1,000 Words: Gate-crasher Edition

The White House has put out this photo of gate-crashers Michaele and Tareq Salahi meeting the President in the receiving line of last week’s state dinner. So, Swampland commenters, what do you think they were saying here?:

After the jump, statements from the Secret Service and White House spokesman Nick Shapiro:

From the Secret Service:

U.S Department of Homeland Security

United States Secret Service

STATEMENT BY DIRECTOR MARK SULLIVAN

(Washington, D.C.) – On Friday, November 27, 2009, United States Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan issued the following statement:

“The Secret Service is deeply concerned and embarrassed by the circumstances surrounding the State Dinner on Tuesday, November 24.

The preliminary findings of our internal investigation have determined established protocols were not followed at an initial checkpoint, verifying that two individuals were on the guest list.

Although these individuals went through magnetometers and other levels of screening, they should have been prohibited from entering the event entirely. That failing is ours.

The Secret Service safely processed more than 1.2 million visitors last year to the White House complex. In the last several years, the agency has successfully protected more than 10,000 sites for the President, Vice President and other Secret Service protectees, screening more than

7 million people through magnetometers at campaign related events, with more than 1 million during the Inauguration alone.

Even with these successes, we need to be right 100% of the time. While we have protocols in place to address these situations, we must ensure that they are followed each and every time.

As our investigation continues, appropriate measures have been taken to ensure this is not repeated.

The men and women of the U.S. Secret Service are committed to providing the highest level of security for those we are charged to protect, and we will do whatever is necessary to accomplish this mission.”

From White House spokesman Nick Shapiro:

“The men and women of the Secret Service put their lives on the line everyday to protect us, they are heroes and they have the full confidence of the President of United States. The White House asked the United States Secret Service to do a full review and they are doing that. The United States Secret Service said they made a mistake and they are taking action to identify exactly what happened and they will take the appropriate measures pending the results of their investigation.”

Related Topics: michaele salahi, real housewives, reality tv wannabes, secret service, state dinner, tareq salahi, white house gate crashers, 1,000 Words, Barack Obama
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  • gysgt213

    Smile. You are on facebook Mr. President!

  • sacredh

    Obama: Miss Coulter, how did you slip past security?

    Ann/Michaele: I’m invisible when I turn sideways.

  • sacredh

    Tareq: Take my wife. Please.

  • sacredh

    KT: How did you know what I wanted for Christmas?

  • sacredh

    Michaele: Invitations? We don’t need no stinking invitations.

  • Paul-no not that one

    “I’m up here, Mr President”

  • sacredh

    Michaele surprises the president when she asks him if he’d like to be a part of a reverse Oreo cookie while her husband nods encouragemnet.

  • Paul-no not that one

    And KT, please pass my gratitude on to whomever it is that made Swampland safe again for Mac users.

    It’s like an early christhanakakwanza present.

  • sacredh

    Michaele tells the President how the movie “Wedding Crashers” changed their lives.

  • http://twitter.com/ktumulty Karen Tumulty

    A few calories definitely wouldn’t hurt. Maybe they crashed the dinner because she was hungry.

  • sacredh

    If Michaele had checked out the recipes we posted the other day she could have just stayed home and cooked up a nice meal. They wouldn’t be in this trouble today.

  • sacredh

    You can never be too rich or too thin. Ask Karen Carpenter if this is true.

  • sacredh

    KT: Thanks again for all of the “1000 Words”. Grabbing a cup of coffee 1st thing in the morning and then finding a present on the computer starts the day off just right.

  • kathy

    “Well Mr. President, I said you were making the White House more accessible, and I was soooo right.”

  • kathy

    “You may not know this, but you are shortly going to thank me for needed improvements in Homeland Security and the Secret Service.”

  • palininatowel

    “My husband and I are deadbeats. We owe everyone and their brother for our lavish lifestyle, so we’d like a stimulus package… Even though we’ve never worked for Goldman Sachs.”

  • palininatowel

    “Oh, no, Mr. President, I agree! A stunt like ‘Balloon Boy’ could never happen at the White House!”

  • constantweader

    English Lesson. How to use the passive voice, prepositional phrases, the handy gerund phrase & syntactical errors to pass the buck:

    “The preliminary findings of our internal investigation have determined established protocols were not followed at an initial checkpoint, verifying that two individuals were on the guest list.”

    The Constant Weader at http://www.RealityChex.com

  • bigtrain

    For Michaele and Tareq, it was the culmination of a brilliant ploy. But for the president, it was just another intimate moment with a total stranger.

