Dad Blasts CNN for Questioning Balloon Boy’s ‘Did It For a Show’ Comment

In the first clip, Balloon Boy says, "We did this for a show." In the second clip, the father takes CNN's Wolf Blitzer to task for questioning what his son meant: "I'm kind of appalled."

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October 15, 2009 at 10:58 pm - CNN
Dateline: Fort Collins, CO
Just Sayin   October 15th, 2009 - 11:31 pm

Soooooooooooooooooooooo how much taxpayer dollars were spent on this wild balloon chase. Glad the child is okay but his parents should be made to pay for this entire fiasco.

Indian Outlaw   October 15th, 2009 - 11:32 pm

Hoax, shut down major airport, called out national gaurd, state, local ploice. They need to be charged and pay!

Larse   October 15th, 2009 - 11:33 pm

Ok. We need something far better for tomorrow’s show!!!!

Here it is!!

http://images.huffingtonpost.com/gadgets/slideshows/3216/slide_3216_45334_large.jpg

http://images.huffingtonpost.com/gadgets/slideshows/3216/slide_3216_45344_large.jpg

:D

“6 Year Old Boy Headed to Moon in Father’s Homemade Model Rocket!!!”

“NASA Launches Space Shuttle Rescue Mission to Save Rocket Boy!!!”

“Will NASA Rescue Mission save Rocket Boy Before He Crashes into the MOON!!!”

Hahahhahahahahahahaaa!!!

Now that we can laugh about it all, let’s laugh good!!! :D

milkman   October 15th, 2009 - 11:40 pm

doesn’t CNN understand the kid is 6 years old he said he Did It For the Show’ he 6 years old .why doesn’t CNN grill Obama about BIll Ayers instead of grilling this 6 year old kid over this Did It For the Show’ comment

Shiori   October 15th, 2009 - 11:50 pm

Explain to me how these people could in any way benefit from perpetrating a hoax that makes them look like crappy parents and even worse ’storm chasers’ that can’t even control their own crazy balloons? Where’s the gain in this angle? Is this kind of publicity really a boon to their business? I think not. And unless it can be definitively proven that this was some stupid game, they should be left alone. Glad baby boy is safe.

Early Cuyler   October 16th, 2009 - 12:06 am

I was suspicious about this situation after learning that this family had been on reality television. Anyone puts his family on a reality show has a craving for attention, and I have a bad feeling that this event occurred for that reason. How did a 6 year-old kid get up in the attic in the garage? There’s no way he could have climbed up there alone. I know this is just speculation, but the dad seemed very defensive and nervous after Blitzer asked him to clarify his son’s statement that they “did it for the show.” I really hope that I’m wrong, though.

David C.   October 16th, 2009 - 12:10 am

Looks like a potential hoax to me, but I’m with milkman; it’s fine to grill families that appear to be pulling a hoax with their 6 year old son, but apply the same journalistic pressure on the politicians, CNN.

Nevertheless, this family appears to have severe issues. The father stated earlier that his son was hiding because he yelled at him. Now he gave an example of denying his son candy at the store. What the heck? I hope the father doesn’t hurt the kid for his statement about doing it for the show.

Bleh.

MAKE THEM PAY!   October 16th, 2009 - 12:12 am

Those blockhead-weirdo parents should have to PAY for every dime that was spent in this wild-FALCON chase! Stop defending their LUNACY and THEIR NARCISSISM, folks. Over a hundred people were involved in trying to chase the balloon and save the kid they presumed was on board. Imagine all the expense involved!

MAKE THEM PAY! How will this country ever COME BACK unless we all start to accept RESPONSIBILITY FOR OUR ACTIONS??–and that includes kids, parents, politicians, and our LEADERS!

milkman   October 16th, 2009 - 12:20 am

had this balloon went west it would of landed in the snowcovered Alpine wilderness of the Colorado rockies just west of where they live

HUH? WEIRD!   October 16th, 2009 - 12:26 am

1. The whole family is WEIRD.
2. The father is hiding the truth.
3. Why is Wolf Blitzer kissing the father’s a$$ like that?
4. The whole family needs THERAPY.
5. This is just another confirmation that PEOPLE SHOULD HAVE TO PASS AN EXAM AND GET A LICENSE BEFORE THEY’RE ALLOWED TO PROCREATE!

