White House Blames Media, False Reports for Scare Resulting from Coast Guard Exercise

The Coast Guard conducts these training exercises 3 or 4 times a week and always notifies the same authorities, which evidently doesn't include the local cops, the FBI, or the YMCA. What better time to hold such an exercise than under conditions that most closely approach reality -- the president crossing the bridge, etc.

CNN claims that it called a representative of the USCG -- twice -- for information and was told each time that the representative knew nothing about an exercise. Assuming the claim is true, one has to suspect that they called the wrong representative. (Who'd they call; the local recruiting office?) If they'd pushed a bit, they'd have found someone able to give them the dope about this routine drill. And, if CNN didn't get a statement that this was a drill, they most CERTAINLY didn't get a statement that a real attack was underway.

But the media are not what they were a generation ago. The search is now on, not for accuracy, but for sensationalized, scary, tabloid headlines. Now, even the fact that they were WRONG has become news and some are defending CNN et al, which is good for ratings.

Ohh, it must be the silly season for Robert Gibbs again.....it's all of our fault EXCEPT HOMELAND SECURITY, that is!

What a perfect illustration of CYA!

Kim - you raise good points. If the usual authorities were indeed notified of the drill, and CNN failed to check with said authorities, then it would indeed be CNN's fault.

I don't think a "security zone" counts if the event can be seen by the public from a bridge.

No one is questioning the Coast Guard's patriotism or virtue, or the correctness of practice. Its the decision of ONE commander to choose THAT location at THAT time that is being questioned. There is a worry that this might be an officer making decisions based on hate and contempt for the public. I hope this turns out to not be the case, because we're all fans of the Coast Guard up here.

This is Classic Governmental Left Hand Not Knowing What The Right Hand Was Doing. The Coast Guard should have used much better judgement picking that particular day to run this field exercise. You can't tell me that there wasn't someone in the Coast Guard who warned them not to do this on that day - and was outranked by a higher-up. [The Air Force Flyover Flap should have been a warning to them to notify other governmental departments and media in advance. Someone, Anyone! would have mentioned to them what a Bad Idea it was to do it on 9/11/09.] Gibbs (at the White House) condemnation of the media means nothing. He was just happy to have the opportunity to dish a little dirt back the other direction for once.

watching this BO Administration is like watching the Keystone Cops.

My husband is in the Coast Guard and this story outrages me.Ok, what are these families talking about. First of all this training was made aware of to many people. Before doing these types of training the coast guard sets up a security zone where people can not come within so many feet of. To say that this was irresponsible of the Coast Guard is plain iggnorant. Can I just ask what they want to investigate? Do they want to know why it was important for them to be there and why? Would they be saying that the Coast Guard was wrong if something was to have happened and they needed them there at that time. These people are just plain ridiculous and need to look at the bigger picture!! You should have felt that they were doing right buy being there and making sure all of you were safe.

Actually, I think the Coast Guard might be the ones at fault here. They staged what could be mistaken for a thwarted attack, in a very visible location, on the one day and within one mile of an horrific attack, when everyone's nerves are already on edge. Why did they pick that day, and that location? Why didn't they give a heads-up to the local cops? It seems like a decision made by someone filled with contempt and spite - and that's just how their spokesman on TV appeared to be. I wonder if this is the tip of the iceberg (sorry) regarding their attitudes towards the President and the public, and thus possibly their performance. Not a comforting feeling.

Fran Townsend a so called "terrorist expert" for CNN from the Bush administration, plus FAUX noise came off looking like fools. Guess it never occurred to them to CHECK to make sure before spouting off falsehoods. They trade real journalism for sensationalism. Head should roll but not at the Coast Guard.

georgiaurbanite Said: "This smells of Obama. I suspect he was fully aware of what was going on and used this "9/11 disturbance" for some ulterior motive. Shame on him."
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LOL .... another "Clueless Right-Whiner".

Do you REALLLLLLLY think that the President is briefed on every little exercise that the military and DHD (Department of Homeland Defense) are executing on a daily basis? Do you have any idea how many of these exercises are going on around the world every day?

Where do these brainless comments come from?