  • sacredh

    Michaele: President Obama, that’s such a realistic display of the crucified Jesus on the south lawn. It even says “Why hast thou forsken me?” over and over again.

    Obama: That’s Holy Joe Liberman. It was his idea. It’s the only way he says he’ll vote for cloture on healthcare reform..

  • sacredh

    Michaele: I’m not letting go of your hand until you show me your birth certificate.

  • sacredh

    President Obama shares a laugh with Michaele as she tells him exactly how she’d handle his stimulus package.

  • bigtrain

    The president couldn’t believe it later. He had been told they were good friends of his.

  • sacredh

    Obama: I don’t believe it. There’s no way you’re Michelle’s sister.

  • michaelfury

    The Secret Service works in mysterious ways.

    Always has.

    http://michaelfury.wordpress.com/2009/11/22/he-who-controls-the-past/

  • sacredh

    Michaele slips a note and a key into Obama’s hand. Midnight. Buckingham Palace. Bring protection. Condom’s, not Secret Service, they’re ineffective.

  • sacredh

    Sorry about the errors.

  • 53_3

    Whew! At least they weren’t teabaggers, keeping their promise to bring their guns…

  • formerlyjames

    Beautiful gown: $10,000. Hair and body treatments: $1,000. Seeing the fake Ken and Barbie go to prison: Priceless.

  • square1

    About the only thing that I find remotely noteworthy about any of this is that the Secret Service didn’t bother to issue a similar apology when they allowed a male prostitute, using an assumed name, to repeatedly enter the White House for extended visits.

    I will leave it to others to ponder what that would suggest about the Gannon/Guckert incident.

  • burnsrunner

    Michaele:

    “Oh Mr. President, why didn’t you read Anita Laughlin’s book, “Reindeer with King Gustaf.” It would have clearly taught you about the properness of bowing. That incident in Japan could have been easily avoided. Just a heads up, but Anita’s book, which is all about her experience supporting a husband who had just become a recipient of the Nobel Prize in physics, explains in detail about the correct way to bow for the Nobel Prize Ceremony.”

    President Obama: “Thanks a lot. I think I will read that book after all.”

  • palininatowel

    Whenever Gannon/Guckert left the premises, one would find Karl Rove relaxing on the chaise lounge in his office, contentedly smoking a cigarette.

  • square1

    Apparently KT opted for the non-”Halperinized” version of this photo.

  • http://24ahead.com/ kattest123

    1. Why is Tumulty giving oxygen to a Dem smear of Coulter? Would she do the same for those who call MMoore fat? (Hint: the answer is “no”).
    .
    2. Isn’t the far more important issue the fact that the “military-industrial complex” has now been extended to include media and entertainment? Aren’t those who are supposed to be challenging the admin – “fighting the power” as the kids used to say – now just part of “the system”? How could anyone expect one of the compromised sources who attended to dinner to tell them the truth about what the admin is doing? Will Tumulty point that out? (Hint: the answer is “no”).

  • theotherjimmyolson

    the comment at 2.4 is completely unintelligible.What smear? What are you talking about?

  • sacredh

    From the left: Michael Moore is fat.
    Again from the left: Coulter is a closet Nazi that thrives on hate.
    .
    kattest123: You are the 1st person that I’ve ever heard that has even suggested that the military industrial complex was anything other than a right wing construct. Somehow including liberals with that group is a bizarre fantasy at best. TIME isn’t liberal. It’s not even really moderate. It’s center/right at best

  • sacredh

    From the left: Michael Moore is fat.
    Again from the left: Coulter is a closet Nazi that thrives on hate.
    .
    kattest123: You are the 1st person that I’ve ever heard that has even suggested that the military industrial complex was anything other than a right wing construct. Somehow including liberals with that group is a bizarre fantasy at best. TIME isn’t liberal. It’s not even really moderate. It’s center/right at best.

  • sacredh

    Sorry about the double post. I missed a period….that doesn’t sound right.

  • http://theblindspotsofgod.wordpress.com lawyermommy

    Just read the statement from the Secret Service, above.

    Give me a BLEEDING BREAK!! Heads should roll. People should be fired.
    These people were NOT meant to be at that function and somehow they were there!

    This woman could have been wearing a ring and squirted poison into the hand of the President (during the hand shake) or who knows what anthrax she could have had in her bleached blonde hair or on her garish Indian outfit. Bottom line is that she made it in and who knows what she could have hidden in the orifices of her body!

    What she was saying?? Who cares, really! Probably Bimbo talk… “You have nice lips”, maybe??

