White House complex on fire.
The networks are reporting that a fire is burning inside the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. The EEOB is located right next to the White House and holds much of the White House staff.
UPDATE: MSNBC’s Kelly O’Donnell reports, “The Vice President was not in the ceremonial office. He was, in fact, in the Oval Office with the President at the time the fire broke out and that no one believed to be a part of the office has suffered any injuries.”
UPDATE II: “Preliminary indications are that the fire may have started in a room housing electrical or telephone equipment,” adjacent to Vice President Dick Cheney’s ceremonial office suite on the second floor.
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107 Responses to “White House complex on fire.”
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Well there go the rest of the WH’s rendition/torture tapes and all
December 19th, 2007 at 9:55 amthose pesky hard drives.
The Shrub playing with matches I’m sure.
December 19th, 2007 at 9:58 amWow, doesn’t that make things easier. Building 7 easier. Pentagon records easier.
December 19th, 2007 at 9:58 amLet’s wait for more details before we start jumping to conclusions.
December 19th, 2007 at 9:58 amreally? hang on.. let me go outside and check. I need to get coffee anyway. http://www.tshirtinsurgency.com
December 19th, 2007 at 9:59 amI hope nobody is hurt!
I wonder if it was started by the fire that began on the pants of the current Administration? (Liar, liar, pants on fire. . . .) ;-)
December 19th, 2007 at 10:00 amThe Reichstag–I mean Eisenhower Executive Office Building is on fire! Liberals must have done it! Or arabs!
December 19th, 2007 at 10:00 amI hope everyone gets out o.k. and there is not too much damage to this historic building. And lets hold off on the conspiracy theories for now.
Comment by good_golly — December 19, 2007 @ 9:56 am
Got damage control?
December 19th, 2007 at 10:00 amI’m sure the Nazi Chimp will somehow manage to blame Iran.
And start WWIII.
December 19th, 2007 at 10:00 amOf course I hope that everyone is okay and that the firefighters are able to take care of this with no one hurt….
But you can’t help but start wondering considering the secrecy and duplicity that this administration has shown ….
December 19th, 2007 at 10:01 amIt’s Clinton’s fault.
December 19th, 2007 at 10:01 amMy guess is that a lot of help will be sent over there. It’s not New Orleans, anyway.
December 19th, 2007 at 10:01 amI agree with poster 2, but if we later hear them claim that important evidence was “lost” in this fire, I’m going to have an aneurysm.
December 19th, 2007 at 10:01 amherr dubyah dropped his bong on the carpet and the whole place caught ablaze
December 19th, 2007 at 10:03 amDr. Matt:
hahaha
December 19th, 2007 at 10:05 amThanks for the morning laugh, I needed this!
Looks like an evidence burning party got out of hand.
December 19th, 2007 at 10:05 am#14
December 19th, 2007 at 10:05 amOh come on. With all that has happened and is happening. How many more times do you have to be led to believe something they want you to? Seriously. You think you are being optimistic. I say you are being a chump. And when people get tired of being called chumps, maybe we can have some real progress happen. Benefit of the doubt…. after everything. I don’t think so.
How much you wanna’ bet that what was burning was all of the documents evidence these thugs haven’t had a chance to destroy?
They were going to tell us that the dog ate it all, but they couldn’t find a big enough dog.
December 19th, 2007 at 10:07 amThat sucks - that building has some of the most beautiful architecture in DC.
December 19th, 2007 at 10:08 am“If only our keyboards had their letter ‘W’s, we could have called for water.”
December 19th, 2007 at 10:08 amGuy Fawkes is that you?
December 19th, 2007 at 10:08 amIs this Cheney’s Reichstag moment?
December 19th, 2007 at 10:10 amGiven where the smoke is pouring out of (second story, facing the Whitehouse) the fire is most likely in a sensitive office.
