Protocols

I haven't been near a TV in the past couple of days, so I don't know how much coverage this may be getting, but I'm fascinated by the aftermath of the Cessna that mistakenly flew over restricted airspace in Washington. It turns out that Capitol Hill and the White House were evacuated and Donald Rumsfeld was preparing to have the Air Force shoot the plane out of the sky if necessary, but W, off on a jaunty bike ride somewhere in Maryland, was kept out of the loop. Nobody bothered to even tell him that there was an event until 36 minutes after the all-clear had been sounded.

In his press briefing this morning, White House Press Secretary Scott McLellan repeated over and over that protocols had been followed, so we can safely assume that protocol does not require the President's exercise period to be interrupted if the nation's capital is feared under attack. McLellan tried to finesse the facts by reminding us that there actually was no reason to worry, but of course, no one knew that for sure at the time. They're trying to have it both ways. Where is that thin line between this being enough of a threat to take the Vice-President and the First Lady to a secure bunker and to tell staff on Capitol Hill to (as The Nation's David Corn put it) "run, not walk as far away as they could"--between that and it not being a big enough deal to even mention it to the President? Wherever it is, McLellan was desperately trying to find it this morning.

Perhaps it's because they themselves were in fear for their lives, but the liberal media seems to get it this time. They asked many of the right questions, including this one: "Might there be something wrong with protocols that render the President unnecessary when the alarm is going off at his house?" McLellan assured the questioner (the White House transcript never identifies individual reporters), "That's not at all what occurred," despite having previously stated that the President wasn't notified about this until well after the all-clear. Editor & Publisher has a condensed version of the press conference here.