    I know for sure she was not asking about the Healthcare plan or Troop deployment in Afghanistan.
    Hey, I think she asked him “Do you like my lipstick”.. :) .. It just seems like something she would say.

    This was the first time she found out that the President, unlike sponge bob, does not live in a pineapple below the sea. :)

    Seriously though, does this mean that we have to worry about the safety and security of our PRESIDENT???

    These brazen impostors went through the checks and were unarmed blah blah still does not explain the BLEEDING GASH in the Secret Service Security.
    Who are these people guarding our president?? Were there former security guards from Sears??? What in the world is going on here??

    The same loop hole used by these Charlatans to crash the party could be exploited by other violent anti-Obama groups. And from what I have read so far, who knows, there could be other loop holes as well.

    These gate crashers who want to audition for some “Reality Show” nonsense are wayyy out of line and it is telling about the state of affairs regarding the media culture.
    Everything is okay so long as it gets you your fifteen minutes of fame and lands you on a show where a silly show with “silly types”.
    The charlatan gate crashers should be made a clear example by this Administration of what NOT to do with the holder of the highest office of the land!

    Outrage, outrage.

    Now let me end by saying a massive SHAME to the Secret Service. SHAMEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

    Now pull yourselves together US SS and make sure this never never never never never happens again!

    What a MESS and a very infuriating one at that!!

    LM

    http://theblindspotsofgod.wordpress.com/2009/11/27/pedophiles-predators-stalkers-child-molesters-use-technology-to-destroy-lives/

  • sacredh

    “who knows what she could have hidden in the orificies of her body!”
    .
    Treasure hunt!

  • cfukara

    ” .. crackpots out there that would have loved to have been there – to assassinate him…”

    Checks were in place, so we are told.
    The security at the WH was breached.

    We expect that one found to be sneeking into the WH would be detained for a few hours or days for interrogation.

    We expect that if one is caught trying to breach the security at the WH AGAIN, then that will be cause for extreme security concerns and suspicions: That person will be considered a ‘suspected terrorist’ – thereby triggering various measures – inclding rendition to a location for more intense, eh, scrutiny.

    Look at them: They could as well have been Al-Queda operatives.
    I doubt that the couple would have gone into or near that tent if the woman had been wearing hijab.

    The gatekeepers didn’t know who Salahi was. He could as well have been bin Laden.

    When and in what form is the SS trained to expect danger?

    ===off topic: When Christian Morality and intellectualism stink
    USA Today, WASHINGTON, Aug 29, 2006 — Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld accused critics of the Bush administration’s policies on Iraq and terrorism .. of suffering from “moral or intellectual confusion about what is right or wrong.”

  • cfukara

    The sari looks great – but its worn poorly: Regal carriage by the sari-wearer matters.
    [Gosh! Whoopi looked more convincing in a nun's habit ..]

  • sacredh

    It was the waxy buildup that did the trick. The devil is in the details.

  • sacredh

    Slightly OT, but does it make anyone else a little uncomfortable to have the Secret Service reffered to as the SS? The guys protect the President. Calling them the SS doesn’t seem right. Back to work decorating the trees. 3 down. 4 to go.

  • http://theblindspotsofgod.wordpress.com lawyermommy

    SacredHPnk or whatever nonsense Pseudonym you use here,

    Go and do what you usually do, which is eat your young, lie, comment and just disgust people who read your trash! Yawn

    Your little pathetic quips and comments– and all that scurrying around, little clown– :)
    You read like a coke or pot head almost all the time.

    LM

    http://theblindspotsofgod.wordpress.com/2009/11/27/pedophiles-predators-stalkers-child-molesters-use-technology-to-destroy-lives/

  • constantweader

    Michaele to Obama: “So nice to see you again.”
    Obama to Michaele: “So nice to see you again.”

    I’ve got a photo of President (then Senator) with the Salahis probably taken in 2005, & I don’t think it was photoshopped. They’re, like, old friends.

    The Constant Weader at http://www.RealityChex.com

  • constantweader

    Oops! That’s supposed to be “President (then Senator) OBAMA with the Salahis….”

  • cfukara

    I have seen myself in pictures with total strangers – and quite a few with unsavoury people like mother-in-law.

    That is the present reality and risk of attending happy parties and social functions.

  • sacredh

    I’m guessing we won’t be exchanging cHristmas cards this year.
    .
    I’ll bet you $5 you can’t name even 4 other names I use to post on this site.

  • deconstructiva

    “Maybe they crashed the dinner because she was hungry.”
    .
    Michaele: “Thank you for the lovely dinner. I’d go anywhere for a really delish vegetarian meal.”

