The American Spectator : Gatecrashgate

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Gatecrashgate

By R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr. on 12.4.09 @ 6:08AM

White House gate-crashers and the Obama Administration's carousel of incompetence.

WASHINGTON -- Sidney Blumenthal, the Clinton Administration's famed servitor, saw it all coming. He predicted the Obama Administration's Carousel of Incompetence, as I like to call it. He was not thinking about the serious botches, the healthcare monstrosity, the spending spree, the criminal trial of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed planned for New York, the cap and trade extravagance. He probably agrees with these policy lurches.

What he probably had in mind were the lesser bungles, the Administration's bizarre appointees (Van Jones, Anita Dunn), their embarrassing departures, and now the two imposters, who gate-crashed a state dinner for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of India. Things like this happened during the Clinton Administration, though not the last colossal bungle, the gate-crashing of a state dinner. Blumenthal had witnessed the greenhorns that came in with the Clintons from Arkansas. He has now seen the greenhorns that have been coming in with the Obamas. Inadvertently, he confided to an American Spectator reporter some months ago his judgment that the Chicagoans are even greener. The arrival of the uninvited Michaele and Tareq Salahi at the southeast gate of the White House and their untroubled entry into the Obamas' first state dinner confirms his judgment. This sort of thing was heretofore unthinkable, and the security around the President was supposed to be unprecedented.

Now, of course, the Secret Service has been put under pressure to take the heat. Its director Mark Sullivan has made a rare public apology, and appeared before Congress to explain. The Secret Service is one of the finest organizations in our government. Its members have proved their competence and even heroism for generations. Why are they taking the heat rather than the White House social office? It is the social office under social secretary Desirée Rogers, a Chicagoan close to the Obamas, and particularly close to White House senior advisor, Valerie Jarrett (a Chicagoan too), that is supposed to have a representative standing near the security checkpoint into the White House to welcome and verify every guest. Sometimes the social office representative precedes the Secret Service, sometimes the representative is just behind the Secret Service. Always one is there.

No one from the social office was anywhere in sight, we are told. Well, I for one cannot believe the Secret Service would wave an uninvited guest into the White House. But assuming that happened the other night, how did the Salahis then roam through the White House and out into the dinner tent unbothered? At every White House state dinner I have attended and at every other White House social function, for that matter, social office representatives were everywhere, greeting us, verifying the authenticity of our credentials. Moreover, how did the Salahis know where to go in this vast mansion? Anytime I have been at such a high-toned White House function I have been a bit bewildered. I would have no way of knowing which hall to walk down, which grand staircase to ascend.

It is not as though the Salahis are geniuses. I have actually met them, and they are obvious lightweights. I met them at a horse-country outing in northern Virginia, and with my friends we identified them immediately as rastaquoueres. "Born with a philanthropist's heart, and raised on ponies and wine," is how Tareq wrote himself up in one of the event's programs. We all had a good laugh at that, even as we quailed at the prospect of sipping the dreadful wine he was offering. How did they mingle so freely with the guests that night?

They are rather loosely described as "socialites" in the news accounts. We are told that the American guest list at the Indian state dinner was heavily freighted with the Chicagoans from the President's staff. My guess is that the Salahis identified themselves to the other glamorous attendees not as socialites but as socialists. That would have ensured a warm welcome. If they had not been exposed as frauds so publicly, it is entirely possible both would even now be tapped for a high position in the government. After all, someone has to replace Jones and Dunn.

topics:
The Salahis, Desirée Rogers, Secret Service

About the Author

R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr. is the founder and editor in chief of The American Spectator. He is the author of the forthcoming The Death of Liberalism, published by Thomas Nelson Inc. His previous books include the New York Times bestseller Boy Clinton: the Political Biography; The Impeachment of William Jefferson Clinton; The Liberal Crack-Up; The Conservative Crack-Up; Public Nuisances; The Future that Doesn't Work: Social Democracy's Failure in Britain; Madame Hillary: The Dark Road to the White House; The Clinton Crack-Up; and After the Hangover: The Conservatives' Road to Recovery.

Letter to the Editor View all comments (47) | Leave a comment

Appleby| 12.4.09 @ 6:44AM

It is reported that the first words spoken to the Secret Service by the guy who tried to kill Alabama governor George Wallace were *Will I be on TeeVee?*

Well, now that seems to be the ambition of the No-Class Class (and everybody under age 35) in America. Nothing else matters on earth except getting on TeeVee...or at the very least, YouTube.

I suspect King Zero and his cronies secretly understand the Crashers; in fact, their indignant insistence that they WERE invited to the party and WERE on the guest list reminds me eerily of the endless rounds of talk show photo-ops and Events Zero and his family and cronies flock to -- a despearte search to validate themselves by seeing themselves on TeeVee.

The Iranian and the Bimbo need to be put on everybodys Do Not Call list and the next time they show up in public should be sprayed with water cannons. Nothing else is going to get rid of them.

Alan Brooks| 12.5.09 @ 7:26PM

"It is reported that the first words spoken to the Secret Service by the guy who tried to kill Alabama governor George Wallace were *Will I be on TeeVee?"