I did some construction work back in the early 80’s at the whitehouse, this is about the same area as Ollie North’s office…
December 19th, 2007 at 10:13 amYes, it is. My SO and I were driving past it a couple of nights ago, and comment on the elaborate architecture. We have always referred to it as the Old Executive Office Building (a new, much less impressive building having been built nearby in the late ’70s),
December 19th, 2007 at 10:13 amre 12:
That, is funny!
December 19th, 2007 at 10:13 amLooks like an evidence burning party got out of hand.
Either that or the shredder over-heated.
December 19th, 2007 at 10:14 amIntercom announcement at The Eisenhower Executive Office Bldng:
“All trolls please log off and evacuate single file. Exley, Cold_Hard_Left, please help the new guy good_golly find his way out. BillyHill would you please report to Mr. Cheney’s office ASAP for your daily sodomizing. That is all”
December 19th, 2007 at 10:16 amBoy, these criminals will go to any extent to get rid of incriminating evidence.
I guess things were getting to close to the fire, so to speak.
December 19th, 2007 at 10:20 amMSNBC is reporting that the EEOB houses top secret and classified documents……go figure.
December 19th, 2007 at 10:21 amReposted:
Latest word from the White House fire is that Cheney carried his man-sized safe out of the building on his back.
After a quick battery replacement, the VP said he felt fine. Then he realized he didn’t have the safe’s combination with him. When asked why he was in such a hurry to open the safe, Mr. Cheney quietly said, ‘because the President is hiding in there’
December 19th, 2007 at 10:21 amWe have always referred to it as the Old Executive Office Building (a new, much less impressive building having been built nearby in the late ’70s),
Comment by Marcus Aurelius — December 19, 2007 @ 10:13 am
Me too. It’s interesting that they named it after Eisenhower, considering that it was almost demolished during the Eisenhower administration.
December 19th, 2007 at 10:22 amIt’s interesting that they named it after Eisenhower, considering that it was almost demolished during the Eisenhower administration.
Comment by toasterhead — December 19, 2007 @ 10:22 am
So, will Iraq be changed to ‘dubyahistan’?
December 19th, 2007 at 10:24 amSo, will Iraq be changed to ‘dubyahistan’?
Comment by Dr. Matt — December 19, 2007 @ 10:24 am
Possibly, but this implies that there will be something left of Iraq in 20 or 30 years when we finally leave. I’m not that optimistic.
December 19th, 2007 at 10:27 amReichstag Fire! All we need is to catch Abdullah al-van der Lubbe and the Enabling Act is a lock!
December 19th, 2007 at 10:30 amMSNBC is reporting that the EEOB houses top secret and classified documents……go figure.
Comment by Dr. Matt — December 19, 2007 @ 10:21 am
That’s not such a surprise - every federal building houses top secret and classified documents. Even your local post office houses sensitive but unclassified documents.
December 19th, 2007 at 10:30 amMy first thought was let’s hope nobody gets hurt.
My second was wouldn’t it be an amazing coincidence if Cheney’s “man sized safe” happened to be open and all those secret documents were destroyed….then I thought wait….. these guys are “competent” right, I mean they wouldn’t keep important documents somewhere at risk from things like a fire………..and they do have a sprinkler system….right?
This may seem cynical but it has become hard not to be with this lot.
December 19th, 2007 at 10:31 amI think #1 is more likely to be correct–it is described as an “electrical fire”. I’m guessing it will totally fry the e-mail back-up servers.
December 19th, 2007 at 10:34 amEven if this was purposely set by these thugs, they won’t get caught.
They are still at large for 9/11.
Cover-up is the name of the game for this bunch of criminals. Since day 1, in fact.
December 19th, 2007 at 10:36 amWe all know Cheney’s office has been under fire for a long time. Well, now it really is. Someone tell tricky Dick that target practice inside the EEOB is a dangerous game.
Wonder how many top-secret docs went up in smoke this morning?
December 19th, 2007 at 10:39 amOnly the incriminating ones…
December 19th, 2007 at 10:41 am“The fire started in an electrical closet or telephone bank area on the third floor, D.C. Fire Department spokesman Alan Etter said.”
That’ll set NSA wiretapping back a bit.