  • deconstructiva

    Obama: “Michaele! Tareq! Glad you could make it at the last second. Any problems getting in? Security’s been really f’ed up here lately, lots of crazy people running around DC these days.”
    Michaele: “Oh, no problem, it was a piece of cake.”
    .
    Obama: “Nice to meet you, Michaele. Lovely red dress there.”
    Michaele: “Thank you….” and then she whispers “….but I have an even better blue dress that I can show you later.”
    .
    Michaele: “Thank you, Mr. President, a delightful evening.”
    Obama: “My pleasure. I’m glad to have met you two. Finally, some normal real people around here.”

  • http://mickeymusing.vox.com/ mickeymusing

    How did they get busted, anyway? Did they tell on themselves for the publicity? Who else would have put together that they were crashing the party?

  • Exiled_At_Home (formerly Neo)

    Extremely off topic:
    ~
    Switzerland has banned the construction of minarets on mosques, after a referendum presented to the Swiss people garnered 57% of the vote. In a purported attempt to offset the emergence of “radical Islam” this initiative will do more to incite radicalization than anything else. Shameful.
    ~
    http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2009/11/2009112915164769444.html

  • laflorek

    I have the solution. The Secret Service needs some help because since 1963 they’ve had a little trouble keeping bullets out of presidents. O.k. here goes. No one will ever crash a White House event again… ever. All guests must purchase an airline ticket to get in.

  • http://mickeymusing.vox.com/ mickeymusing

    It’s a good photo, but it does sort of look like one of those staged photos where people are trying to get their picture with a politician or celebrity. He probably has no idea who they are, but maybe he remembers the unforgettable stringy bottle blond hair.

  • laflorek

    What’s wrong with what these people did? I mean it’s so American. Publicity man. Look, to make up for it the administration should just have an open house. Everyone in the United States, oh and India of course is invited. We’ll serve hamburgers and hotdogs, fries to everyone. Man that’s a lot of meat. Vegans are not invited because they always hang around the dip too long. I think it’ll solve the unemployment problem. In fact it’ll take so many hamburger flippers that I’m sure by the end that job will go up to $200. an hour. Of course we’ll all have to meet like in Wyoming or something. Well it was just a thought.

  • sacredh

    And a fine thought it was too.

  • sacredh

    More threads please.

  • grape_crush

    Still wondering why this is news.

    ..what do you think they were saying here?

    “When you smile I can see a piece of broccoli stuck in your teeth.”

  • http://theblindspotsofgod.wordpress.com lawyermommy

    I have a feeling you know that you will not be exchanging cards with people into the distant future.

    *Sigh* Your desperation stinks–disgusting really.

    So many names, so much running, so much lying, so much hiding. I wonder if Schneier has a clue that you are just a common criminal. A liar, desperate loser who has committed crimes for so long and now has the usual criminal complex.

    You read as always like a low life dog. A nobody, an online Thug, stealing, hidinmg using alias after alias content in the vain belief that crimes and criminals remain free interminably.

    Smoke less weed, do less cocaine. You always read like what you are, a punk. :)

    LM

    http://theblindspotsofgod.wordpress.com/2009/11/27/pedophiles-predators-stalkers-child-molesters-use-technology-to-destroy-lives/

  • http://theblindspotsofgod.wordpress.com lawyermommy

    I keep hearing about metal detectors and how the President was not in danger at anytime??? Huh??

    Helllooooooooo……these people (gatecrashers) were not meant to be there– they could have been terrorists for all we know. How in-depth was the background check which was conducted on guests?
    If it was in-depth then these people would have been RED FLAGGED right away. I doubt their efforts to be part of a Reality series would not have been caught by an indepth check, however, this check was not conducted properly.

    Okay, I am going to go out on a limb here to say that if the Gate crashers broke the law in any way regarding this whole matter, then they should be prosecuted and jailed.

    If the WH does not go hard on this sort of conduct then it will provide impetus for other gatecrashers and who knows who else will be emboldened to break into a WH function.

    What a mess really!

    LM

    http://theblindspotsofgod.wordpress.com/2009/11/27/pedophiles-predators-stalkers-child-molesters-use-technology-to-destroy-lives/

  • sacredh

    I am not a common criminal. I’m an uncommon criminal. In past threads you had accused various people of posting under different names or even of being the same people. You had excluded me. That hurt. I don’t smoke weed or snort coke, but just think of how interesting my posts would be if I did! You still don’t have a clue about which other posters I am, do you?
    .
    Your anger and bitterness toward me seems familiar. Mom? Are you messing with me again?

