barry went on his media adoration tour while Geithner and Dodd tried to get their lies straight. He golfed while Hamas and Israel had at each other. And instead of admitting he knew about the bonuses before he took office (as did Geithner) he make fun of Special Olympians.
WHICH HE STILL HAS YET TO APOLOGIZE FOR.
And then 60 Minutes was a regular riot. Nobody held barry accountable for his comments. What’s he gonna have to do - laugh at people without a job? Well he did that too. Watch.
speakmymind02
What about you folks in Detroit and Toledo? You find it hilarious what he had to say about the auto industry? Ha-ha-ha. Did you like when he said he got to take some of the weekend off? That he had time to read? That he thought the governing was easy?
He was flirting with Steve Kroft. Kroft who loves him back couldn’t let the giggling go and asked him if he was punch drunk.
“Gallows humor” barry called it and kept laughing.
Did anyone see a millisecond of concern on barry’s face?
From CNN: Kroft also said Obama displayed his trademark calmness even with all of the challenges his young administration is facing. “I found him probably more relaxed this week than at any other time that I have interviewed him,” Kroft told Kurtz.
It’s not calmness - it’s cluelessness and the afterglow of the obamessiah’s adoration. Just watch this a few times with the sound off.
Is this the guy you want driving the ship? There’s calm = Sullenberger and there’s fratboy = Bush and then there’s barry who doesn’t have a clue and doesn’t feel the need to get one.
Where is the sense of urgency in his face as pertains the nation?
Would someone please tell him the election is over and that it’s time to do something?
This is Aroid's 12-17-2007 60 Minutes interview with Katie Couric where he denies unequivocally that he DID NOT use any performance-enhancing drugs. Couric didn't mention specifically amphetamines so he should be able to say it depends on what the meaning of is is. Aroid's *tell* are his lips, left cheek and his voice. He is not much of a blinker, which shows he is a pretty accomplished liar (as far as this) and has justified it in his mind that he has done nothing wrong. He has had plenty of years to do so and hundreds of millions of dollars as incentive to lie.
His denial is the first part. Following that is the transcript of the rest of the interview and videos of his batting cage and his trophy room. He showed her that knowing he cheated to get them.
CBS
KATIE COURIC: For the record, have you ever used steroids, human growth hormone or any other performance-enhancing substance?
AROID: No.
LIE
COURIC: Have you ever been tempted to use any of those things?
AROID: No.
LIE.
COURIC: You never felt like, 'This guy's doing it, maybe I should look into this, too? He's getting better numbers, playing better ball'.
AROID: I've never felt overmatched on the baseball field. I've always been in a very strong, dominant position. And I felt that if I did my work as I've done since I was, you know, a rookie back in Seattle, I didn't have a problem competing at any level. So, uh, no.
LIE. He did more than his work - he cheated.
COURIC: What is your reaction to this investigation?
AROID: Katie, you're putting me in a tough spot. I mean, these are guys that I play with. They're my teammates. If anything comes of this, I will be extremely disappointed. And it will be a huge black eye on the game of baseball.
HE is the black eye on the game of baseball. HE has disappointed his teammates, the game of baseball and the world. He was in a tought spot because he had to keep lying.
COURIC: It sounds like this is rampant. According to the Mitchell Report, every single club has a player using banned substances. Did you ever witness or hear about or even suspect this was going on?
AROID: You hear a lot of things. I mean, I came in 1993. And you heard whispers from the '80s and '90s. But I never saw anything. I never had raw evidence. And, quite frankly, I was probably a little bit too naïve when I first came up to understand the magnitude of all this.
The emphasis on *first* was his. It is what he is now using as the basis of his apology and excuse - he had it thought out even then. He is beyond a liar and a cheater - he is a pre-meditated liar about his cheating. All he had to do is look in the mirror.
COURIC: Given this controversy, Alex, who do you think has the real homerun record? Barry Bonds at 762 or Hank Aaron 755?
AROID: Well, I think Barry Bonds. He has 762.