December 19th, 2007 at 10:43 amWe knew they were incompetent screwups, all we asked was they don’t burn the place down…
December 19th, 2007 at 10:44 amHoly freakin’ convenient.
Will this gem trump all “news” about Addington, Miers, Gonzo, and Bellinger?
Bush showing the ole “watch me light a fart” frat-boy gag.
And per usual, it was SENSATIONAL.
December 19th, 2007 at 10:44 amWow, the lengths they’ll go to destroy tapes!
Kidding.
December 19th, 2007 at 10:45 amI hope…
Ooopss..ALL evidence of anything ever done by dubyah, darth, fredo or addington is now gone.. this was a torch job.
December 19th, 2007 at 10:45 amThe “Secret Service” has allready concluded nothing suspicious.
December 19th, 2007 at 10:52 amI know Cheney’s an old guy, but has he not ever heard of electronic shredding?
December 19th, 2007 at 10:54 amWouldn’t it be funny if Jeff Gannon was found running out of the building with his pants around his ankles.
December 19th, 2007 at 10:55 amGlad no one was injured.
Why would/could the SS keep fire investigators out of a PUBLIC building?
December 19th, 2007 at 11:01 amDid you just say the SS?
December 19th, 2007 at 11:07 amWhy would/could the SS keep fire investigators out of a PUBLIC building?
Why was the steel from the World Trade Center sent to China for scrap metal — instead of investigating it?
December 19th, 2007 at 11:08 amHmmmm. Dick Cheney’s office, eh? Well, they were ordered not to SHRED evidence.
I guess the judge didn’t tell them they couldn’t BURN it.
December 19th, 2007 at 11:14 amThe Bush administration will now fully comply with all the Congressional and Judaical subpoenas for tapes, E-mail archives and documents that weren’t destroyed in the Executive Office Building fire. A fire that looks suspiciously like the work of Al Qaeda.
December 19th, 2007 at 11:14 amI think Bill did too!
December 19th, 2007 at 11:15 amI can see it now, Bush and Cheney dancing around the Oval Office raising the roof singing “The documents, the documents, the documents are on fire! We don’t need no water let the m-f-er burn!”
December 19th, 2007 at 11:15 amSomeone trying to smoke Cheney out of his cave?
December 19th, 2007 at 11:17 amBluedahlia,
Being optimistic does not make me a chump, it just makes me the opposite of a pessimist. The ironic thing here is, we’re probably on the same side in most respects. You assume that since I sided with someone who expressed sympathy first that and advised against conspiracy theories second, I’m some sort of apologist but you’re wrong. The first reaction to a situation like this should be to consider the welfare of those immediately affected and the preservation of property. My next reaction is also to assume the worst, but how many times have we believed the worst about this administration without sufficient proof? Let’s get some facts in so we’re not running around crying wolf.
That being said, lack of proof more often than not is the result of insufficient investigation. By all means, let’s have more accountability and less secrecy with this administration. “Trust, but verify”.
December 19th, 2007 at 11:26 amWhat is most sad is that the trust and faith and basic goodwill of the American people has been so deeply routed by the collusion and general “FU” behavior of this administration, that an electrical fire in a phone room is cause for people to genuinely question whether or not it was part of a nefarious plot to destroy damaging evidence…
Distrust, disbelief, disdain. Cogratulations, right wingers, you have really “left your mark”…
December 19th, 2007 at 11:31 amCan we even be certain that we will receive accurate information regarding any records and/or evidence that was stored there?
If the information turns out to be “inconclusive”, it is important to consider the whole rather than each separate part.
For example, if you lose a coin toss to someone who called “heads”, you probably wouldn’t think much of it, however, if the same thing happened twenty times in a row, a fair number of reasonable people might begin to think that the coin was weighted. The remainder (the anticonspiracy crowd) would continue to lose, much to the delight of their opponent.
One only needs to review the history of similar situations that have occurred since January, 2001, and it would seem that in such matters, the Bush Administration has been either complicit or extremely lucky, as most,if not all situations have worked to their benefit.