THE WEIRDEST STORY TO COME ALONG IN A VERY LONG WHILE.

And, YES, the family SHOULD have to pay all the costs involved in this little escapade.

NEED MORE DETAILS   October 16th, 2009 - 12:29 am

“How did a 6 year-old kid get up in the attic in the garage? There’s no way he could have climbed up there alone.”

EXACTLY! More details are needed before any real clarity is gained on this very bizarre story.

NEED MORE DETAILS   October 16th, 2009 - 12:29 am

“How did a 6-year-old kid get up in the attic in the garage? There’s no way he could have climbed up there alone.”

EXACTLY! More details are needed before any real clarity is gained on this very bizarre story.

Larse   October 16th, 2009 - 12:41 am

I hate to dual post… But I know my old homeland very well there…

It is 95% flat open area around there to even a road car as noted by the open area for 20 miles all around and all the cars that met the balloon… Even in the near highly populated foot hills, every square inch is within reach in minutes by rescue and fire folks…

Colorado does a LOT of search and rescue especially in Larimer county*… It is one of their major budget and taxation increase whining points.

They tried to charge for things like this “once”, and then the tax payers wanted to reduce their budgets 20% since it would be paid for by the rescued people instead…. =:O !!!

Plan instantly DROPPED!!!!!!!!! Don’t charge $20,000 for a rescue and get your budgets cut by $24,000,000.00…

Anyone with a fish and game license is charged automatically for going to save their buts anyway. Others can even buy a magic ‘card’ to cover them:

http://www.larimercountysar.org/COSARFund.htm

But unless you do something really fraudulent and criminal, it is all written off as ‘training’… I think the modern politics in the area understands that A*hats get removed from office there real d* fast!!

*BTW – It is super nice not to have that Uber A*hat Republican moron sheriff Jim Black there anymore that used to do searches like this on ‘horse back’… I ’still’ remember that dumb failed fool… I think the new guy there is a Republican too though. Must have solid Democrat liberal genes or something…

Apparently also, the empty balloon decided to crash before it got near failed Republican Marilyn Musgrave’s area!! That is still a hot air waste site…

Wishing to worry about money over stuff like this is what that moron Repub ‘hidden tax’ Mike Coffman was all about in CO… I think he is even a Rep. there now… The “only” Repub left there after the vast failures of the likes of Bill Owens…

Good!!! I managed to bring politics into this after all :D

sunsetsabunch   October 16th, 2009 - 12:41 am

Wierd people….publicity stunt !!!!

Ray D. Aider   October 16th, 2009 - 1:42 am

Too early to fairly judge but I’m leaning toward the idea of an attention getting stunt orchestrated by the dad…that got way out of hand.
The authorities will sniff out the truth, because when you shut down air space…it’s a pretty big deal.
I hope I’m wrong, but that’s what it smells like.

To Larse   October 16th, 2009 - 2:58 am

What the he11 are you talking about? You sound as braindead as the meathead dad. I hope you aren’t appalled too.

Larse   October 16th, 2009 - 3:37 am

Hey Bart…

Take it from someone who has been on the net longer than you have been “alive”…

Fear and censoring will simply kill you…

Was that so hard to very simply understand……………

I know you don’t get it… But not even “I” can explain it to you :(

Larse, YOU LIE!   October 16th, 2009 - 4:06 am

Larse wrote, “Take it from someone who has been on the net longer than you have been “alive”… ”

You are a liar, Larse, and your hyperbole is laughable. Andy (born February 1, 1969) is 40 years old; and the Internet is not.