  • http://theblindspotsofgod.wordpress.com lawyermommy

    Excluded you? Don’t flatter yourself.

    No one messes with you but yourself. You say you are an uncommon criminal??
    Uncommon criminal…hmmm.. you definitely are flattering yourself there.
    Robbers, rapists, child molesters, Pedophiles are all online. New methods, yes–but same same criminals-jail bound.

    Only TIME stands between the criminal and his fate, the inevitable fate he knows only too well.

    LM

    http://theblindspotsofgod.wordpress.com

  • 53_3

    sacred!
    .
    Say it ain’t so!
    .
    You’re me!
    .
    I knew I was an impostor the moment I laid eyes on myself…

  • sacredh

    lawyermommy: I apologize for trying to get you going. I’ll try to make it a little easier on you by not commenting on or responding to your posts, even in jest. Happy Holidays.

  • sacredh

    53_3: We could be the same person. I know I’ve read some of your posts (and possibly you have read mine) and thought “I wish I’d have said that”, then checked back a few days on a different thread and say “Damn! I did say that!”. I hope you had a good turkey day.

  • http://theblindspotsofgod.wordpress.com lawyermommy

    In response to SacredHJPnk comment above.
    ________________
    SacredH aka 53_3 aka StaurtSzechman aka Nathan777 etc. etc.:

    How typical. Unceasing in your efforts to limit scrutiny and undermine the credibility of those who have identified you. Your “apology” and remarks are as usual asinine.

    Even Bruce Schneier (http://www.schneier.com) at some point will wise up to the extent of crimes scum like you commit while writing for him, with him and on his site.

    Adroitness in technology crime does not insulate you from investigation and prosecution.

    LM
    http://theblindspotsofgod.wordpress.com

  • 53_3

    Yes I did, sacred. I had a great turkey day.
    .
    Funny thing is, I eat and I eat and I eat and I never get hungry.
    .
    Now why in hell should that be…

  • 53_3

    OMG
    .
    I’m Stuart too. And, simultooneously, Nathan777 too. Cwap!
    .
    Hope you guys look better than me (most molluscs are not severly challanged by that sentiment, btw), ’cause my wife will be pissed

  • 53_3

    I’m bringing my spatula!
    .
    Ummmm. Which way is Wyoming…

  • sacredh

    I don’t know about better looking. Give me a pair of mirrored sunglasses and I look more like an overgrown red neck cop than a red neck cop. Sometimes when I get up in the morning and look in the mirrow I wonder WTF, when did this happen? I used to have hair down to the middle of my back and now I look like a poster boy for the Aryan Nation.

  • 53_3

    I copy, sacredh, minus the back hair.
    .
    Speaking of ugh, ugh, ugly, I wasn’t just kissed by the frog prince, I was tonguethumped.
    .
    Even in my younger days…

  • 53_3

    Afterwards, the hordes of height-challenged individuals aremed with ugly sticks milled around aimlessly.
    .
    They had nothing left to do…

  • 53_3

    Appearantly when God handed out the good looking stuff, I was 2,532,545,848th* in line…
    .
    *early 1954 world population

  • 53_3

    I agree on both counts here.
    .
    One thing good about the US is that such laws here would be struck down as unconstitutional.
    .
    Apparently, no such mechanism exists there.

  • sacredh

    I was over 6 feet tall when I was 11. I had to start shaving before I was 13. Baby faced I wasn’t. Luckily, I filled out and got better looking as I got older. I’m one of those people that look younger than they are, but one morning I’m going to wake up and look like the Crypt Keeper. I’ll age all at once. I’m like a fine wine. The sediment is building up though.

  • http://swampland.blogs.time.com/2009/12/09/desirous-to-speak-with-desiree/ House Panel Moves to Subpoena Salahis, But Not Rogers – Swampland – TIME.com

    [...] Desirous to Speak with Desiree Posted by Jay Newton-Small Wednesday, December 9, 2009 at 1:47 pm Submit a Comment • Trackback (0) • Related Topics: barack obama, congress, democrats, gop, nancy pelosi, oversight, republicans, white house, desiree rogers, party crashers, peter king, subpoena Congressman Peter King had an awkward moment at the White House Monday night. Climbing the stairs in the East Wing to attend the President's Holiday reception for Congress, the New York Republican bumped into White House Social Secretary Desiree Rogers. The two exchanged pleasantries, never mentioning that King, the top Republican on the House Homeland Security Committee, is looking to subpoena Rogers to compel her to tell her role in the party crasher scandal. [...]

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