The Down Range Forum
Member Section => Down Range Cafe => Topic started by: twyacht on November 27, 2009, 07:07:00 AM
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The "Dropped Ball" award goes to the Secret Service, as a couple slipped into the BHO state dinner Wed. and schmoozed and was even photographed with the V.P. They were not on the list, and many are relieved they were not there for another reason.
Pretty damn slick though...
http://www.newsmax.com/insidecover/obama_salahi_state_dinner/2009/11/25/291180.html
Secret Service: Couple Crashed Obama Dinner
Wednesday, November 25, 2009 11:48 PM
A couple auditioning for a reality TV show managed to slip past the U.S. Secret Service Tuesday night and attend the first state dinner given by President Obama honoring the prime minister of India.
Worse yet, the incident only became known Wednesday after the couple, Michaele and Tariq Salahi, publicized the incident on their Facebook page with a picture of them posing with Vice President Joe Biden.
It was not clear Wednesday night how close the Salahis got to Mr. Obama and his wife, Michelle, or to the guests of honor, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of India, and his wife, Gursharan Kaur. The couple are two Virginians who have been auditioning for a possible role in a different housewives TV franchise: “The Real Housewives of Washington,” The New York Times reported.
The lapse is particularly grave given that threats against President Obama are up over 400 percent compared to his predecessor, George W. Bush, according to Newsmax correspondent Ronald Kessler, who first detailed the threat increase in his book, "In the President's Secret Service."
Edwin M. Donovan, a spokesman for the Secret Service, said Wednesday night that “initial findings identified a Secret Service checkpoint which did not follow proper procedures,” allowing the couple to gain access to the festivities, even though their names were not on the invitation list.
“It is important to note that these individuals went through magnetometers and other levels of security, as did all guests attending the dinner,” Mr. Donovan said in an e-mail message to the Times.
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Someone's not going to get a bonus this year,...or worse they will be transferred to protecting a "sensitive" VIP in Nome, Alaska...
:o
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This reminds me (appropriately enough) of Jimmy Carter. Day two in the Whitehouse, the head of the Presidential detail came to brief Jimmy on the evac procedures in case of a Soviet launch. The president was told that within minutes of a NORAD alert, he would be out of the Whitehouse and aboard Marine One to hook up with either Airforce One or another plane and gone in less that 30 minutes. Now, Jimmy may have been a bad President, but he did skipper nuclear subs. He asked his agent, "How much warning do you need"? The agent said "Just a phone call and we're ready to go". Jimmy says "Consider it given, lets go now". (Inaudible OH SHIT!, from the agent).Close to an hour later, Carter called the excersize off, still sitting on the tarmac. I'm not sure if they've yet scrubbed the blood off the walls from that one. This should be worse. Hell, they might have let Tom in with his gift of "antique New England hemp rope". ;D ;D ;D
FQ13
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Or even worse yet, Crazy Joe Biden, without his muzzle ;D
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Check your history FQ......Jimma resigned his commision in 1953, the Nautilus, our 1st nuclear submarine wasn't commisioned until Sept 1954....he never set foot aboard a nuclear submarine until he took a tour of one while he was the President.
He never finished his degree in the field. Rickover had some big plans for Jimma but they never came to fruition.
The Nautilus is currently docked (sans reactor) as a museum just south of the Sub Base in Groton, CT, about five miles from where her keel was laid in 1951, I've been aboard her myself and was lucky enough to track her last trip across the Atlantic from Holy Loch to the CONUS back in 1977 prior to her decommisioning in 1980.
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Check your history FQ......Jimma resigned his commision in 1953, the Nautilus, our 1st nuclear submarine wasn't commisioned until Sept 1954....he never set foot aboard a nuclear submarine until he took a tour of one while he was the President.
He never finished his degree in the field. Rickover had some big plans for Jimma but they never came to fruition.