Wallace got what he deserved. He tried hard to make as many enemies as he could.

Alan Brooks| 12.5.09 @ 7:30PM

Well you people got one thing right, it's all about her pulchritude.

Alan Brooks| 12.5.09 @ 8:10PM

Many of you were secretly glad John Lennon was shot-- and don't deny it--why can't blacks be pleased Wallace was shot?

Appleby| 12.6.09 @ 7:16AM

Decent people are NEVER glad when other people are gunned down in the street by lunatics whose only ambition is to get on teevee.

That is why people like you have spent generations trying to find some other explanation for the assassination of JFK. . . because you have to believe that things like that are never done by gate crashers.

Alan Brooks| 12.6.09 @ 8:24PM

Depends who is being gunned down. if someone rapes and murders your wife or daughter, then you want him gunned down in the street or anywhere else; and if you have pull (and pull is what matters) then you can have it arranged. Lennon gave funds to a terrorist organization, and did much else. Wallace was a major assh*le, like Lennon. Major assh*les get their just desserts. Was Fanny Kaplan a lunatic for shooting Lenin? was Elser a lunatic for planting the bomb in a pillar to kill Hitler? Why is it wrong to assassinate a major assh*le in the street, but not one iin power?
Please, no injured innocence; it is beneath you, Appleby. There are no laws, only lawyers.

Alan Brooks| 12.6.09 @ 8:29PM

PLEASE, appleboy; do not write that pull is not what matters, save the babytalk for your grandkids.

Alan Brooks| 12.6.09 @ 10:03PM

C'mon, appleboy, you're not going to claim you shed one tear or lost one moment of sleep on the night Lennon was killed.
Can't you understand why blacks didn't mourn Wallace?

Alan Brooks| 12.6.09 @ 10:07PM

and please DO NOT claim the neutrality defense-- if Lennon's death did not bother you, then neither did the manner of it.

Appleby| 12.7.09 @ 7:17AM

Where you got the idea that Lennons death did not *bother me* is from your febrile imagination only. I bet you were dancing in the streets when OJ was *acquitted* in that stick-it-to-The-Man verdict. That was a victory for Black people, eh?

drudge ette obama| 12.4.09 @ 6:48AM

What a hoot. I had to look up rastaquoreres (social intruder "ras-ta-QUER). The word seems to fit, except they are not Latin American.

I bet P.M. Singh is glad he is back home in his own bed.

Sometimes the world is too weird, even for a non-social intruder.

Can someone fill me in on what official gift the celebrity climber Desiree Rogers gave the Indian P.M.? Perhaps it was one year's free dry cleaning? Lottery tickets purchased from a 7-11 in Joe Biden's neighborhood? Oprah's biography?
Playdoh?

Finally, where is the criticism of Michelle Obama's beaded dress? You would think that the descendant of American slaves would think twice before commissioning and wearing a dress made by many below-poverty women paid less than what a McChicken costs for hundreds of hours of work. The slaves will enslave eventually. I believe that the White House actually boasted about the laborious effort to make the dress.

Stephanie| 12.4.09 @ 7:07AM

Great point on the dress Drudge ette. But then the rules don't apply to the Big Zero and his bride.
On! and don't forget the kids that get to go to the expensive private school. Do we pay for that too?

jack| 12.4.09 @ 7:11AM

did they come with obamas biggest supporter, GE ceo Immelt? Without the help of GEs media arms would Obama have been elected? With republicans being lampooned on every NBC show from Law and Order to Keith Olberman and Donnny Deuthstghrthsthst is it any wonder we now have a President who appears to be a stone cold imbecile? Never forget proper tire inflation as a way to solve the energy crisis.
http://thelidlives.blogspot.co.....ation.html

Lawrence Boccardi| 12.4.09 @ 7:14AM

I can't help it! Some names keep rattling around in my mind; Jeffrey Immelt, General Electric, NBC, Bravo, over, and over, and over.

reads1| 12.4.09 @ 7:15AM

If for no other reason, the blonde, (Peroxide??) should have been arrested just for appearing in public in that horrible dress!

Roscoe| 12.4.09 @ 1:05PM

Her costume looked a whole lot better than the dog's breakfast worn by the Friend of Valerie Jarrett/Obama bundler-turned-White House social secretary…

Ragtop| 12.4.09 @ 1:22PM

Yes, I agree, what a schmatte!

Political Diva| 12.4.09 @ 8:07AM

Drudgette: my guess for the Desiree-chosen "gift that keeps on giving" was the DVD collection, "The Simpsons Greatest Episodes Featuring Apu."

Poseurs, all. I, too, had to loo up "rastaquoreres." I love to build my vocabulary. Under this adminstration, the term could well come into wide use.

Beer for My Horses| 12.4.09 @ 2:59PM

"rastaquoreres" isn't even listed in the merriam-webster online dictionary, but if i can ever mange to use it in a game of scrabble i'm sure it will be 'game over' :-)

Doorgunner| 12.4.09 @ 8:34AM

"Moreover, how did the Salahis know where to go in this vast mansion?"

