If the order to shoot it down was given on wednesday morning, why didn’t it happen when the thing was over middle of nowhere Montana? Why were all these military consultants all over the conservative media calling him “China Joe” without any pushback from the white house? If the goal was really to shoot it down all along , it’s really frustrating that the whitehouse basically just let these attacks go.
Oh well. I’m already seeing hints that there are congressional hearings planned, I guess we’ll learn more then.
I was hoping that someone else would finally see how apt that song was. In addition to the fact that it’s “red” (as in communist) the government reaction mirrors some of the song lyrics, especially now that the president had a fighter jet shoot it down:
Because people that shoot down extremely large objects in the sky know how to do it without it landing on someone? And maybe the chances of a meaningful recovery were greater bringing it down in open shallow water as opposed to a forest.
As far as responding to attacks on Twitter by wackadoodles, this is how a president behaves, he does his job, makes decisions, and takes responsibility.
Personally I prefer it that way. I also believe them when say they know what they’re doing.
Montana isnt completely uninhabited. If the payload falls a ranch house or kills livestock, the rabid right will complain that the WH doesn’t respect rural landowners.
Why? Must the WH counter every insipid commentary that emeges from Fox News and the RWNJs? If you think that there is anything that Joe Biden does that will win their approval, I’d like to know what that is.
By the way
But several reports have been published in the past two days that give us a better sense of when spy balloons operated by New Cold War adversaries have sailed into U.S. airspace. Bloomberg News reported on Friday that Chinese balloons flew over the U.S. while President Trump occupied the White House.
Surely you don’t think there’s anything that Joe Biden could have said or done to shut up the conservative media pundits? Responding to that ridiculous narrative only would have given them more fuel.
The current congress is not interested in learning more about Chinese spy balloons or how they enter U.S. airspace. They are interested in using any opportunity they can to attack Biden, including taking what is by all accounts a fairly regular occurrence that has happened under Presidents of both parties and pretending it’s an unprecedented act of aggression that was only allowed to happen because we have an insufficiently militant Commander-in-Chief.
ETA:
Not to mention that the wreckage of the balloon isn’t the only part to worry about: you don’t shoot a freaking missile over U.S. airspace unless you’re damned sure that doing so isn’t going to pose a bigger danger than the thing you’re shooting at. Even if you’re sure the missile is going to hit its target it’s still going to create a bunch of potentially dangerous wreckage somewhere.
I just meant that the tit-for-tat is starting, and we are far from hearing the end of it. This is going to lead to a lot of paranoia for US citizens in China and airplanes flying through Chinese airspace, which creates a lot of tension even if the paranoia is unfounded.
It plays into the narrative that the CCP wants to create, which is probably why they sent a balloon in the first place.
Official Chinese line-- read into it what you will.
China strongly disapproves of and protests against the US attack on a civilian unmanned airship by force. The Chinese side has, after verification, repeatedly informed the US side of the civilian nature of the airship and conveyed that its entry into the US due to force majeure was totally unexpected. The Chinese side has clearly asked the US side to properly handle the matter in a calm, professional and restrained manner. The spokesperson of the US Department of Defense also noted that the balloon does not present a military or physical threat to people on the ground. Under such circumstances, the US use of force is a clear overreaction and a serious violation of international practice. China will resolutely safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of the company concerned, and reserves the right to make further responses if necessary.
I doubt that they will retaliate by shooting down some kind of manned or unmanned US aircraft (the veneer of the moral high ground is worth too much to them), but they will have fun toying with the idea that they might. I’ll bet that US planes in the Pacific will get a lot more harrassment for months and months.
