Initially I had not wanted to cover this farce.
TV wanna-bes apparently crash White House dinner
Gate-crashers may have had experience
I logged the items only in outraged curiosity. The outrage comes because THIS SHOULD NEVER HAPPEN!! Since JFK was gunned down NOTHING SHOULD EVER HAPPEN to a PRESIDENT AGAIN!!! Nothing should have happened that day either because the security was stripped!
Doesn't seem to raise much concern with the MSM or anyone else, though:
"White House: State dinner crashers met Obama" by Larry Margasak, Associated Press Writer | November 28, 2009
WASHINGTON --This time, the picture is the story.
This photo released by the White House Nov. 27, 2009, shows President Barack Obama greeting Michaele and Tareq Salahi, right, at a State Dinner hosted by Obama for Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at the White House in Washington Tuesday, Nov. 24, 2009. The Secret Service is looking into its own security procedures after determining that the uninvited Virginia couple managed to slip into the dinner. (AP Photo/The White House, Samantha Appleton)
After the Secret Service insisted that President Barack Obama was never endangered by a security breach that allowed a couple to crash his first state dinner, the White House has released a photo showing that not only did the pair get close to Obama, they actually shook hands and talked to him.
As the White House was disclosing that the Virginia couple, Michaele and Tareq Salahi, met Obama in the receiving line, a "deeply concerned and embarrassed" Secret Service on Friday acknowledged that its officers never checked whether the two were on the guest list before letting them onto the White House grounds.
Well, THEY SHOULD BE!!
If ANYTHING happens to this president I WANT THEM HUNG!!!
The White House released a photo showing the Salahis in the receiving line in the Blue Room with Obama and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, in whose honor the dinner was held. Obama and reality TV hopeful Michaele Salahi are smiling as she grasps his right hand with both of hers and her husband looks on. Singh is standing to Obama's left.
Oh, no, here we go AGAIN!
The Secret Service earlier this week had said the president was not in danger because the couple -- like others at the dinner -- had gone through magnetometers. But in light of their close proximity to the president, no such claim was made Friday.
The Salahis were not on the guest list and should have been barred from entering last Tuesday's dinner on the White House South Lawn for the prime minister of India, said Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan....
HOW MUCH are you paying for this, taxpayers, and are you getting your money's worth?
Secret Service spokesman Jim Mackin said the Secret Service may pursue a criminal investigation of the Salahis....
The Salahis lawyer, Paul Gardner, posted a comment on their Facebook page saying, "My clients were cleared by the White House, to be there." He said more information would be forthcoming. Several messages left at Gardner's law firm on Friday were not returned. Bravo Media has confirmed that Michaele Salahi is being considered as a participant in the upcoming "The Real Housewives of D.C." program and on the day of the dinner was being filmed by Half Yard Productions, the producer of the program....
This is starting to REALLY STINK!!!!
Photos on the couple's Facebook page they previously had gotten close to Obama. One photo, apparently taken in the days before Obama took the oath of office, shows the Salahis in a group shot with Obama and some of the musicians who performed at an inaugural concert. Other photos show the Salahis in the empty, glass-enclosed box from which the Obamas watched the concert and, according to the caption, "backstage with the Secret Service at the Lincoln Memorial during the Presidential Inauguration."
Print paper addition:
Facebook photos show the couple posing with an array of celebrities and politicians, including former President Bill Clinton, Senator John McCain of Arizona, Virginia Governor Tim Kaine, entertainer Donny Osmond, weatherman Willard Scott, and music producer Quincy Jones, among others.
They REALLY GET AROUND, huh?
--more--"
"Glitz, secrets surround pair in party probe; Secret Service looking at how 2 got into event" by Neely Tucker and Amy Argetsinger, Washington Post | November 28, 2009
Ah, the Washington Post is the CIA 's newspaper!
Must be an update!
An image released by the White House shows President Obama greeting Michaele and Tareq Salahi at a state dinner held in honor of the Indian prime minister on Tuesday. (Samantha Appleton/White House/Associated Press)
Related: Envious India Uneasy
WASHINGTON - Before Tareq and Michaele Salahi catapulted to international notoriety as possible White House gate-crashers this week, the Virginia socialites had their pictures taken with President Obama during his inauguration, with Prince Charles at a polo match, and with Oprah Winfrey at another event. They had Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy speak at their elaborate wedding, which more than 1,800 guests attended.
And the LIST just gets longer for the GADFLIES!
Friends describe the 40-something pair as fun-loving and unabashed about pursuing the spotlight and playing the debonair couple who know and are known by all the right people.
Do not DISTRACT from the ISSUE, WaPo!!
HOW DID THEY GET THROUGH SECURITY!!?
But by yesterday, Secret Service agents were seen trying to track down the pair to learn how they managed to get into Obama’s first state dinner; interviews and court records also show the couple have a far less glamorous side. These documents and statements include dozens of civil suits alleging nonpayment for services, a long-running (and very public) feud with Tareq Salahi’s parents about ownership and control of their now-idle 108-acre winery, and claims made about accomplishments that can’t be verified....
