Coast Guard Fires on Suspicious Boat on the Potomac? Not So Much
By Robert Schlesinger, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
My brush with nothing at all this morning: I drove over Washington's 14th Street Bridge at the same time that it reportedly wasn't in danger.
To catch everyone up: The reports that the Coast Guard fired "10 shots" (wonderful specificity there) at a mysterious boat on the Potomac River? Wrong. There is—according to the latest reports, so "facts" may change by the time I finish typing this blog post—no terrorist boat on the Potomac. And no shots were fired.
It turns out that the Coast Guard was conducting an exercise on the Potomac. Or maybe they weren't. MSNBC is reporting that there was not an exercise in the sense of people and boats actually doing things but was simply an over-the-radio drill that involved the phrase "shots fired."
Two things come to mind: An exercise of any sort on the Potomac on the morning of 9/11 while the president is driving by? It's so mind-numbingly dumb that it must be true.
Second this should spur a new round of media navel-gazing and, hopefully, a bit of self-flagellation. We all remember the tragedy and the bravery of that clear, crisp, awful morning eight years ago. Less well remembered are the reports—breathlessly related by the "news" networks—of a fire on the national mall, a car bomb at the State Department and so on. Hey—at least they got the information out there quickly. There's plenty of time for fact-checking later on.
In the mean time, stay glued to your television: The 24-hour "news" channels are continuing to follow this developing story. (Or is that devolving non-story?)
UPDATE: CNN's Jeanne Meserve is saying that it was a physical exercise; she says that she watched the Coast Guard boats challenge the mysterious boat and that she heard the radio traffic saying that 10 rounds had been fired; what she apparently did not know at the time was that she was listening to and watching a training exercise.
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Tags: 9/11
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Reader Comments
What is the Deal?
Why are you opinion writers here not talking about the big ACORN story? Can't spin it in the right direction? Do you think that if you don't comment on it the issue will go away? Perhaps USNEWS is a biased spin doctor?
jm
the coast guard said that CNN's remarks about gun shots was wrong, and instead they simply heard someone over the radio saying "bang-bang-bang" no joke, I didn't make this up, that is what the coast guard was saying. Rather than saying something along the lines of "CNN mistakenly heard the sound of a boat crashing against the water 10 times" they instead said that CNN mistakenly heard gunshots when in "fact" it was someone saying "bang-bang-bang." Question: is anyone, let alone a CNN reporter, so dumb that they can't distinguish actual gun shots from some guy saying "bang bang" over the radio?
A Case of Irresponsible Journalism
Its a sign of our times that so much of what passes for journalism is so reckless and inaccurate. This episode reflects the sensationalism of the illustrious news numbskulls and political hacks looking to scam some phony rage over nothing.
The Coast Guard was doing its job. The news clowns were not doing theirs.
Pitiful reporting, or the lack of it, has incited fear on our almost sacred day of national morning. Pandering for ratings with wrong information. Sounds familiar, no? No wonder the braindead zombies parade in front of the cable cameras, like a bunch of kids pretending they are on "Dancing with Celebrities." Why do we have to put up with these dandys of the cable realm.
We are in an era of attention hogs willing to say anything or think anything in some devilish bargain for their 15 seconds of almost-celebrity - at the expense of our country.
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