December 19th, 2007 at 11:37 amDid you just say the SS?
Comment by Tangeuray — December 19, 2007 @ 11:07 am
Yes, could mean Secret Service, or in a more sinister take,
December 19th, 2007 at 11:39 amSugared Suzies…
So, conspiracy theorists. If this was a conspiracy, and building #7 was a conspiracy, why didn’t this one fall like building #7? Which time were you wrong?
Comment by good_golly — December 19, 2007 @ 11:36 am
wowie zowie, you sure got us, didn’t you? I forgot that all conspiracies are exactly alike.
December 19th, 2007 at 11:40 amThat being said, lack of proof more often than not is the result of insufficient investigation. By all means, let’s have more accountability and less secrecy with this administration. “Trust, but verifyâ€.
And how is that going to get done? A letter? A stern voice of disapproval? All that does is enable. Until something is DONE, nothing is.
My thoughts did not immediately go to hoping that everyone is safe because based on past actions of this administration, I have assumed this is an inside job. When someone gets harmed, that turns to murder and that is too messy to clean up. It stinks that a fabulous piece of our historical architecture was damaged, but I never once thought anyone would get hurt.
December 19th, 2007 at 11:44 amBurn, baby. BURN!
December 19th, 2007 at 11:49 amSo, conspiracy theorists. If this was a conspiracy, and building #7 was a conspiracy, why didn’t this one fall like building #7? Which time were you wrong?
Comment by good_golly
Because you have the wrong conspiracy doofus. This fire was started by a magic bullet.
December 19th, 2007 at 11:49 amApparently the shredder wasn’t fast enough.
December 19th, 2007 at 11:52 amSo, conspiracy theorists. If this was a conspiracy, and building #7 was a conspiracy, why didn’t this one fall like building #7? Which time were you wrong?
Comment by good_golly
Maybe we should watch BBC and they must be reporting already that the Eisenhower Building has already fallen.
December 19th, 2007 at 11:54 amThere’s that name again.
Addington.
December 19th, 2007 at 12:01 pmThat should be a clue to Bush. Bad karma is coming his way.
December 19th, 2007 at 12:07 pmBig Dick Cheney and his Haliburton buddies must have knocked a candle over during a late night gay orgy and paper shredding party.
/…just trying to get into the TP spirit.
December 19th, 2007 at 12:10 pmLemme guess all the visitor logs and CIA memos got burned all up huh
December 19th, 2007 at 12:10 pmBig Dick Cheney and his Haliburton buddies must have knocked a candle over during a late night gay orgy and paper shredding party.
/…just trying to get into the TP spirit.
Comment by Charles James Napier — December 19, 2007 @ 12:10 pm
we generally aren’t literal, but whatever works for you.
December 19th, 2007 at 12:15 pmOperetaion DESTROY EVIDENCE must gone wrong…
December 19th, 2007 at 12:25 pm5 million emails up in smoke.
Bush/Cheney
Hague Trials ‘09
Buck Fush
December 19th, 2007 at 12:33 pmBluedahlia,
You’re full of piss and vinegar and little else. What are you proposing we do? Are you ready for the revolution, or are you sitting around with your knitting, writing scathing commentary on TP?
I want something to get DONE also, but I am a realistic optimist. We’re watching history unfold, we’re watching another story of hubris (thank you Tony Kornheiser) play itself out. Make fun all you want, but writing letters and voicing disapproval are part of the process. When you no longer respect the process, then go ahead and start the movement, but until then, take your condescending tone and shove it.
December 19th, 2007 at 12:40 pmDuz ya think maybe the shredders overheated, or sum uv the stiff staff finally hadda heated discust..ion!!!!!!
December 19th, 2007 at 12:57 pmDo you suppose the place just spontaneously combusted due to the overwhelming evil that resides there?
December 19th, 2007 at 12:59 pmthe one thing that really suprises me about all the stupid conspiricy post is not the fact that alot of you actually believe what your posting…….its that you haven’t blamed global warming yet…….what a bunch of idiots!