The Nautilus is currently docked (sans reactor) as a museum just south of the Sub Base in Groton, CT, about five miles from where her keel was laid in 1951, I've been aboard her myself and was lucky enough to track her last trip across the Atlantic from Holy Loch to the CONUS back in 1977 prior to her decommisioning in 1980.
My bad Tim, I thought he commanded nukes. Still, the point of the story is the same. Every sub jockey is anal retentive about emergency action drills for a very good reason. It's like that old joke about a civlian reporter on a sub asking the skipper "How deep can this boat go"? The answer is "All the way to the bottom son". ;D
FQ13
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Tim, was Nautilus that noisy or was she making no effort at concealment ?
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This reminds me (appropriately enough) of Jimmy Carter. Day two in the Whitehouse, the head of the Presidential detail came to brief Jimmy on the evac procedures in case of a Soviet launch. The president was told that within minutes of a NORAD alert, he would be out of the Whitehouse and aboard Marine One to hook up with either Airforce One or another plane and gone in less that 30 minutes. Now, Jimmy may have been a bad President, but he did skipper nuclear subs. He asked his agent, "How much warning do you need"? The agent said "Just a phone call and we're ready to go". Jimmy says "Consider it given, lets go now". (Inaudible OH SHIT!, from the agent).Close to an hour later, Carter called the excersize off, still sitting on the tarmac. I'm not sure if they've yet scrubbed the blood off the walls from that one. This should be worse. Hell, they might have let Tom in with his gift of "antique New England hemp rope". ;D ;D ;D
FQ13
Yet another example of how Jimma was (before bho) one of the worst if not the worst US President ever. He clearly did not understand the situation, as he would not be the one making the effing call. NORAD would identify the threat, and then many many things would be happening in parallel.
Jimma was just being an asshole.
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One of the guys on his Secret Service detail wrote a book, Said Jimma might have been all smiles for the public but in private he was an argumentative prick.
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Tim, was Nautilus that noisy or was she making no effort at concealment ?
Little of both....we had little intel of ocean sound physics in the 50's so little effort was given to consider attenuating sound when she was built. Sosus was in it's infancy as the first stations weren't active till '54 and had no idea what they were looking at anyway. A whale fart could have been detected but the sonar techs would have nothing to base the signature on to determine what they were looking at. This was the true begining of the cold war and eventually the end of any possibility that the Soviets could leave home ports without us knowing it.
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Yet another example of how Jimma was (before bho) one of the worst if not the worst US President ever. He clearly did not understand the situation, as he would not be the one making the effing call. NORAD would identify the threat, and then many many things would be happening in parallel.
Jimma was just being an asshole.
And, as the world comes to a screetching halt, we agree. Jimmy was, by all accounts, a flaming asshat to work for. Play humble, and maybe live humble at home, but the boss from hell because he listened to his own propaganda. Something Reagan (mostly, but not always avoided) but Obama seemingly does not. There is nothing scarier than a man who drinks his own Koolaid, and it seems like this is the case. :-\
FQ13
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The new custom Presidential chair.
(http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3159/2633966491_881caf459b.jpg)
Genuine Demon hide, Rahm said human skin would clash with the desk.
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The new custom Presidential chair.
(http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3159/2633966491_881caf459b.jpg)
Genuine Demon hide, Rahm said human skin would clash with the desk.
Oooooooooooooooooooooooooook ... Now you're just creeping me out :'(
Back on the Carter situtation - I don't care where the order to evacuate would come from in a nuclear attack, I think it has been proven that the order to evacuate could come from any place, at any time and at any level (Secret Service, Military, White House, etc.). If the Secret Service is going to brief the President they can and will do something they better be able to do it ... Even if it means saving Pres. BHO's ass >:(
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http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/taste/76712182.html?elr=KArksLckD8EQDUoaEyqyP4O:DW3ckUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUUsZ (http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/taste/76712182.html?elr=KArksLckD8EQDUoaEyqyP4O:DW3ckUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUUsZ)
Secret Service: We messed up, and it's not funny
The couple that sneaked into a state dinner at the White House pulled off a spectacular security stunt, and the Secret Service is red with embarrassment.