Tony Said: "Gibbs is just a loud-mouth giggling propaganda punk! For him to be lecturing anybody--when he is a spokesperson for the biggest bunch of frauds in American history--is a joke!"
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LOL .... let me guess, in your eyes, Bush-Cheney-Rove were all "truth telling, darling little angels" .... hehehehe... (yeah, right)

Not sure I understand why the White House had to comment on the issue--but I'm glad they defended the Coast Guard anyway. It's ridiculous to expect them to not train on September 11th when they train all other days of the year. I'm pretty sure the families that were mourning at the event didn't even notice that anything was going on in the river (people along the bridge definitely didn't)--it was all the media's fault for jumping the gun on this one. Probably the fault of one little reporter, then the fault of a media outlet, and the faults of other media outlets picking up the story--and no one ever decided to thoroughly check the facts.

This incidence really isn't a political issue, so please stop making it one.

Its a great thing the mighty El Rushbo is providing the anti-O crowd with all its talking points otherwise they might be acting like rational people.

andre Said: "I could care less what Jake Tapper has to say. He works for ABC News which is very liberal."

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LOL .... "but yet, I keep coming back to ABC News (i.e., posting on their blogs)"... I can only guess, because Fox News doesn't tell you the "whole story?

Wow... to complain about liberal media, yet you're on their website... pretty hypocritical don't you think?

Gibbs said, "I tend not to question law enforcement trying to keep the nation safe."

Really?

Timothy L. Pennell Said: "...Now they're OUTRAGED that the Coast Guard would have a Training Exercise on 911... The Left wanted to CHANGE the emphasis, from a MILITARY footing - Where they have NO CREDABILITY..."
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LOL.... perfect example of the "Clueless Right"...

(A) Did you even read the article?
(B) The President had no problem with the Coast Guard conducting this exercise on the day of training, so it wasn't "the left" that was complaining about the training occurring on this memorial day... as you state.
(C) The complaints came from "Military Families United"... most military families are conservative right, although that has changed over the past 8 years due to Bush/Cheny over extending our military in 1 war that wasn't legitimate (Iraq!).

Irresponsible handling of important information is the hallmark of modern journalism these days. I don't think any of the reporting news agencies really care if the reports are accurate or not as long as they are the first to "report it".

Gibbs is just a loud-mouth giggling propaganda punk! For him to be lecturing anybody--when he is a spokesperson for the biggest bunch of frauds in American history--is a joke!

This smells of Obama. I suspect he was fully aware of what was going on and used this "9/11 disturbance" for some ulterior motive. Shame on him.

Delores said "Only on BBC, NPR or public television can you find out what is going on in the world"

The three sources you mention can hardly be called unbiased. The "news" those outlets report is so biased to the far left(politically aligned with social authoritarian anarchism) as to make ABC look almost mainstream and unbiased, which it no longer is ... but which it has some hope of becoming again.

CNN are amateurs these days. ABC at lest has a history, in the past, of doing serious journalism and an opportunity to return to that. PBS, NPR and BBC are just a group of otherwise unemployable ideologues broadcasting limited ideas to a limited audience of those that can be characterised as uncaring, snobbish intellectuals and poverty stricken government dependents.

Nobody wants to know about how much fossil fuel might have been utilized by the Coast Gaurd during their training to keep our nation safe... or how the money could have been used to protect the gnarblang beetle from extinction... (PBS, BBC, NPR] Likewise, nobody wants a fake attack reported [CNN, Fox]. Nobody wants to know that the president had nothing to do with it and isn't responsible for anything that goes on- case closed [ABC, CBS]. I guess the world wants to know that Bill O'Reilly is a mean guy [NBC].

Best example: Look today at who is reporting on the ACORN issue with the videos and the Census and who is not!

Bring back true investigative journalism that is critical, hard hitting, honest, unbiased, and does real journalism rather than repeat the government press releases.

Hypothetically, of course, if Obama were an enemy of the U.S., one might say he is intentionally bankrupting our country in an effort to destroy us. He would also be unable to resist mocking us about 9/11. WHat better way than to use Air Force 1 and our own military to do it....hypothetically, of course.