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Friday, January 16, 2009

Mr. Sullenberger, your fifteen minutes has begun
Posted by Jill | 4:21 AM


Mr. Bush, THIS is what badass looks like.

At a time when it's far too easy to become famous for outrageous behavior, and on a day which ended with a sociopathic man take the spotlight away from a heroic miracle for a self-serving justify the horrors of his misbegotten fuckup of an administration, perhaps having an actual hero who is an actual pilot, not a strutting martinet in a fake flightsuit; an actual hero with the unlikely name of Chesley B. Sullenberger III -- a name that sounds like it could belong to one of Bush's Skull & Bones buddies, was necessary to remind us of the kind of cool thinking that real leadership involves.

The landing of US Airways Flight 1549 in the Hudson River yesterday was the kind of event that evokes so many incidents both real and fictional that it would have captured the public consciousness even had it not had such a picture-perfect ending. Of course to New Yorkers, the image of a low-flying plane along the Hudson had to evoke the possibility of another terrorist attack. This is something I immediately thought of, possibly as a planned part of George W. Bush's farewell tour. After all, what could be more fitting than for the guy who ignored warnings about 9/11 to be able to leave with a literal bang? Unlike most of those who asked questions of Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Governor David Patterson at a press conference about the incident, however, I was relieved to hear that the cause appears to have been a flock of geese, rather than an excuse for wingnuts to whip themselves into a frenzy. Then, as the stoundingly beautifully composed image of passengers being evacuated into an exit slide-turned-lifeboat, in, I thought of how cold the air and water were in New York yesterday, and then of people being put off in lifeboats from a sinking ship on April 15, 1912. Then the report came in of Captain Sullenberger walking the aisles of his plane, now waist-deep or more full of water, to make sure everyone was off.

Mr. Sullenberger is now going to be the toast of New York (if he wants to be), as well he should be. I hope he allows himself to be, even if, as I suspect he will say, he was "just doing his job." No one would wish for 155 people to be as traumatized as the passengers of this flight were yesterday. But there's something oddly fitting about Americans having this reminder yesterday of what heroism looks like, on the same day that the poseur-in-chief sucks up valuable air time frantically trying to spin his own legacy into something other than what it is.

UPDATE: Via Digby comes this post by Marcy Wheeler reminding us of Sullenberger's -- and indeed the entire flight crew's status as UNION members -- yes UNION, that entity Republicans hate most. And in fact it was Sullenberger who fought for pilots to receive the kind of training that allowed him to do what he did yesterday.

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6 Comments:
Blogger Distributorcap said...
bush - the anti-sully. notice how he didnt even mention it at all in that joke of a speech. i guess geese arent as useful as terrorists in promoting and selling his bullshit.

i didnt think i could hate someone as much as i hate Bush - those people on the plane had the good fortune of having sully as their leader yesterday. we sadly have had the horrible fortune of having bush as our leader for 8 insufferable years

go away george and have a miserable and painful rest of your life
1/16/09, 5:16 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...
Nice opening line. I have found your blog to be entertaining and informative, sometimes to vulgar, but as I've heard on the art and craft circuit, "there's no accounting for taste".
be well
1/16/09, 7:58 AM  
Blogger Bob said...
"Sulley" doesn't know from New York celebrity yet. When the NTSB reads the black boxes & officially clears him, he could have a "Canyon of Heroes" ticker tape. That he'll probably turn down. I hope he goes on Letterman, & lets himself experience the standing O's at the stadiums come spring. Mainly his consulting business will prosper, which is right & deserved.
1/16/09, 10:53 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...
Hopefully, and for a while to come, passengers will pay attention to the safety lecture "... in the event of a water landing..."
1/16/09, 1:45 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...
Yes, thanks be to Sulley...he did his job, did it well and saved his passengers and untold numbers of New Yorkers who could have died if the plane crashed in the city instead of being successfully landed in the Hudson. No panic, no overriding fear---confidence, training and duty. American virtues Bush knows nothing about.
1/16/09, 2:23 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...
It's such a shocker to see someone calmly and competently doing his job that no one can believe it.
1/16/09, 5:13 PM  
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