Of course he is going to say that - it involves him - his records. Which in my opinion should be wiped out for the years he admits to using steroids. The years he used to extort his money.
COURIC: But, he has an asterisk next to his name.
AROID: Does he? Not yet.
Funny he used *yet*. I remember hearing this the first time I watched him say this and I was hoping Couric would have pressed him on it. Derek Lee also said the same thing. The players all know who is cheating and who isn't. And now that Aroid has admitted to it it will allow them to come forward - especially the ones whose jobs (and money) he took. It explains why Jeter was not moved from shortstop.
COURIC: In the minds of many, he does.
AROID: The federal government is going to make its decision on that. Barry's been a phenomenal player. And I've really enjoyed watching him play. But, he's innocent 'til proven guilty.
Again, he is speaking for himself. And he thought he would be able to slip by until he was found guilty.
****
Here's the rest of the interview even though it's not on this video.
This is what he attributes his success to.
FOLLOW LINK ABOVE TO SEE VIDEOS THAT DON'T EMBED HERE
He was asked why he thinks he gets so much grief over his salary.
AROID: Cuz I make a lot of money.
Based on cheating - that is what they are mad about. Money the ones who haven't cheated deserved and didn't get. The money fans had to play to get into the park.
COURIC: Your new contract is worth $300 million-plus. Are you worth it? Is any player worth that kind of salary?
AROID: I'm not sure. I mean, that's not my job to evaluate or appraise players. I love to play baseball.
But the game that got Alex Rodriguez the most attention this past season was one he wasn't even in. It was the fourth game of the World Series and the Red Sox were about to sweep the Colorado Rockies, when the announcer suddenly broke away from the game, saying that Rodriguez had decided to opt out of his Yankees contract. Opt-out, meaning he was leaving to become a free agent. That announcement upstaged one of the biggest nights in baseball.
COURIC: Can you understand why so many people found that so incredibly offensive?
AROID: Absolutely. A hundred percent. If I was a sports writer, if I was a fan, I would have been very, very upset. I was angry and upset. Shocked -- disbelief. I mean, I'm sitting in my living room.
COURIC: You were watching the game?
AROID: Yes. And that was very, very difficult.
What about the players he again upstaged? He knew what was going on or at least that it might happen. What more publicity could he have gotten?
COURIC: What did you do when you heard it?
AROID: Nightmare -- you know, I got white like a ghost. I just couldn't believe my eyes. I was under the impression that it would come out a day or two after the World Series concluded. And I would never do anything to harm the game [this is laughable]… to the Red Sox and the Rockies, my deepest apologies, and to all of Major League Baseball.
COURIC: You got hammered by the press. A number of respected sports writers called you, among other things, 'A gold plated phony.' 'Pay-Rod in Pinstripes.' They say you upstaged more World Series games than you actually played in. Were you surprised at the level of vitriol that came your way?
You want to know who uses steroids - look at their post season records - if they have any. Soriano is 0 for the post season as in no hits...not that I am saying he uses anything...I just find it curious - and disgusting - that he comes to the Cuns and makes this huge salary and then spends most of the time on the DL and sucks in the outfield and never gets on base and therefore cannot use this speed I've never seen evidence of. In othe words, since he got his deal, which cannot be broken, he has sucked. I haven't calculated how much he gets for each at bat but he doesn't even run to first base half the time and he stands at the plate after his homers like he just did something great when that is exactly what he is getting paid for. Jim Hendry made a HUGE mistake with him and made a UNBELIEVABLE mistake trading Mark DeRosa. That was wrong and ranks up there with what they did to Mark Grace. And getting rid of Kerry Wood who has been very active with Children's Memorial Hospital and kids said who said pay me whatever I'm worth? Wrong. The two bright lights of last season are now gone.
ROID: No. If I was a writer, I would have done the same thing, because it was unacceptable. And inappropriate. And, you know, when you do things the wrong way, that’s what you get.
The whole debacle started, he says, when his agent, Scott Boras, told him the Yankees didn’t want him anymore.
