Althouse: "We were invited, not crashers."

December 1, 2009

"We were invited, not crashers."

The gate-crasher couple, who have to worry about criminal prosecution, get their side of the story out to the press.

31 comments:

Fred4Pres said...: I think they are BSing on this one, but if true it will make Obama's team look like a bunch of idiots.

If they did crash they should get a year (suspended) on misdemeanor criminal trespassing.; 12/1/09, 8:57 AM
vbspurs said...: Their claim rests on a series of email exchanges with Michele S. Jones, special assistant to Bob Gates, Sec'y of Defense.

They seem to imagine that despite Jones telling them they were not invited (perhaps she wasn't able to get them on the list, despite trying to or merely telling them she would), the mere fact that they knew and had spoken to Jones would be enough of an entré to the event. In other words, they could say at the door, "I'm sure there has been a mistake", and in the first Obama State Dinner confusion, they were let in.

I don't know, but it's looking to me like these are headcases if it's true they were escorted out of another Obama event (which they deny as libellous). They are on the periphery of the power brokers in Washington, but imagine themselves to be in the very centre of it, simply because they are Facebook friends with them.

Is it known who leaked the photos of the alleged gatecrashing? Clearly it was a Facebook "friend" who doesn't wish them well, because only a friend without being Limited Profiled, gets to see their private albums.; 12/1/09, 9:03 AM
vbspurs said...: BTW, I know people like this. I have a cousin who went to school with one of Prince Andrew's daughters. Since she is the princess' friend, SHE gets a lot of Facebook friend requests, so that in some weird way, those people feel themselves to be connected to royalty.

This couple is bad news at best, delusional at worst. Though I'm sure they pass as normal in Washington D.C.; 12/1/09, 9:06 AM
Fred4Pres said...: Liars and tax cheats.

They are lying liars. Who play polo. The worse sort of lying liars.; 12/1/09, 9:19 AM
hdhouse said...: Fred4pres opines that it makes Obama's team look like a bunch of idiots. Which team is that Fred? The Secret Service?

It may interest you to know that the secret service whitehouse detail are senior career vets, not first year rookies, so that begs the question of who hired them? who's team was it? (looking backward at GWB I guess isn't in your makeup).

That idiots bringing guns to political events or appearances is now the norm, gate crashers seem like a nickle-dime, but you can barely take a white house tour without inspection and this is just dumb on a lot of levels.

Prosecution and prison should be in the offing if it turns out there wasn't a mistake and that's the law.; 12/1/09, 9:19 AM
Robert Cook said...: This couple shouldn't be punished at all. After all, we don't have a monarchy and Obama is--allegedly--our public servant. We should all be invited to these affairs, and fuck the rich and powerful swine who presently have exclusive entree.

This couple came to the affair dressed appropriately, and they were let in. If there's to be any punishment, let it be of the lax security personnel.; 12/1/09, 9:21 AM
mariner said...: Victoria,

Have you seen the emails? I haven't so I don't know.

The longer this drags on the more it looks like the "gate-crasher" label may not be warranted.

It appears to me that someone in the White House vouched for these people, and now the Obama administration along with its media lapdogs want to deflect attention from that fact.; 12/1/09, 9:21 AM
traditionalguy said...: I am not convinced that this attempt to hide in plain sight as a couple of silly wannabes is true. They were not a problem at the State Dinner and a problem was their that their invitation was facebooked disclosed by them. It remains a fact that someome brought them in and they were not on the "disclosed" guest list.; 12/1/09, 9:24 AM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: Drama press whores for the drama press whores. It's all fake.

Except high unemployment, the exploding deficit, and the impending tax hikes.; 12/1/09, 9:26 AM
Arturius said...: Prosecution and prison should be in the offing if it turns out there wasn't a mistake and that's the law.

Even if it was a mistake, how did they break the law? From what I heard they were announced which means someone was provided their name. If they weren't turned away at the door then they were invited inside. Hard to cry trespass when someone willingly allows you to cross the door's threshold.

I will believe this was a Secret Service screwup when the Secret Service Director either submits his resignation or is fired.

Fred4pres opines that it makes Obama's team look like a bunch of idiots.

Well it certainly doesn't make them look like candidates for the honor roll but I will submit, there is plenty of other evidence out there that the sitting President is about as over his head as the last one was.; 12/1/09, 9:27 AM
TWM said...: "(looking backward at GWB I guess isn't in your makeup)"

It's ALWAYS Bush's fault in the liberal mind. Pathological.

It was probable - highly - that it was an officer with the Secret Service Uniform Division and not an agent that is moved in and out of the Presidential protective detail. The uniform officers are pretty much permanently posted there and have nothing to do with who is president at the time.

And even the agents aren't chosen for the detail by the President, although presidents do have favorites they like to keep if they can.

If Barry kept on Bush's team that was Barry's choice not Bush's, but I highly doubt he kept that team. That would have required some smarts on his part.; 12/1/09, 9:29 AM
Ricardo said...: Nice cross she's wearing. I wonder who told her to put it on. Trust me, I'm one of you.; 12/1/09, 9:33 AM
TWM said...: "I will believe this was a Secret Service screwup when the Secret Service Director either submits his resignation or is fired."

Well, the SS won't cover any screw-up that is for sure. Barry's team? That's another thing altogether, isn't it?; 12/1/09, 9:33 AM
MadisonMan said...: If they were invited, they would have invitations they could show people.; 12/1/09, 9:42 AM
former law student said...: These Salahis have nothing on Jerry Berliant, the World's Greatest Gate Crasher, according to this column by Roger Ebert, who's seen him at the Oscars and at Cannes, as well as in the "invited guests" section for the unveiling of Roger's own star in the walk of fame:

He is white, middle-aged, presentable and neat. He looks like he belongs. He will crash a party, avoid a scene or two, deferential, glad to be of use, politic, cautious, and meticulous, but a bit obtuse; at times, indeed, almost ridiculous; almost, at times, a fool.

http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/2009/11/id_like_you_to_meet_your_best.html; 12/1/09, 9:45 AM
former law student said...: If they were invited, they would have invitations they could show people.