As Johnny Huang was to the Clintons and the ROC, Tareq Salahi is to the Obamas and Hamas... only, as Sidney would know, much greener.

Pull your nose out of the Petrus and smell the coffe, Emmett.

Ken (Old Texican)| 12.4.09 @ 8:35AM

Hardy Har Har! Bob.
I needed a chuckle.

Now, would you please get Mr. Vadum's Soros article in the hands of the National Republican committee. Thank you.

Road Kill| 12.4.09 @ 8:38AM

What's all the fuss? It is nothing more than useless pieces of fluff visiting a flake of a president. Between this piece of tripe and Tiger, the real events are being stiffled by the statist newsmedia. Obama's security and social events controllers have approached the matter in a fashion similar to his attitude towards the security of this nation. Porous borders anyone?

Matt morehouse| 12.4.09 @ 10:54AM

I agree. This is a tempest without a teapot, a flashbang tossed to divert attention from more pressing issues.
http://www.conversationsaround.....logspot.co

2Anglico| 12.4.09 @ 9:50AM

The head of the SS, Secret Service, sounds like a typical brown noser. If it were their fault, he should/would have dealt with those at fault. Since a tap dance is going on, I bet these two WERE on a list, somewhere. No Secret Service agent is to blame. Remember the ease at which Monica roamed the same halls?

Daniel| 12.4.09 @ 10:01AM

One fact that I think is overlooked is that Obama was not the only one exposed to a potential assassination attempt. The Prime Minister of India, a country with an intimate knowledge of assassination, was also needlessly exposed. Can you imagine the ramifications if the gate-crashers were actually Muslim extremists from Pakistan? and if the PM were shot inside the White House (of all places)? This could really have been an explosive situation.

Tim| 12.4.09 @ 10:21AM

Heck, they probably saw an Islamic name and their first response was probably DO NOT OFFEND, DO NOT MAKE EYE CONTACT. Would explain a lot.

Howard| 12.4.09 @ 1:48PM

I'd love to crash the Salahi's next party. Anyone care to join me? We can bring a bucket of KFC, and a thirty rack of Pabst Blue Ribbon. Fun for one and all!!

Beer for My Horses| 12.4.09 @ 3:19PM

Count me in. I'll bring a couple of jugs of thunderbird wine if someone elso brings the blow-up party doll.

Matt Morehouse| 12.5.09 @ 7:42PM

Can I bring my pickup, the one with the .30/30 in the rack?

Hail Obama!| 12.4.09 @ 2:40PM

Well, obviously the Secret Service is NOT competent to guard our beloved President. Might it be time to stand up that private army that He Who Must Be Obeyed mentioned during his glorious campaign?

DatsunMark| 12.4.09 @ 3:57PM

During the Clinton Administration the Secret Service would have been repremanded for not letting a hot blond onto der-slick-meister's mancave.

Michael Tomlinson| 12.4.09 @ 4:13PM

Thankfully Republicans are not as bloodthirsty or sick as Democrats or we might have heard crap like we heard during the Bush Presidency. I can picture some loser nobody on MSNBC lamenting the gate crashers weren't suicide bombers.

Instead, Republicans are suspicious of an Obama minions complicity, but they still want to protect the individual occupying the White House. A marked contrast to terrorist appeasing Democrats.

Alan Brooks| 12.5.09 @ 7:32PM

Wallace got what he deserved.
and btw, southern charm is a waste of tight, phony smiles; it is cloying.

Appleby| 12.6.09 @ 7:19AM

I that the way your Mama taught you? Shame on her if it is; shame on you if not.

Alan Brooks| 12.6.09 @ 8:28PM

"I that"? a Freudian slip! I can see right through you, boy.

victor| 12.6.09 @ 10:54PM

Hey Alan, you really should be the very last person to be correcting other's typos.

steve| 12.6.09 @ 4:00PM

The elephantine hipped lady can spend a fortune on Rodeo Drive, and to her mahout hubby and the rest of us she'll just look like she got all tangled up in the tent department at Sears.

Alan Brooks| 12.6.09 @ 8:26PM

and PLEASE do not write that pull is not what matters, save the babytalk for your grandkids.

somnolence| 12.6.09 @ 9:59PM

To Alan Brooks: I'm not so sure that being an a-hole is worse than being an ass, which is what you are. Neither George Wallace or John Lennon deserved to be shot, but undeniably Hitler, Stalin, Castro and Mao do fall into that category. I also have it in my confidences that Wallace could quote Seneca and Cincinnatus at will, which no doubt your feeble utterances would pale in comparison to. Despite Wallace's demagogic posturings in the early 1960's he presided over more legislative enactments as governor of Alabama which ultimately advanced the cause of education, both academic and vocational, in favor of realizing the full potential of African-American citizens than your hypocritical bones would acknowledge. He also had the capacity to apologize long before the end of his life, which is something that Robert Byrd has not fully done. So be sure to pick your villains from a wider field. Your current list rings very shallow with me.

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