Fact Check

A video circulating around the internet supposedly shows someone spraypainting graffiti on a VC-25A. The VC-25As are two tricked out Boeing 747s that provide transportation for the president, and are only properly called "Air Force One" when the president is on board one of them (for that matter, any Air Force craft carrying the President is designated Air Force One). In reality, the makers of the video rented a Boeing 747, painted one side to match the exterior markings of the official presidential transports, and staged the whole thing.

From the Associated Press article

"We're looking at it, too," said Lt. Col. Bruce Alexander, a spokesman for the Air Mobility Command's 89th Airlift Wing, which operates Air Force One. "It looks very real."

Alexander later confirmed that no such spray-painting had occurred.

How much "later" do you need to call up the 24-hour security detail that you can bet your sweet bippy is on both planes and have someone take a walk 'round to check for unauthorized markings?

And if "it looks very real," shouldn't we be concerned that a guy with a backpack can run up to the official Presidential air transport and stand right next to the plane unmolested for several seconds while discharging the contents of an aerosol can?