Obama White House First State Dinner: Did the Sahalis Really Crash the Party?
Posted: Thursday, November 26, 2009
by Mogama
http://www.mogama.info
Instead of President & First Lady
Obama along with India's Prime Minister Manmohan & Mrs. Singh
remaining the focus of the Obama's first state dinner, it is Tareq &
Michaele Salahi that have stolen the media spotlight. Not to mention
that the uninvited couple won photo ops with some of the biggest
power players on Pennsylvania Avenue, as they took pictures with
White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel. But their biggest catch was
a photo-shoot with none less than the #2 man of the United States, VP
Joe Biden himself. The Salahis have the Facebook evidence on their
successful adventures. As of the writing of this article, Facebook
seemed to have taken down Michaele and Tareq Salahis'
page.
The big joke may be on the Obama White
House, whose security credentials have now come under scrutiny. This
after the low-flying aircraft debacle of April 2009. One logical
query by non-Obamaics is, "If this bunch can't secure the house
where they live and party, how can they oversee the security of the
United States?"
Incompetence can be a delicious word
for those who have already concluded this administration doesn't know
much of anything it's doing.
Reports Jake Tapper, Senior White House
Correspondent of ABC, "It's one of the most secure places on
earth, but two Washington area socialites and reality TV wannabes
were apparently able to get behind the gates at the White House and
mingle with the crowd at the State Dinner in honor of India last
night."*
Who were the party crashers (if they
did crash the party)? They are Tareq and Michaele Salahi, labeled as
"socialites and reality TV wannabes".* They are further described
as "polo-playing socialites".*
Mrs. Salahi claims to be a former
Redskins cheerleader. The Salahis are a "Virginia couple who
reportedly want to be on the D.C. version of Bravo's 'Real
Housewives' series."*
According to NBC Washington, Michaela
is a model and wife of Tareq Salahi, president of America's Polo Cup
and owner of Oasis Winery. Tareq Salahi reportedly runs Oasis Winery
near the Shenandoah. The winery's website claims it is "one of the
top 10 in the world -- the only North American winery to make the
list."*
The Washington Post says, "Even
before their brush with reality TV fame, the couple had gained some
notoriety for a long-running feud with Tareq's parents, Dirgham and
Corinne Salahi, over control of the family's Oasis Winery in Hume,
Virginia. Last year, Tareq accused his mother's attorney of
punching him; the lawyer was found not guilty. Court records show
that Oasis filed for bankruptcy in February, with Tareq listed as
'debtor designee'".*
On the embarrassment this flamboyant
couple has dealt the White House, Ed Donovan, Secret Service
spokesperson, said the agency is looking "into a report that two
individuals not on the guest list were in the event."
To stress that there was never a
security risk, Donovan said, "Everyone that goes into the white
house grounds goes through magnetometers and other levels of
screening."
Besides the publicity-stunt value of
this incident, did the Salahis commit a crime? In a Thanksgiving Day
statement, Mahogany Jones, the Salahis' publicist, said the couple's
counsel, Paul W. Gardner, "states emphatically that the Salahis'
did not 'crash' this event. Jones added, "We look forward to
setting the record straight very soon."*
For his part, Paul Morrison, a Virginia
lawyer who in the past has represented the Salahis, downplayed the
couple's action by saying, "They just went to a party. They didn't
do anything wrong."*
However, a former government official
begs to differ. He told CNN, "If you lie to a federal official,
either secret service or the social secretary, if they lied their way
to get in, and it seems they would have had to have done that, that's
a federal felony."
Whether or not the Salahis has done
something worthy of a crime, one thing is sure: they have gained that
coveted American prize: ATTENTION. And to realty-TV-types, any
attention is better than no attention. In that case the Salahis
getting on national television at the expense of the Obama White
House's security lapse can be nothing less than a realty-TV jackpot.
But consider this: What if this couple did not crash the party after all? What if they got insider help to slip into the dinner halls under the security radar? That is a real possibility, but we shall see.
* Sources: ABC News, NBC Washington,
Washington Post
Good article. It really makes me feel safe if someone can crash a party at the white house. LOL. Thanks for sharing.Linda DPlease log in to respond to this comment.Yeah, Linda! Hilarious sarcasm there. Thanks for reading. ~mogama~Please log in to respond to this comment.
Scary - waiting for part 2 on this one Mogama! MarijoPlease log in to respond to this comment.You bet, if there's need for Part 2, I'll write and post in a timely manner. Thanks, Marijo, for reading, and I do appreciate your comment. ~mogama~Please log in to respond to this comment.