December 19th, 2007 at 1:27 pmRU,
December 19th, 2007 at 1:31 pmNo the “undisclosed place” where Darth spends most of his time is actually Hell. The elevator that goes back and forth originates in the telephone closet. The car was at the bottom of the shaft when a technician opened the door and the updraft caused the fire. It was an accident, Darth forgot to lock the door to the closet.
If I were superstitious, I’d say this is a bad omen.
Cynical that I am, I’ll say instead this White House was going down in flames already anyway -at least metaphorically speaking.
December 19th, 2007 at 1:33 pmherr dubyah dropped his bong on the carpet and the whole place caught ablaze
Comment by Dr. Matt — December 19, 2007 @ 10:03 am
Wrong president dufus.
Comment by Southern Man — December 19, 2007 @ 12:25 pm
Ooooooh! Pardon us. It must have been his crack pipe he dropped.
December 19th, 2007 at 1:34 pmherr dubyah dropped his bong on the carpet and the whole place caught ablaze
Comment by Dr. Matt — December 19, 2007 @ 10:03 am
Wrong president dufus.
Comment by Southern Man — December 19, 2007 @ 12:25 pm
And HOW would you know that? Maybe it was YOUR METH PIPE instead? ROTFL!!
December 19th, 2007 at 1:54 pmupdate II there is very telling. cheney office? telecom equipment?
ol’dickster learned a lot at the teat of nixon and segretti.
December 19th, 2007 at 1:55 pm81 - back on the meds, bro, or we’ll be watching the cops shoot you on cnn later today.
December 19th, 2007 at 1:55 pmwow….now the cops are in on it too. the gov’ts out to get everyone ohhhhhh nooooooo! the sky is falling…the sky is falling….seriously do you guys actually believe the postings on here?
December 19th, 2007 at 2:04 pmDixie Boy is right - Dubbie would’ve dropped a freebase pipe, not a bong.
December 19th, 2007 at 2:05 pm88 - only those posts left by random crazies such as yourself, so don’t get too agitated.
December 19th, 2007 at 2:06 pmI have noticed over the years that there are more house fires in a given neighborhood during a down market than during an up market. I’m guessing many of the documents congress has been demanding have been destroyed in the fire - by sheer coincidence.
December 19th, 2007 at 2:08 pmnot agitated but amused by the fact that since i dont agree with your group think that im considered crazy……and if crazy is not buying into the conspiricy theories such as WTC #7, Haliburton is Satan and any wierdo gov’t conspiricy then well then maybe I am.
December 19th, 2007 at 2:09 pmWhat? Did Cheney get to close to the window and busrt into flames? although it is a cloudy day today in DC
December 19th, 2007 at 2:16 pmi don’t even know who the hell you are 92, if i did, and had concluded you had some cred, knowledge, etc., then i certainly wouldn’t declare you crazy. call me crazy, but that’s how i roll.
if u just want to pop in and bark for attention, you’re probably going to get a lot, but maybe not the kind you were hoping for.
everyone here is down for a conversation, but no one is down for loaded questions, proving they’re not the strawman, and all those other playground games
if you’ve got some real stuff to talk about - fine. if it all amounts to barking and games, you can prolly count on getting flagged til you’re banned, then coming back again with another handle to repeat the cycle. we’ve seen it happen planty of times, and it’s pretty tedious
December 19th, 2007 at 2:32 pmCrazy Bush cultist: “and if crazy is not buying into the conspiricy theories such as WTC #7″
Hey stupid. Has a steel-framed building EVER fallen without being hit by a jet or without a major fire or for any reason? You don’t have to believe in conspiracies to wonder about THAT one.
December 19th, 2007 at 2:39 pmtake your condescending tone and shove it.
Comment by OptimisticMF
The only condescending tone here is coming from someone who claims to be the optimist. Like most self-appointed names, your’s is nothing but hyperbole.