Seventy-two hours later, and it just looks less and less professional. Is it possible that our elite security force has lowered itself to the level of the one they protect?
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Maybe the Secret Service thinks the same as we do and figured with a name like "Salahi" they might get lucky.
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If the Secret Service people had their oath to the Constitution and People of the United States firmly in mind, they would have been passing out loaded guns to all the attendees........
GB
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Melanie made the comment they never would have gotten in if she wasn't an aggressive, attention seeking, outgoing, red hot blond. I tend to agree. I've seen too many men cave to women like her! Bill T.
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I read somewhere that although the entrance(s) to these functions are ostensibly manned by the Secret Service they have one or more White House staffers per entrance checking invitations and allowing/disallowing entry, the Secret service agent is there to ensure that their decisions are enforced.
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I read somewhere that although the entrance(s) to these functions are ostensibly manned by the Secret Service they have one or more White House staffers per entrance checking invitations and allowing/disallowing entry, the Secret service agent is there to ensure that their decisions are enforced.
There are several ways these things are handled, but the SS is ultimately responsible for the safety of the President, the Vice President, and their families. Regardless of who let them in the SS is responsible for the breakdown and F up.
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There are several ways these things are handled, but the SS is ultimately responsible for the safety of the President, the Vice President, and their families. Regardless of who let them in the SS is responsible for the breakdown and F up.
Yup, even though it was probably a staffer that ordered the F up it will be the SS Agent held responsible. Talk about a kobiachi maru scenario for the SS agent.
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The new custom Presidential chair.
(http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3159/2633966491_881caf459b.jpg)
Genuine Demon hide, Rahm said human skin would clash with the desk.
I can see the hole in the bottom of the seat that his pointed tail fits through.
Mac.
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I can see the hole in the bottom of the seat that his pointed tail fits through.
Mac.
Welcome back! And ... Good One ;D
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I can see the hole in the bottom of the seat that his pointed tail fits through.
Mac.
Thought that was for the Hemorrhoids.
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So that is what they call them now. I thought they called them Hillary Clinton and Nancy Pelosi. So that they wont be uncomfortable with their head up his south end.
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UPDATE: Caption this photo:
(http://images.media.magnify.net/4ZM3WV3QSF494T7P-400x297.jpg)
She leans in and whispers in the President's ear: "We conned our way in here too."
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"We're fakes, too."
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Can't we give the secret service a break? I mean, how do you differentiate between one entitled rich white guy with his gold-digger wife from another?
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Aren't you going to bow to me?
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(http://images.media.magnify.net/4ZM3WV3QSF494T7P-400x297.jpg)
Your supposed to kiss the ring .
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The research on Salahi isn't so surprising now.
Just one of BHO's American Bashing, Palestinian Sympathizers.
http://americanpowerblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/tarek-salahi-gate-crasher-at-white.html
Just an excerpt.
In addition, and ominously, it turns out that Tareq Salahi, the polo-playing intruder, is a Palestinian nationalist with ties to the American Task Force on Palestine (ATFP) , a pro-Palestine lobby demanding the "right of return" for all Palestinian refugees and their descendants. The "right of return" has long been considered the backdoor to Israel's destruction. But not only that: ATFP President Ziad Asali is an America-basher who blamed 9/11 on U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East. Asali was a lead U.S. official to PLO terrorist Yassir Arafat's funeral in 2004. And in a position paper in 2007, the ATFP called for a power-sharing agreement at the Palestinian Authority, which would have included the State Department's designated-terrorist group, Hamas.
Why wouldn't he be at a "State" Dinner. The Secret Service is going to take the unfortunate wrap for this. As Michelle Obama appointed the White House Chief Secretary, who is kinda in charge of who is supposed to get in...
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(http://images.media.magnify.net/4ZM3WV3QSF494T7P-400x297.jpg)
Well, birds of a feather............