The Internet is 25 years and 11 months old. The ARPAnet, the predecessor of the Internet, was born in November 1969, making the Internet 39 years old.
Source: http://www.labnol.org/internet/favorites/how-old-is-the-internet/6244/

RobbieK   October 16th, 2009 - 8:57 am

Okay, can we move on to more important news? The upcoming Obama citizenship case trial in January in the court of the Honorable Justice David Carter, Orange County, CA? Judge Carter states the people have a right to vet Barak Obama. Dr. Alan Keyes will be the savior of this nation for sure.

RobbieK   October 16th, 2009 - 9:06 am

Larse wrote: “I hate to dual post… But I know my old homeland very well there…” Okay, we hate when you even SINGLE post. Reading your posts are like reading elementary school books like “The Little Auto”, or other books fit for you, like “The Communist Manifesto”.

kathryn   October 16th, 2009 - 9:10 am

Doesn’t the media bear any responsibility for hyping that this boy was in the balloon when there wasn’t much evidence to support that conclusion? Isn’t that part of the reason we have reached this mass hysteria over this family? I don’t know if the family was flaky, devious and manipulative. Six-year old children don’t have very abstract thinking about time and their language skills reflect that. So, a six-year old’s concept of time in terms of “you had said we are doing this for a show” can be pretty muddled. So, I am withholding judgment.

claspur   October 16th, 2009 - 9:35 am

Hey….psst…. Le’Arse,

Go stick your head up your Sun don’t shine too good up there hole.

Sam Kaufman   October 17th, 2009 - 3:12 am

hoax or not, the balloon boy gave his parents a heck of a lot of publicity in return for minimal effort on their part

"Fraud"ulent   October 18th, 2009 - 2:32 am

Gee….when are they going to answer that question box outside their home? I’m sure “all” answers will be given…if there is enough time for them to come up with a “credible” plan to tell the reporters.

Anyway my take on this. Because its kind of a waste of taxpayer money….and there needs to be harsher reprimands. If the media covers it…I like it…it just goes to show punishment goes through humiliation, if this plan has backfired on them.

Its kind of simple, the person has an obsession to be doing a show. From what I’ve read. He calls it “The Science Detectives”, which he pitches to TLC, ect. Not sure if this plan was given before the Wife Swap Reality Show.

Now…the whole balloon incident, is probably a publicity stunt to garner attention, and perhaps a little fame and sympathy. Of course….as we see in the CNN interview, the father wastes no time in explaining the scientific marvels this balloon could do. All is dandy to the viewers, who believe this is true.

Of course he could have gotten something to gain. If the boy was safe….we could all be sympathetic towards the family, or in theory these fifteen minutes of fame, would spark some TV producers to take interest. And thus, in my belief, he could pitch his incident to TV producers about his screwball life, and the incident of this invention he had. I’m sure there is more than meets the eye when it comes to the coincidence the person has been on a reality television show, and was pitching something to the TV Networks. I wonder what he does for a living too. Has anyone questioned that?

However…the plan backfired…when the child said “I thought we did this for a TV show”. Its possible because I seem to not understand the father’s response, as a clutter of panic, or simply trying to trail off, or maybe he realizes his plan may have been put into the open.

So we go to Good Morning America? The child is sick, whenever he is asked about the “show” comment. Its hard to avoid, Im sure the family knew they’d be asked the question, and hence the boy was “sick” during the actual question. I can see if the boy responded, we’d have more questions raising in. The “Sick” method always works to block any questions. And why did we have to hear him being sick?

The future still remains though, I wonder if we’ll be seeing the father in a show “The Science Detectives” soon. Or just some documentary about why people do crazy things for publicity to forward personal gain.

Lastly….some reports do say he was in the home when it untethered? So why does the video they give say otherwise?

Its entertaining to me, if the media pursues this story…well I just want to know if the law is going to find a way to get back the money they spent on this “ordeal” and how the wheat field the rescue vehicles ran across a family relied on is going to be reimbursed. “If” the media ever cares anyway about them enough.

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