COURIC: But they were trying to reach out to you. It's kind of hard to believe that you were taking Scott Boras' word as gospel when you had all these other signs coming from Yankee management.
AROID: You're right.
COURIC: Why did you fall for that?
He didn't fall for anything he is using him as a fall guy.
AROID: Why wouldn't I trust my attorney. Most people trust their attorneys. I'm a baseball player. I'm not an attorney. I've never negotiated a contract. When I realized things were going haywire, at that point, I said, 'Wait a minute! I got to be accountable for my own life…this is not going the way I wanted to go and I got behind the wheel,' and I called Hank.
Hank, as in George Steinbrenner's son, who is now in charge of the Yankees. Taking the advice of his friend billionaire Warren Buffet, A-Rod says he negotiated directly and personally with the Yankees. Scott Boras, who told 60 Minutes he couldn't talk about his clients, was not welcome at the table, but he still stands to make about $15 million on the deal. A-Rod says he will pay him, and will keep him.
COURIC: What is your relationship like with him today? Why do you have to think about that so much?
AROID: Well, the whole situation saddens me a little bit.
Asked if he talks with him at all, Rodriguez said "No."
COURIC: Do you think that will change?
AROID: We’ll see.
He's still standing at his side. This guy lies about things that don't matter.
Asked if he was talking to Boras during the negotiation process.
AROID: No, I wasn't. I was talking with my wife.
COURIC to AROID's (then) wife: Cynthia, how do you think Alex changed as a result of this?
AROID: He wasn't used to having to take such initiative and such action, especially in this arena….and he actually had to pick up the phone, make the calls, make some decisions and stand behind them…be confident and be sure…it was very difficult, but it was a huge growing experience.
COURIC: Is it all about the money for you?
AROID: No. But economics always play a part of it. I wanted the best deal the Yankees had for me. Whatever that number was.
Yes it is. He wanted to be the best ever and make the most ever and he cheated his way to it. He is a cheater. He should be treated as such. If he got caught using steroids even once without a prescription let alone smuggling them into the country he would be charged with a crime. Whether it stuck is another matter. And that number was based on his numbers in Texas where he admits to using "banned substances". He's a CHEATER, A LIAR and an overpaid criminal. This whole discussion on his grotesque salary shows what a truly dishonorable man he is. He was greedy and he was asking for more money based on his past cheating. Cheating is one thing, lying about it another, but extortion because he did both is beyond the pale.
COURIC: Some people say you overplayed your hand. That there wasn't that much interest in you among other teams.
AROID: I beg to differ.
COURIC: Why?
AROID: I thought there was a lot of interest out there.
COURIC: You thought or you knew?"
AROID: I knew.
By the time this contract is over, Rodriguez will have made nearly $500 million playing baseball. Life in Coral Gables, Fla., is a far cry from his childhood in Miami, which changed dramatically when he was only nine. His father abandoned his family, leaving his mother to support them.
$500M every penny of it tainted.
AROID: My mother's been a rock for a long time. And again, she's working two jobs, secretary in the morning. She was a waitress at night. And it's funny 'cause when she got home and she would pick me up at the Boys and Girls Club in her beat-up car that half the times couldn't start, we would go home. And I was so excited to kind of get all her money out of her pocket. And I would sit there and count, you know, 23, 24, 25, 38, 40. Mom, you did great.
COURIC: Why haven't you done better in the post-season
AROID: I've stunk. You know? I've done very poorly. And that's not acceptable.
Acceptable? And the drugs you injected and then lied about at this very minute to make you not stink.
Asked what it is like being booed by his own fans, Rodriguez told Couric, "Oh, that's awful. That's terrible."
Here's the cheater's spoils.
FOLLOW THE LINK ABOVE TO SEE THE VIDEOS
This year there was a lot less booing. He seemed more relaxed and says he was finally comfortable enough to laugh at himself.
A state-of-the-art batting cage he built near his home raised his game. Every day in the off-season, he blasts his music and gets to work.
COURIC: How much of getting a good hit is technical and how much of it really is psychological?