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This is only your first crime? Let me punch your card ... two more in the next 12 months and I have a cabinet position for you.
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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091201/ap_on_en_ot/us_uninvited_guests
Salahi denies being White House party-crasher
WASHINGTON – The couple that got into the White House state dinner for the visiting Indian prime minister without invitations denied Tuesday that they were gatecrashers.
Appearing on a nationally broadcast morning news show with his wife, Tareq Salahi said the furor surrounding his and his wife Michaele's attendance at the dinner a week ago has been a "most devastating" experience. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs described President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama as angered by the incident.
Salahi told NBC's "Today" show Tuesday there's more to their side of the story — an explanation that would exonerate them from allegations of misconduct. Gibbs insisted the Salahis had not been invited.
"This wasn't a misunderstanding," the spokesman said. "You don't show up at the White House as a misunderstanding."
Said Salahi: "We're greatly saddened by all the circumstances ... portraying my wife and I as party crashers. I can tell you we did not party-crash the White House."
The White House gate caper captivated a capital frequently as well known for its high-end social life and celebrity eruptions as the occasionally mundane day-to-day business of governance.
Interviewed on MSNBC, Gibbs said "it's safe to say he (Obama) was angry. Michelle was angry."
Gibbs noted that the Secret Service is investigating what went wrong and said the White House was also re-examining its procedures. He told the network, "I think the president really had the same reaction the Secret Service had, and that was great concern for how something like this happened."
Michaele Salahi described the couple as "shocked and devastated" when they saw accounts of the incident the following morning.
Asked if they had been mischaracterized, Tareq Salahi said, "No question ... It's been devastating what's happened to Michaele and I ... Our lives have really been destroyed."
"Everything we've worked for," Michaele Salahi told interviewer Matt Lauer.
"We were invited, not crashers, and there isn't anyone who would have the audacity or the poor behavior to do that," she said. "No one would do that, and certainly not us."
Tareq Salahi said that the couple has been "very candid" with the Secret Service and said "we have turned over documentation to them."
"We're going to definitely work with the Secret Service between Michaele and I to really shed light on this," Tareq Salahi said. He indicated the couple had e-mails that would reinforce their position that they did not go uninvited to the dinner.
The couple also said they had not discussed accepting money from any party or organization, including NBC, for telling their story.
NBC's parent company, NBC Universal, also owns the cable network Bravo. Michaele Salahi had hoped to land a part on an upcoming Bravo reality show, "The Real Housewives of D.C."
On Monday there were more twists in the unfolding mystery. It was revealed that they communicated with a senior Pentagon official about going to the event, but the official denied that she helped the couple get in.
Michele Jones, a special assistant to Defense Secretary Robert Gates, said in a written statement issued through the White House that she never said or implied she would get the Salahis into the event.
"I specifically stated that they did not have tickets and in fact that I did not have the authority to authorize attendance, admittance or access to any part of the evening's activities," Jones said. "Even though I informed them of this, they still decided to come."
Asked about this Tuesday, Gibbs declined to comment directly, except to note that the matter remains under investigation.
WTTG-TV, the Fox affiliate in Washington, reported on a similar incident a month before, in which the Salahis sneaked in through a back entrance to a Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Awards dinner at which Obama spoke. A guest complained that the couple didn't belong at his table.
"I double-checked my (guest) list and when they weren't on that list we escorted them out," a foundation representative, Lance Jones, said in an interview early Tuesday.
The Salahis insisted that they had, indeed, been invited to the Black Caucus dinner, saying they'd gotten the invitation from the Gardner Law Group.
The Salahis' lawyer, Paul Gardner, is the managing partner of the Baltimore law firm, which handles corporate and entertainment law. A message left early Tuesday at the law firm was not immediately returned.
Also on Monday, the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee asked the couple, Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan and White House Social Secretary Desiree Rogers to testify at a hearing Thursday on the incident.
Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., said he wants answers about the Secret Service's security deficiencies that allowed the Salahis to attend the White House dinner. A White House photo showed 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.
