Tareq Salahi and Michaele Salahi decided to go to a White House state dinner on November 24.  In a stunning revelation of how lax White House security is, the fact that they were not invited proved to be no hindrance. Our ever alert Veep and national clown Joe Biden immediately swung into action and had his picture taken with them.
Note to terrorists: if you want to gain access to a private party at the White House, and the Veep will be there, a good looking blonde gal should prove helpful. Keep ’em coming Joe! Your antics are a bright spot during these dark economic days!
I am not one to support the VP but don’t ya think the suggestion that a celebrity, asked to pose for a photo at what is, essentially, one GIANT photo op, should figure out for themselves that they are with gate crashers?
We can slam White House security with some confidence that they messed up but once the gate crashers were in, I hardly think the VP should have noticed they didn’t have an invitation.
The point G-Veg is not that Joe didn’t catch them but that he blithely posed for pictures with them. This man has a God-given talent for being in the wrong place at the wrong time and sticking his foot in it.
Like a lot of has-beens, Joe’s a sucker for a cuddle and a photo with a pretty face.
Joe certainly lifts the humour – if not the IQ – of America. 🙂
Don,
Now, THAT I agree with!
G-Veg
Indeed. That would never have happened with the last presidency. Mr Cheney would have snarled, muttered a choice obscenity, and Tareq and Michaele would have been ushered off to separate overseas detention centers.
That the Salahis were channeling their inner Ben Gates was of no consequence.
The reason this couple got in is 1. they were dressed for the occasion and 2. they’re white. Biden looked at them and figured they were wealthy white liberals who had given the DNC and the Obama campaign big bucks in the past and would continue to do so in future if he tossed them a bone. Obviously, a couple from the Rescue Mission wouldn’t have gotten in. And I wonder if a similiarly dressed non-white couple would have been able to slip in so easily.
I remember a humorous piece Chris Buckley wrote many years ago describing the differing treatment given to attendees of fancy black tie dinners, based on past contributions. The $25,000 donors got caviar, the best champagne, photo-ops with heads of state and so on. Buckley went on to describe how the perks became fewer and fewer as the donations of the attendees became more and more modest. He had the $1000 donors seated on folding chairs in the hallway, eating hot dogs and drinking cheap wine out of plastic tumblers.
The idea that Biden should be sizing up folks at a State Dinner to determine if they ‘really belong there’ is silly. This was a serious security breach, but Biden has nothing to do with it.
No BA, the point is that Biden is silly. Something I think the rest of the country will regretfully agree with by the time Obama and Biden are out of office.
No BA, the point is that Biden is silly.
If that’s the point, then it isn’t effectively made here. Biden’s done and said lots of stupid things over the years, and will no doubt continue to do so. This wasn’t one of them.
Posing for pictures with the gate crashers wasn’t silly?
Donald,
No. It’s not Biden’s job to check if people are gate crashers.
I would think it would be Biden’s job to have a clue who people are before he poses for pictures with them. Now the Salahis are claiming that they were cleared by the White House. I wonder if the person they will claim cleared them is Biden.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2009/11/27/2009-11-27_white_house_partycrashers_michaele_and_tareq_salahi_face_possible_secret_service.html
“It’s not Biden’s job to check if people are gate crashers.”
Indeed not. It’s the blogosphere’s. Then they blame it on Biden.
I would think it would be Biden’s job to have a clue who people are before he poses for pictures with them.
Really? It seems a little crazy to suggest that the Vice President should do a background check on everyone who asks to take a picture with him at a state dinner. I’m a fan of a good Biden joke as the next guy, but what exactly would you expect him to do at these events? Refuse to take pictures? Ask for paperwork first?
I would think it would be Biden’s job to have a clue who people are before he poses for pictures with them.
Oh please. Suppose that the Salahis had crashed a State Dinner two years ago and had gotten their picture taken with President Bush. Try and imagine what your reaction would have been. Do you think that you would have said a) Bush is stupid for not spotting the crashers, or b) it’s not Bush’s fault the people got passed security and its unreasonable to expect him to vet people who have their picture taken with him at a State Dinner?
The question answers itself.
“Suppose that the Salahis had crashed a State Dinner two years ago and had gotten their picture taken with President Bush.”–Blackadder
In that case, blogs wouldn’t have had the story first. The Establishment Media Wing of the Democrat Party would have had speedily aired a clip of President Bush asking an aide, “Who are those people?” and followed up with nine days of loudly mocking Bush about that.
“Refuse to take pictures? Ask for paperwork first?”
People who he doesn’t know in a closed venue? Absolutely. This was not a campaign event or a rope line. Biden deserves every bit of egg on his vacuous face. By posing for two very chummy pictures with these two he assumed the risk as to what they would do with the pictures.
Oh and BA if this had happend with Cheney, I am certain that the media would be running down any prior contacts between Cheney and the gate crashers, would have attempted to ask Cheney about it and would have attempted to gain detailed eye witness accounts regarding Cheney and the gate crashers from other party-goers, none of which the ink-stained wretches appear to be doing in regard to this event.
if this had happend with Cheney, I am certain that the media would be running down any prior contacts between Cheney and the gate crashers
So what? Are you using the media as your guide for proper behavior now?
As much as I think Biden is an idiot, I have to agree that you pretty much pose with whomever is standing there, even if they will later be shown to be strange, broke, Republicans, et al.
The funnier part, IMHO, is that the Secretary of State wasn’t invited to this State Dinner. It just goes to show you that Hillary doesn’t know how to crash a party!
The over the top part is the official threatening “criminal charges” against the gate crashers. I find it hard to believe that asking to be admitted to the White House and eventually being told to go on in, without claiming that you are somebody else on the list or the like, is somehow criminal behavior. Hey, they put one over on you. You’ve now got egg on your face. Just accept it, wipe it off and try again later.
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