AROID: I think it really comes down to 90 percent mental and you know, once Yankee Stadium, the lights are on, you have 55,000 people there. It's all about your mind. You know you better than that guy on the mound, and you cannot let that guy beat you. It becomes a competitive battle, one on one.
But the lights are on Alex Rodriguez 24-7, and he’s gotten singed, routinely described in the press as arrogant and disingenuous, not a team player. Then there were the tabloid reports about an alleged extramarital affair.
AROID: It was a challenging time. And you know, we’ve learned from it, we’ve regrouped, we’ve stood up and now I think we’ve become much closer because of the whole situation.
AROID: These are the two MVP awards. And this right here is the Babe Ruth Award -- for most home runs in Major League Baseball. But I would like to yank all three of 'em and put World Championship there. That's my goal. That's my ultimate goal. I feel comfortable my team can expect me to be in the line up every day and at the end of the day, I get paid to be a Major League Baseball player, not anything else, and I do that pretty well.
Can you imagine what Babe Ruth would have done to these guys? They wouldn't even have their pea-sized nuts. There is a very simple way to tell if someone has used steroids for a while. I'll go into this in another post. [Produced By Kyra Darnton, Michael Radutzky, and Lori Beecher]
What's interesting is the Captain's face when he is listening to the cockpit recordings. He keeps blinking - he is actually reliving it in his head live. Same thing has happened each time he has listened to them throughout his media appearances. I wonder if he actually wanted to listen to them and how he slept after hearing them.
As far as a comprehensive list of posts on Flight 1549 in one post? We tried to link the posts together but there are too many (40) to collect in one post. Here are the links to the archive pages where you can find whatever you need.
No, we don't have anything on the air traffic controller Pat Harten other than the cockpit recording with his voice. If I have a chance later maybe I'll see what's out there. I, too, would like to know how long he had to wait to find out. The Teterboro recordings show they knew about 20 minutes later.
As far as those sites using our posts without sourcing us? I don't get it either. It's a matter of personal blogger integrity. Thanks for letting us know, though.
Yes, you can use whatever information you like. That's what it's here for. We just ask you attribute the site like you otherwise would.
Flight 1549 Flight Crew is on the Early Show right now. I wonder how angry Matt Lauer still is. It's infantile. Besides, the crew was first unveiled at the Super Bowl so they got their scoop. Not Matt himself but NBC none-the-less. Anyway, the crew will be presented the keys to the city by Mayor Bloomberg. He had said immediately after the landing: "It would appear that the pilot did a masterful job of landing the plane in the river, and then making sure everybody got out."
Beyond masterful. Sullenberger said some interesting things to Katie Couric on 60 Minutes last night.
I was sure I could do it. I think, in many ways, as it turned out, my entire life up to that moment had been a preparation to handle that particular moment. I had this expectation that my career would be one in which I didn't crash an airplane.
In regards to the first responders and ferry captains:
Thank you seems totally inadequate. I have a debt of gratitude that I fear I may never be able to repay.
I think the fact that there was a good outcome and that they were instrumental to the success gave them and the entire city something to be proud of. Not only did Sullenberger avert disaster - he did it in the most dramatic way possible. Truly nowhere else on American could a rescue like that have taken place. They should be very proud of themselves - something positive after 9-11. And here was the bonus for them. A man whose brother had been murdered on 9-11 who told Sullenberger that he didn't think his family could have taken another loss.
SULLENBERGER: He showed me a picture of himself with his niece, and the niece was a child of his brother, who was killed in 9/11. And he told me, he didn't think that his family could take losing a second son.
UNNAMED PASSENGER (see video): My brother was a firefighter killed at the Trade Center. And the whole way down I'm thinking my family's not gonna survive this. I've gotta get off this airplane. I can't believe that everyone walked off that airplane. It's a miracle. And I really thank you.
As to being called a hero:
I don't feel comfortable embracing it, but I don't want to deny it. I don't want to diminish their thankful feeling toward me by telling them that they're wrong. I'm beginning to understand why they might feel that way. Something about this episode has captured people's imagination. I think they want good news. I think they want to feel hopeful again. And if I can help in that way, I will.