Some lawmakers have called for criminal charges to be brought against the couple, but the Secret Service has not yet decided whether to refer the case for criminal prosecution.
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Okay, let me throw in another possible scenario.
Suppose.....just suppose
The Salahi's were initially on the list. But later, it was decided to remove them for political reasons. Say their ATPF ties might not mesh with the other guests.
BUT what if somebody forget to remove their name! They show up and the bHO (or his minions) realize the mistake and have them booted. How do you explain it. Say they were gate crashers.....throw the secret service under the bus. Start a criminal investigation and seize any documentation (invitations). Claim all such documentation were forgeries, which no one else can verify since the SS now has the originals.
Just a different possible twist.
Or it could just be as simple as they crashed the party and used their connections to bluff their way in. Sometimes the simplest explanation is the best (Occam's razor)
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Director of the Secret Service fell on his sword today before a Congressional Hearing. 2 members are on administrative leave...
Some members of Congress thought the WH Secretary Desiree Rogers, (a Michelle Obama friend from Ill.) who was partying as a registered "guest" at the dinner, should have been doing her job as all other WH secretaries have done.
They are "supposed to "man" the doors and double,triple check the guest list....WITH the Secret Service.
Another "Rookie" mistake,......by a "rookie" admin.
Best not to piss off the SS, but I think we all knew they were going to take the hit for this one.
BHO's staff, is part of the "Anointed Group" they can do no wrong.... >:(
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Some members of Congress thought the WH Secretary Desiree Rogers, (a Michelle Obama friend from Ill.) who was partying as a registered "guest" at the dinner, should have been doing her job as all other WH secretaries have done.
He played Bush's card about having his "inner circle immune from testifying" so she wouldnt have to go take the stand..... hmmmmm.... anyone else remember what the response from the left was when Bush used that one ? So much for transparency!
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He played Bush's card about having his "inner circle immune from testifying" so she wouldnt have to go take the stand..... hmmmmm.... anyone else remember what the response from the left was when Bush used that one ? So much for transparency!
From the left? How about his examples in his campaign? That was one of his focus points for transparency! No secrets and no special treatment for a select few if I remember correctly.
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(http://images.media.magnify.net/4ZM3WV3QSF494T7P-400x297.jpg)
Wanna see my Tiger Woods impression?.... ;)
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As much as I love watching the clowns dine on each other over this issue I question what they hell they are up to. These media whores feel they need to have hearings to get their faces on the front page and on every news show "doing the right thing," while telling the world we are officially a bunch of clowns.
This was a White House event with White House Secret Service agents. Remember separation of powers? This was at the Executive level, not the Legislative or Judicial. This is for the White House to sort out and correct.
What a bunch of clowns!
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As much as I love watching the clowns dine on each other over this issue I question what they hell they are up to. These media whores feel they need to have hearings to get their faces on the front page and on every news show "doing the right thing," while telling the world we are officially a bunch of clowns.
This was a White House event with White House Secret Service agents. Remember separation of powers? This was at the Executive level, not the Legislative or Judicial. This is for the White House to sort out and correct.
What a bunch of clowns!
Bingo! This should be handled by the White House in conjunction with the Secret Service....... anything more is just pure BS.
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(http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e330/m58/bc1.jpg)
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(http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e330/m58/bc1.jpg)
Funny Stuff right there. ;D
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The SS is, by nature, an EXTREMELY anal organization that employs extremely anal people. Case in point: In 1980 I was Police Chief in a small town in Iowa. During the Presidential campaign, the Vice President's motorcade was scheduled to pass through (no stops, mind you) my little town on the main highway. In the weeks leading up to the appointed day, I was involved in no less than 3 meetings and 6 telephone calls with the SS to go over th details of blocking each of the 4 intersections in that town through which the motorcade would pass. NOTHING was left to chance. EVERYTHING was planned out, gone over, gone over again, and gone over 4 more times right up to an hour before the motorcade passed through.
