Was the Orange Alert STAGED for Laura & the Twins' PHOTO OP?

[Stephanie]

Were they just putting on a show? You'll recall that Chelsea Clinton was caught downtown when the WTC fell. And she and her father were downtown comforting New Yorkers in the immediate aftermath.

Laura and the Twins showed up in NYC on Monday to visit the Citigroup building in a brave show of support, sort of like the Queen walking through the London rubble. (FYI, in the evening they dined at Nobu, as per the gossip pages.)

I walked by the Citigroup building yesterday and security has relaxed considerably. There were plenty of cops around but it was NOT an armed fortress. I saw one cop with a machine gun. But the avenues were open and on the side streets they were waving vehicles through, including delivery trucks. The plaza was open and I could walk right onto it. I don't know if they were checking bags on the way into the building. But I do know that they have dropped the drastic emergency measures that were employed on Monday.

So I'm asking - did Rove think that a photo-op of Laura and the Twins bravely appearing in a "dangerous" area would help the campaign? Because that's all I'm seeing here.

BTW, I can't find the pictures of Jenna at Citicorp that were posted at Yahoo a few days ago. Did the photo-op fail so spectacularly after the info was revealed to be four years old that BushCo backed off on exploiting the pix?

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U.S. first lady Laura Bush (R) and Mayor Michael Bloomberg greet employees during a visit to Citigroup headquarters in New York on August 2, 2004. New York's major banks and other large companies tightened security on Monday, a day after a government warning of possible al Queda truck or suicide bomb attacks on financial targets in the city. Bush and Bloomberg visited the site to comfort workers and show confidence in the city's ability to secure threatened locations.
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August 3, 2004 -- First Lady Laura Bush and her twin daughters paid a surprise visit to the Citigroup Center yesterday, joining Mayor Bloomberg and Gov. Pataki to cheer on employees who ignored the terror threat and reported for work.

The lunchtime crowd erupted in applause when Mrs. Bush and her daughters, Jenna and Barbara, stopped to chat over coffee at a table of Citigroup employees in the atrium.

"I wanted to thank people for coming to work and I'm really glad to be with them today," the first lady said to a roar of approval from the crowd.

http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/26137.htm

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Laura Bush, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, left, and Governor George Pataki meet with employees at Citigroup headquarters in New York, N.Y., Monday, Aug. 2, 2004. The Citigroup building is one of five locations identified as a possible terrorist target.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/08/images/20040803-1_8dau0048-515h.html

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At the Citigroup Building in Manhattan, a line of employees waiting to clear a security check trailed almost a block from the main entrance. Employees were met by police officers with bomb-sniffing dogs and others carrying machine guns.

Before they entered, security guards checked identification and looked through employees' and visitors' bags.

Clare Nolan, a fire warden on the 51st floor of the building, said she made sure she wore flat shoes today, in case she had to leave quickly. She also made sure there was enough bottled water in the building and extra batteries for flashlights and whistles for employees in case of any emergency.

<from August 2>

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/02/nyregion/02CND-THRE.html?ex=1092110400&en=3d368980308f4d89&ei=5006&partner=ALTAVISTA1

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New York truck ban lifted at bridges, tunnels
August 4, 2004, 8:26 PM EDT

NEW YORK -- Three days after stepping up security throughout the city in response to terror warnings concerning financial institutions, police on Wednesday announced that the ban on trucks had been lifted on certain bridges and tunnels.

Trucks and vans are again allowed to use the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel and to travel to Manhattan on the Williamsburg Bridge, but commercial traffic still will be banned from entering the city through the Holland Tunnel.

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/ny-bc-ny--terror-truckban0804aug04,0,38183.story?coll=ny-ap-regional-wire

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[displacedtexan]

1. Yep!

See? We're strong and resolute and we don't give a rat's ass how much business is lost but we're gonna show you that we're not afraid of no tairists and I did not sit frozen for 7 minutes and do nothing for the nest 20 minutes and I did not run away to Nebraska out of harm's way!

[Stephanie]

3. Well, we'll send the women out to do that

Bushie is still skeered!

[zbdent]

2. Well, you know that when W says "We're safer now than before 9/11"

he's referring to his family.

