State Dinner and stodgy CIA types
Let me get this straight, two yahoo's gate-crashed the first State dinner of the Obama presidency and I didn't get an invitation....I'm of Indian descent!!! Geez! That is so wrong! But I'm not even concerned so much with those two idiots as I was by others on the legit guest list: Katie Couric, David Geffen, Vernon Jordan, Gayle King, Robin Roberts, Colin Powell, Blair Underwood.....ummmm and your connection to India would be???? Geez, couldn't these people have been invited to the White House for something else, I don't know, the Lighting of the Christmas tree, the Easter Day festivities. How about letting some of us common folk, you know the people who technically own that house and everything in it, experience some of the glammour of a State Dinner? Heck, I wouldn't have even eaten anything and I damn well would have dressed better than half the people there!On another note, I am glad that the Secret Service has pie on their face. I'm not a fan of the Secret Service, since it has come out that most of the guys who work in that agency are Republicans (ex-military). I worry that they are not really working very hard to keep President Obama safe, since they don't like him (and this gate crashing incident is a perfect example).
I work with a guy (in my part-time retail job) who is ex-CIA, devoutly Republican, similar to what I imagine these Secret Service people are like. These people have absolutely NO sense of humor and they do everything by the book - like a drone or robot. It creeps me out. I guess maybe I was never raised that way, but I like to think creatively, not this guy.
For example if Corporate sends a diagram of how they want a display to look, he does it exactly as they show, but say the store doesn't have enough of some product that should be on the display, this guy will have that place just sit empty, whereas I would try to fill in with another product that is sitting in the backroom, gathering dust. In my opinion Corporate would rather have sales instead of a perfect display but no sales since a product, any product, is sitting in the back. This guy just examplfies how soliders or secret service agents can do bad things - he takes an order, doesn't ask questions, doesn't think, i.e. allows gate crashers in. I don't agree with that - its in those instances when we have situations like Abu Grahib and my My Lai Massacre. I hope the next state dinner is a better success....and I get an invitation!
posted by Virginia Gal @ 1:38 AM
12 Comments:
When I was a teenager, I talked to a secret service agent at a press conference at the Pentagon. He was friendly, but he was pretty intent about watching the presidential candiate he was on duty for. But it does seem like you'd want all the agents assigned to the President to actually be in the Presiden'ts political party.
I was aghast at this happening. guess they looked too closely at the woman and not the guest list?
i think you're jumping to conclusions and frankly disrespecting those who serve in the secret service and the military for that matter. it may be true that most people in certain service brackets may lean toward certain political or ideological affiliations, even strongly. but to suggest, without evidence, that they'll willingly let their personal prejudices endanger the leader or the common goal is tremendously unfair. in fact, i would say that notion plays into the hands of the Fort Hood shooter. here's a crackpot who believes Muslim soldiers shouldn't have to fight against Muslims in our wars. (but it's okay for Christians and Jews to fight Christians and Jews? whatever.) regardless of what you think about the wars we're fighting, i fully trust that our Muslim soldiers commit to the military causes they're given. to believe otherwise is selling them short and saying that they will let their personal ideologies endanger missions. no doubt in the aftermath of Fort Hood, our steadfast Muslim soldiers are having to "prove" their loyalty to the public when it shouldn't be a question. don't assume a Republican can't guard a Democrat or vice versa.
i've only met one secret service type that i know of and he did come across as conservative. but he served under democrats and republicans alike (i think he may still be working under the Obama admin) and guarded them both equally and was even reluctant to dish dirt on any. additionally, soldiers may complain about whoever's in office, but they'll attack the mission with full force whether they agree with it or not. goodness knows Honey hated GWB, when he was in the armed services, but he was fully prepared to fight his foolish war to the best of his ability, to the fullness of his direction from superiors and with the fullest of his integrity, if called upon. i absolutely trust that secret service agents work with the same ethic - maybe even more, since they're much closer to the one they're protecting. you're not only guarding the prez, but a friend. there are bad eggs and there are bad choices; the latter doesn't necessarily always mean the former.
as far as dropping the ball. clearly they did. 'course i think they dropped the ball on the shoe-throwing incident in Iraq. go back to the video and see how long it took them to come out from the back. that disconcerted me far more than this. at least here he wasn't in immediate danger and the dinner was crawling with secret service at the ready.
but i will also say this: i had the privelege of performing at the WH recently and had to submit my security info and went through the physical screening process and while i was part of outside festivities most of the time, i did get to venture inside, near the party. if someone knows how to bluff and looks like they know what they're doing and where they're going, it wouldn't be too hard to sneak in, frankly. to anywhere. some people are just very, very convincing. the SS dropped the ball, but i guarantee you, people will be reprimanded and fired and security will be tighter for it.
as far as the guest list: sorry. better luck next time. it is curious who they invite and why. like why was Peyton Manning invited to the 2007 state dinner for the Queen? football? QE2? meh. i suspect there's the ethnic theme, but also just stars the family really likes. maybe Michelle had a crush on Blair Underwood from his LA Law days. i'm 1000% positive that if you were first lady, you'd invite Nathan Fillion to every state dinner regardless of who you were hosting. ;) ... in the meantime, i'm having a birthday party for Naveen Andrews sometime in the near future. wanna come to that? i hope he likes playing spin the bottle! ;)
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i guess my biggest thought on the state dinner was also: damn, Michelle is smokin' brick house. why didn't the Indian first lady dress up more? this looked like her casual Friday sari. i know she had to have had something prettier in her closet.
I don't think the Service would let their politics get in the way, but they would probably be more loyal to the candidate they voted for. Still, I think those guys just like to be enforcers, so the job itself is rewarding. I also suspect that a lot of screening goes into their selection to assure that conflicting feelings don't affect performance.
As Molly said, and others have proven, you don't need an invitation.
Secret Agent - true that.
Mommantor - ha ha!!
Molly - interesting points, I guess it goes back to my way of thinking, that I couldn't just blindly follow the mission, if it conflicted with what I believed in...guess I would suck as a solider.
Merci - you said it, enforcers.
Joe - if only I had thought to gate crash!
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