Apparently the Secret Service just did not want to interrupt President Bush’s bike ride in Maryland on Wednesday when they failed to tell him that a plane had entered Washington air space and was on the verge of being shot down.

CNN implied as much in its coverage on Thursday, but never came right out and said it and the best I can tell, never posted a story about it on its Web site.

The Washington Post reports today that D.C. officials were also in the dark in this story:

D.C. in Dark While Plane Was Intercepted

I guess Vice President Dick Cheney was running the country from his bunker at the Carlisle Group compound in Alexandria, Virginia.

The AP did report it this way, under the headline:

White House Defends Handling Capital Alert

Over at the Washington Post’s Web forum, one reader makes a joke about it, saying “Let the prez have his play time.”

Indeed.

© 2005, Glynn Wilson. All rights reserved.