Of course, unless you just XXXX the P resident, you are always going to feel safer with a bunch of Secret Service personnel around you.

(Okay, unless you made a trheat to the pRez)

[Stephanie]

4. You might want to rephrase that

so as not to alarm anybody at Carnivore

[rexcat]

5. Does anyone really think that Laura (Pickles) Bush and his daughters

would be allowed to be in the building, or for that matter, in the general area (within 100 miles) if terrorist attacks were imminent? The timing and deliberate overreaction by the * administration was done to scare the American people. The photos in the paper the next day showing "armed to the teeth" Federal, State and local police was what the * administration wanted. It makes people in this country feel less safe, more scared and more willing to vote for *. This page is taken right out of Goebbels and Hitler's book from the late 1920's to early 1930's.

Please don't construe that I am calling * or his minions Nazi's, all I am saying is they are using similar tactics. Stalin also did the same thing. It is more of Dictator issue than anything else.

[Stephanie]

7. That's right

But I have to wonder - how much planning goes into a visit by Laura and the Twins? The terror alert was announced Sunday. Laura was here Monday morning. Don't you suppose they had to plan her visit a few days ahead?

As you know, when we had an actual terror attack here, it was on a Tuesday and Bush JR. didn't arrive here until Saturday, when the coast was clear.

[rexcat]

I am sure that the terror alert was in the works for some time

so they should have know where Pickles would be when they decided to increase the level to orange.

[rexcat]

8. I am sure that the terror alert was in the works for some time

so they should have know where Pickles would be when they decided to increase the level to orange.

[rexcat]

9. I am sure that the terror alert was in the works for some time

so they should have know where Pickles would be when they decided to increase the level to orange.

[realFedUp]

6. but nothing political about those appearances....

or photo-ops...:eyes:

[Stephanie]

13. No, not at all

It was purely for morale.

All the streets blocked off, helicopters, hundreds of cops armed to the teeth, delayed commutes, long lines to enter the building - it all just went away once the Citicorp workers saw Laura and the Twins were there.

:eyes:

[Andy_Stephenson]

10. Yes political and...

it is dangerous to cry wolf.

[Stephanie]

12. Hi sweetie

Dangerous and immoral and costly.

[Stephanie]

11. Here's Jenna

<snip> "I want to thank people for coming to work," Laura Bush told a cheering crowd at the Citigroup Center in midtown, one of the financial centers in the terrorists' cross hairs.

While Gov. Pataki bought coffee, Bush and First Twins Jenna and Barbara - along with Mayor Bloomberg - mingled with workers and ignored a John Kerry supporter shouting, "Kerry! Kerry!"

"I just thought that <Laura Bush> was so gracious and she seemed very appreciative," said Citigroup banker Peter Manzi. "I am very surprised that <the twins> took time away from their other job, from dad's campaign, to come to New York."

http://nydn.com/front/story/218543p-187940c.html

[foslrock]

14. "You are safe from Dr. Octopus, today!!" - (applause sign lit)...

Obviously this was just a badly scripted political ploy. One to prove to the world that the neocons are securing the world from dated vague threats, by using their subservient first lady to stand up in the face of terra, and proclaim to the world that the blue-thinking citizenry of NY are safe from the havoc of dr. octopus for at least one more day. It was almost taken from a very badly scripted spiderman comic book.

I'm sure all of those fearmongering blowhards in the red-thinking states are applauding this like audience members in a sitcom.

[Stephanie]

15. Welcome to DU, foslrock!

They really are terrible scriptwriters. They never think ahead, never plan the next step. They make one dumbass move and then they're out of ideas.

[newyawker99]

18. Hi foslrock!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[pbg]

16. and if the alert was real...

...why did the reopening of the Statue of Liberty go on as scheduled?

Stinks to high heaven.

[foslrock]

17. It's all part of the plan..

Ohh this is quite simple and it's all part of the plan. You see, they need to make it accessable to terrarists. This way, once the RNC takes place, Rovie boy will send his secret hit squad to blow off the head of lady liberty. Then, this will unleash the attack dog media to blame it on fear, terror, and the osama boogeyman. And after little debate they'll rebuild the head with a replica of king george the second. It will be beautiful, and show them terrarists who is really king of the world for god, country, and liberty.