That experience leads me to believe that some White House social staffer's screw-up in this instance is causing some innocent SS agents to be thrown under the bus. I simply cannot believe, based upon my experience with the SS, that any of their agents is capable of screwing the pooch this badly.
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Funny Stuff right there. ;D
He is stepping it up a notch, isnt he!
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The SS is, by nature, an EXTREMELY anal organization that employs extremely anal people. Case in point: In 1980 I was Police Chief in a small town in Iowa. During the Presidential campaign, the Vice President's motorcade was scheduled to pass through (no stops, mind you) my little town on the main highway. In the weeks leading up to the appointed day, I was involved in no less than 3 meetings and 6 telephone calls with the SS to go over th details of blocking each of the 4 intersections in that town through which the motorcade would pass. NOTHING was left to chance. EVERYTHING was planned out, gone over, gone over again, and gone over 4 more times right up to an hour before the motorcade passed through.
That experience leads me to believe that some White House social staffer's screw-up in this instance is causing some innocent SS agents to be thrown under the bus. I simply cannot believe, based upon my experience with the SS, that any of their agents is capable of screwing the pooch this badly.
You are correct sir. This is what happens when you replace career civil servants with political apointees. We've seen it with the FS for decades. A rich donor gets France, a 30 year vetran gets Congo. Here, Obama replaced a career servant with a crony (probably why Brown's gifts were bought at Target). SS doesn't check the IDs, staff is supposed to. SS just backs them up. No one wants badge heavy body guards at events like these. They are supposed to stay invisible. Staff is the first line of defense, SS is backup. Kind of hard to do when you're schmoozing on the dance floor. Even Maureen Dowd ripped them over this one.
FQ13
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UPDATE: WOW!
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/12/07/white-house-security-breached-times/?test=faces
Report: White House Security Breached 91 Times
Tareq and Michaele Salahi may be the most famous party crashers after sneaking into President Obama's first state dinner last month, but they're by no means the first to elude the Secret Service and breach White House security.
A report compiled by the Secret Service reveals security surrounding the president has been breached at least 91 times since 1980, The Washington Post reported on Monday.
A summary of the secret 2003 report, along with descriptions of more recent breaches by federal homeland security officials, details scores of breaches, including a family who was mistakenly allowed onto White House grounds in a minivan, a woman allowed in despite already having falsely claimed a "special relationship" with former president Bill Clinton and a celebrity hunter who joined Harrison Ford's entourage to get near Clinton.
The document, which is the most complete accounting of recent Secret Service security breakdowns, says the incidents expose significant gaps that could be exploited by would-be assassins and erode "one of the best tools for deterring future attempts."
A Secret Service official confirmed the authenticity of the unclassified document to the newspaper, adding that it had been used to train agents and officers in an effort to improve agency operations.
The list of perimeter breaches indicates that intruders have reached the president or another person under Secret Service protection eight times since 1980, including the Salahis, the Post reported. Four of the incidents involved the same man.
The review was commissioned in 2001 by then Secret Service director Brian Stafford after the service was humiliated for a third time by the most notorious presidential gate-crasher, Richard C. Weaver, who evaded inauguration security to shake George W. Bush's hand.
Weaver, a California minister, had previously infiltrated a 1991 prayer breakfast attended by then-President George H.W. Bush, and Clinton's 1997 inaugural luncheon.
"I believe God makes me invisible to the security, undetectable," said Weaver, whose methods included manipulating others to obtain tickets, telling guards he was lost or looking for a bathroom, and generally "appearing as [if] you are supposed to be there," the Secret Service report said.
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Being on the Secret Service's Presidential has to be the worst job in the world. You fight hard to get it and then train like hell. What do you get? If you do your job right, you're bored to tears. If you do it wrong, make the slightest mistake, you either wind up taking a bullet or get hung out to dry. I respect those folks but cannot imagine doing the job. This is doubly true because no matter what you think of the President, you still have to take the hit. God bless them, but you couldn't pay me enough to take that gig.
FQ13