Then they SHOULD feel RIGHT at HOME in WASHINGTON!!!
The pair is slated to be on “Larry King Live’’ show Monday night....
Then they have arrived!!!
--more--"
And WTF? The story that just won't die, huh?
"Gate-crashers want money for their tale" by Associated Press | November 29, 2009
NEW YORK - A television executive says the couple who crashed President Obama’s first state dinner is offering to talk to broadcast networks about it for a payment of hundreds of thousands of dollars. The executive, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the network does not publicly discuss bookings, said representatives for Michaele and Tareq Salahi contacted networks to urge them to “get their bids in.’’ Meanwhile, CNN confirmed the Salahis had canceled an appearance they had scheduled for “Larry King Live’’ tomorrow.
Aww, I was looking forward to that!
--more--"
"Official says Secret Service has met with gate-crashersWASHINGTON - As part of a broadening inquiry into presidential security, Secret Service agents have interviewed the Virginia couple who sneaked into the White House state dinner last week, a senior federal official involved in the investigation said yesterday. The interviews, which occurred Friday and continued Saturday, were conducted in a “neutral location,’’ neither the home of the couple, Michaele and Tareq Salahi, nor the Secret Service’s downtown offices, the official said. He would not comment on the content of the interviews or their length.The Secret Service is also examining its own procedures in light of the security lapse.
--more--"
And it was just a matter of time:
"Dinner crashers on Congress’s list
WASHINGTON - The Secret Service director and the couple who crashed the Obama administration’s first state dinner have been called to testify before Congress on Thursday about the incident.
Representative Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, the top Democrat on the House Homeland Security committee, said yesterday he wants answers about the Secret Service’s security deficiencies that allowed Michaele and Tareq Salahi into the Nov. 24 White House dinner, even though they were not on the guest list.
I'm starting to land on the DIVERSION SIDE of this thing -- which validates my lack of initial interest!
A Pentagon official corresponded with the couple, but said she never told them she could get them into the event. Michele Jones said in a statement that she told the Salahis that they did not have tickets to the dinner, nor did she have the authority to OK their admittance.
EXCUSE ME? Now this is into the PENTAGON?!!
An administration official said the couple was not cleared to enter the White House for any other purposes. “This is a time for answers,’’ Thompson said in a statement. “This is not the time for political games or scapegoating to distract our attention from the careful oversight we must apply to the Secret Service and its mission.’’
That is what this is: ONE BIG DISTRACTION!
While supporting the inquiry, the ranking Republican on the committee, Representative Peter King of New York, said he wants to be sure the hearing does not give away Secret Service operations or methods that could tip off someone on how to get into the White House. Some lawmakers have called for criminal charges to be brought against the couple, but the Secret Service has yet to do so, though it did interview the Salahis over the weekend.
Yeah, that is STARTING to REALLY STINK, too!
Could YOU or I crash the "party," readers?
The Secret Service declined to comment on whether Director Mark Sullivan would testify. On Friday, he issued a statement saying that his agency is “deeply concerned and embarrassed’’ by the circumstances.
Yeah, YOU BETTER BE!!!!
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said yesterday the president shares Sullivan’s concern about the incident but was not concerned about his safety and continues to have faith in the Secret Service.
He should. If ANYTHING HAPPENS to this man it will SCREAM INSIDE JOB!
Of course, nothing is going to happen and this is a non-story because he is serving the powers that put him where he is very well.
Unless, that is, he is making waves that we can't see. Like JFK was; however, the troops to Afghanistan doesn't incline me to believe that scenario.
NBC said the Salahis will be interviewed today by “Today’’ host Matt Lauer.
Just adding to my suspicions!
The interview is scheduled to air in the 7 a.m. half-hour segment. An NBC News spokeswoman said the network was not paying the Salahis for their appearance.
--more--"
Related: 14 minutes and counting
Yeah, this is now officially crap. Perhaps a signal, but crap!
The final nail in their coffin was the commercial I saw for Entertainment Tonight that was featuring them for this evening!!!
Looks like Kenny was right:
Yeah, they wouldn't have gotten near the Zionist gatekeeper if this was a serious breach.
"We must avoid the temptation to drown in distractions and distortions"
Update:
"White House crashers spur policy change
WASHINGTON - The Secret Service will change some of its screening policies after an attention-hungry couple was able to crash President Obama’s first state dinner....
The couple, meanwhile, denied yesterday that they were gate-crashers and said the uproar over the incident had destroyed their lives.....
PFFFFT!
Then GO BACK UNDER the ROCK you crawled from!
Earlier this year, the Salahis also attended a Congressional Black Caucus party, and there are now questions about whether they had invitations to that affair, as well.
Muriel Cooper, a spokeswoman for the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, confirmed that the Salahis were escorted out of a foundation dinner on Sept. 26. She said the couple was sitting at a $20,000-per-table section at the event where Obama was the keynote speaker. When other guests complained that someone was in their seats, the Salahis were asked to show their tickets. They were asked to leave when they could not produce them.
“They didn’t argue,’’ Cooper said. “They just looked a little sheepish and were escorted out.’’
--more--"