Invitations could be lost or forgotten (or even forged), and an exception could be made in that case. The important thing is to be on the list.; 12/1/09, 9:47 AM
vbspurs said...: Didnt Andrew Jackson throw open the white house to the frontiersmen who tracked the place up with muddy boots?

I believe that the White House used to hold open houses (I remember them in Reagan and Clinton's time), usually on the first weeks of a President's term. Since the WH tours are free, I don't think we can blame a rising snobbishness and exclusivity on the part of presidents as the problem.

The modern problem is safety. My access to the White House is secondary to keeping it secure during high-profile functions, especially one where we are charged with foreign dignitaries' lives.; 12/1/09, 9:51 AM
former law student said...: It's ALWAYS Bush's fault in the liberal mind. Pathological.

Imagine if we had captured Osama bin Laden in Tora Bora in December, 2001. That would have removed quite a bit of the motivation to invade Iraq, eliminating more than 4000 American lives lost, and foregoing a total cost reliably estimated at $6 trillion.

But Republicans say we can never look backwards, only forward. Except for the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977, which, like leftover ordnance from the War on Poverty, took thirty years to explode.; 12/1/09, 9:54 AM
MadisonMan said...: Invitations could be lost or forgotten

Uh Huh.

Yes, I frequently misplace communication with the White House. I mean, I have such a highly glamorous life and it's just one more piece of paper tp keep track of.

It was probably just a plain 8.5x11 piece of white copy paper from Office Depot anyway.; 12/1/09, 10:08 AM
former law student said...: You never lost any important paper? It's one thing if you can safely file it away; quite another if you have to take it around with you.

A timely NY Times article: Fearing the consequences of losing their all-important police badge, hundreds to thousands of NYPD officers wear illegal duplicates on the job:

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/01/morning-buzz/; 12/1/09, 10:17 AM
TWM said...: "Imagine if we had captured Osama bin Laden in Tora Bora in December, 2001. That would have removed quite a bit of the motivation to invade Iraq, eliminating more than 4000 American lives lost, and foregoing a total cost reliably estimated at $6 trillion.

But Republicans say we can never look backwards, only forward. Except for the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977, which, like leftover ordnance from the War on Poverty, took thirty years to explode."

Nothing you said there rebutted my statement that the whole liberal "it's always Bush's fault" is pathological. It is just further proof that it is true.

This is Barry's time. Barry's 12 trillion dollar debt. Barry's war in Afghanistan. Barry's failed stimulus and double-digit unemployment numbers. Barry's foreign diplomacy that is getting us five new nuclear facilities in Iran.

I admit Bush made some mistakes, some serious ones even, but Bush is no longer here and any damage being done to the USA now is being done by Barry and Pelosi and Reid.

My question to you is when are you and the rest of the liberals in this country going to start looking at today - the now - instead of pining for the good ole days when you were sitting fat and angry in the cheap seats throwing peanuts at the people in charge.

You guys wanted the ball for eight long years. You got it now. Get off your asses and do something besides make things worse.; 12/1/09, 10:20 AM
former law student said...: You guys wanted the ball for eight long years. You got it now.

The GOP lost the pump, then their mascot sat on the ball. Broke, the Dems wrapped it with duck tape, and are now trying to inflate it by mouth using a needle some junkie left in the bushes.

But why look backwards?; 12/1/09, 10:32 AM
MadisonMan said...: fls, for a potential member of the Wives of DC TV show, the ticket was a golden ticket. All that exposure, rubbing shoulders with that crowd -- how could TV turn them down? All they had to do was not lose it.

And you say they did.

Pull the other one. I note that the couple in question is not claiming to have lost the invite, by the way, just that they were invited.; 12/1/09, 10:41 AM
former law student said...: MM -- Sorry. I did not mean to imply that the Salahis ever had invitations. Just that failure to show an invitation could not reasonably prohibit a guest known to be invited from entering, because his presence at the party had been desired.; 12/1/09, 10:46 AM
MadisonMan said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 12/1/09, 10:47 AM
David said...: Everyone is in CYA mode on this one. Everyone. So I do not believe any of them.; 12/1/09, 10:59 AM
Joe said...: Of course they were invited; you don't get into a White House function like that without being on a list--it's just not physically possible to enter otherwise.

Oddly, this shows just how in the tank the MSM is for Obama. If these people really did get in uninvited (and unvetted) then the Secret Service should be exposed for the miserable failures that they are. If the Secret Service acted properly, they should be vindicated publicly. To let the White House simply dictate the terms of this "scandal" is an abrogation of the free press.; 12/1/09, 11:05 AM
traditionalguy said...: TRO...That was a great rant. Where have you been all this time. We wing nuts get tired of agreeing with each other about everything. Why not do some material on Climategate while you are here.; 12/1/09, 12:04 PM
traditionalguy said...: TRO...I reread your comment and seem to have mischaracterized you. Great rant, anyhow.; 12/1/09, 12:09 PM
Ricardo said...: In my mind, this all comes down to "poor judgment". We like people who push the envelope in certain ways, but then we turn on people who push it in other ways. The key to (social, political, economic, etc) success is to have the ability to know when to push the envelope, and when not to push it. Obviously, messing with White House security is not the way to push it.; 12/1/09, 2:23 PM
vbspurs said...: LOL!!

Cheers,
Victoria; 12/2/09, 8:11 AM