UPDATED: Mayor Bloomberg handed out the keys to the city to each flight crew member calling them "five real American heroes". He introduced Sullenberger as "Captain Cool himself". He then presented him with a copy of a library book he had lost into the Hudson: "Just Culture: Balancing Safety and Accountability" and laughed, "No due date." What about the library?
BLOOMBERG: This was a day that could have been one of our most tragic, but instead was one of our most triumphant. It's been called a miracle, but in this case there is no miracle without the experience of these people.
SULLENBERGER: I want to correct the record right now. This was a crew effort. [He said the same on the Early Show.]
I have not flown as a pilot since the event. I have flown several times as a passenger. I have visited my colleagues in the cockpit in flight and after a brief few seconds of it being not as familiar as usual - it quickly felt right at home.
He described the landing, and the subsequent surge in media attention as a "life-changing event," and he says that he plans to use his position as a "temporary spokesman" for the aviation industry to represent those who work in the industry "as well as I can."
(2-8-09) 60 Minutes - Katie Couric gets the first [Sullenberger] interview, portions of which could air on "The CBS Evening News" this week.
(2-9-09) The Early Show -- Sullenberger talks to Harry Smith and will be joined by family and flight crew: First Officer Jeffrey Skiles, and flight attendants Donna Dent, Doreen Welsh and Sheila Dail .
(2-10-09) Late Show With David Letterman - Sullenberger and flight crew.
Notice no NBC. Matt Lauer is pouting and putting his ego before the heroics of the crew and his audience.
2-1-09 Honored at the Super Bowl - wasn't this enough?
Sullenbergers' media adviser, Alex Clemens of the communications firm Barbary Coast Consulting, confirmed the "60 Minutes" interview but said he would have no other comment.
The Today Show was not pleased and has no intention of interviewing him now. There are folks swearing they won't watch it now because Katie Couric is interviewing him. Madness.
NBC Spokeswoman MEGAN KOPF: What Captain Sullenberger did in the cockpit on Flight 1549 was heroic and admirable. Unfortunately, people close to him have not acted nearly as admirably over the past few days. They gave us their word, and then broke their commitment. We wish Captain Sullenberger the best.
Right. Captain Sullenberger and his crew are less newsworthy on a second interview? The flight crew's actions are less heroic and the lives of the 150 passengers less important because it's a different channel? They ever hear of You Tube?
How much did the decision have to do with an iconic legitimate prime time news show vs morning talk show? NBC vs CBS? Or Matt Lauer vs Katie Couric?
When are they going to realize it's not about them and all they are doing is diminishing what was an amazing feat of experience, skill, judgment and execution that saved 155 (and perhaps many more) lives?
The media just can't leave things lie. They have to find controversy over pride and ratings. Captain Sullenberger was scheduled to be interviewed by Matt Lauer on January 19th in Washington. Sullenberger would be there since he was invited to the Inauguration. He was a ni show, citing the pilot's union not wanting any of the crew to speak publicly until the investigation was completed.
We have been guaranteed we'll still have the first interview with Captain Sullenberger - we’re just going to delay it for a few days.
I don't know what happened in the interim. Maybe Sullenberger (or his wife) took exception to Chris Matthews' metaphor about outgoing VP Dick Cheney sitting in the wheelchair. Whatever happened, Katie Couric will now be interviewing him - and the whole crew I imagine - on 60 Minutes set to air on Feb 8th.
Here's what the classy folks at the Today Show had to say. "Today" spokeswoman Megan Kopf:
What Capt. Sullenberger did in the cockpit on flight 1549 was heroic and admirable. Unfortunately, people close to him have not acted nearly as admirably over the past few days. They gave us their word and then broke their commitment. We wish Capt.Sullenberger the best.
She does not in the least bit wish him well. Isn't that show located in New York?
How can she possibly think the 155 souls he saved from a certain death care what channel it will be on?