More like OptimisticAhole…
December 19th, 2007 at 2:43 pmHey #95 popular mechanics answered all the WTC questions
December 19th, 2007 at 2:56 pmoh wait I’m the cultist? I love the liberal socialist rage…..it so so what are the words I’m thinking of?…..so…oh yeah so much of the same non thinking bs I’ve heard out of the mainstream media for years. Get over it. You guys hate Cheney because he beat down Edwards like a little punk in the VP debate in the last election cycle. You want substance tombaker well Cheney has been in public service for over 30 years in multiple administrations, headed a billion dollar a year organization and served on a board of directors of a fortune 500 company…..so all in all he’s a pretty experienced guy. I doubt he’s a document shredder or a person who would steal documents from the national archives….see Sandy Burger. The conspiricy theories are tiresome and a little amusing but mainly tiresome. I know you don’t want me here in your little socialist utopia where you wear blinders to the real events that happen in the world. You know like the multple terrorist attacks on Slick Willies watch like WTC 1, the Cole, Embassies in Rydia and Kenya…and the lack of action taken. Or even the fact that we are winning in Iraq and all the European gov’ts are behind us (see Sarkozys statement about Syria). So I bid good day to you and yours sir so you all can stick your head back in the sand.
P.S. just one post script the bumpersticker slogan “War on Terror” was coined by none other the Bill Clinton
December 19th, 2007 at 3:11 pmthat’s nice, cartman. good for you. have a cheezy-poof.
December 19th, 2007 at 3:12 pmand thats the best you can do at a substantive dialogue? well done sir…..well done
December 19th, 2007 at 3:14 pm-by lik my ballz?
exactly! nice to see you starting to see the light.
nice moniker, tiny. But, they’ll have to drop first.
………
December 19th, 2007 at 3:23 pmWow. An angry troll. Heh. Well, if I have anything to say about it, he’ll be gone whether he wants to be or not. Reason: Obscenity, specifically in his user name. That is in addition to everything else his post contains.
Personally, I like the idea about the techie who accidentally opened the door to the telecom locker/doorway to heck right as Cheney sneezed and shot a massive fireball up the elevator shaft. :)
And honestly, with all the lost e-mails and stubborn refusals to turn over information to the congress, you think that there’s no chance that a fire in Cheney’s office destroyed classified information? Riiight. I believe that. And I’ve got this bridge I’d like to sell you, too.
December 19th, 2007 at 3:25 pmJeremy - they’ve already bought their bridge - only cost’em 2 trillion - i know - how did they ever get such a good deal on it?
December 19th, 2007 at 3:43 pmThey really need to be burning those papers in a wastebasket.
December 19th, 2007 at 3:47 pmRumor has it that Bush had outsourced “on the premises” shreading of any/and or all incriminating evidence but with all the overwhelming volume thereof, the machine overheated, caught the building on fire and Bush/Cheney Gov Busters could not get Blackwater to respond quick enough and had to rely on regular firefighters or we would not have even have found out if there had really been fire. Heaven knows, Georgey boy wouldn’t want to burden the American people with such trival matters.
December 19th, 2007 at 6:05 pmAt first I thought the fire was started by Cheney’s paper shredder overheating from being run 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. But after that second update, I’m starting to think the fire was caused by Cheney’s illegal wire tap machinery.
December 19th, 2007 at 6:11 pm“The Vice President was not in the ceremonial office.”
Like any good Mafia don, he was somewhere else. With witnesses.
December 19th, 2007 at 8:39 pmDienowforpeace,
You can shove it too you prick, nobody asked you. What, are you bluedahlia’s self appointed protector? That person went after me unprovoked and I responded, now I’ve got you and your second rate responses too. Next time you want to stick your nose into a conversation, make a point.
December 19th, 2007 at 9:22 pmscrew those guys. pod 6 is jerks.
December 20th, 2007 at 12:26 amLightning struck his throne.
December 20th, 2007 at 8:41 amWhen Cheney teleported in for work, he must’ve forgotten to leave the sulfer, fire and brimstone home!
December 20th, 2007 at 10:36 am