrong wasn’t I, and need to amend my statement.
How boneheaded of the administration to remind the country of the terror of 9-11-01 while the enhanced interrogation debate is ongoing.
Posted by: mad | April 28, 2009, 2:45 pm 2:45 pm
I think it is rather interesting that Jon and some of the posters are trying to pin this on Biden. Um, Obama is the president. He won! He is responsible for one of his planes scaring the daylights out of stoic New Yorkers. The buck stops here. Oh, that’t right, this is the Obama administration. Who can we throw under the bus?
Posted by: Concerned | April 28, 2009, 4:20 pm 4:20 pm
I Love This Country!!
Posted by: DontGet818OnMeNow | April 28, 2009, 4:42 pm 4:42 pm
What the bozo’s are not saying…the burn rate for AF1 at 2000 foot agl is about 7 times higher than when at altitude. Of course the media never asks the right questions on any story..but when are they going to post the pictures? I bet they were out of focus!
Posted by: wilbur wright | April 28, 2009, 10:30 pm 10:30 pm
POTUS didn’t know?
He has to sign off on either presidential planes being used and for what reason.
What a crock…
Then to say it was just a mistake?
A mistake is not balancing your check book properly…
Wonder what they want to keep under the radar with this distraction, lets see…
The Nationalization of Health Care?
Kathleen Sebeilious becoming HHS?
Are they printing another trillion dollars….again?
Slight of hand again folks…
Just call him Abracobama!
Posted by: geezaloo | April 29, 2009, 9:16 am 9:16 am
Well, the tongues sure a waggin’ and the howls of anguish are echoing across the nation on this one!
Pay back for donors? Conspiracy? Give us a break!
And the whole scaring the citizens of New York bruhaha? You would think Obama himself piloted a German U-Boat right into the harbor.
After eight years of HELL under that pack of evildoers (Bush and his puppetmaster), life under Obama is like coming out a sewer to smell the fresh Spring air in the park.
Posted by: Dawg | April 29, 2009, 1:28 pm 1:28 pm
Another screw-up from this administration. So what’s new? As the bumper-sticker said, “The nightmare began on Jan 20 and we have to suffer for four years of this junk.” Question – How can an F16 pilot fly at low altitude around a major city and and do a photo ops of Air Force One at the same time?
Posted by: Jimbo | April 29, 2009, 9:23 pm 9:23 pm