Re the WH Crashers - don't fall for the okey doke!

[EffieBlack]

This was a serious mistake by a uniformed Secret Service officer. Period. Contrary to what we're starting to hear - no doubt soon to be ginned up by the RW talkers - this was NOT the fault of the WH Social Office.

Yes, the Social Office should have had someone at the gate with a list, but that is a courtesy, a convenience, little more. No matter WHAT the staffer at the gate with a clipboard says or does, the Secret Service Uniformed Division guard is NEVER, EVER to admit ANYONE unless that person is shown on the computer as cleared. And the only way to get cleared is for their name and vitals to have been submitted to the Secret Service and a background check run. This was clearly not done in this instance, yet the guard let these people in anyway. THAT is the error.

Clearly those who look for any excuse to undermine our president are attempting to turn this into something to use against him and his staff. But it's a fake - don't fall for it!

[MichaelHarris]

1. Long

legged blonds can get in everywhere. Beautiful people have different rules to live by.

[apnu]

12. She wasn't that stunning to me...

... looked kinda like the Coultergiest to me and that put me off. But then, I'm not the guy at that door, so who knows?

[bbinacan]

2. Local radio here

said that there are pictures from some magazine showing Obama with the crashers in 2005. That's all I know.

[vaberella]

3. Couldn't agree with you more. n/t

[eleny]

4. K&R

It's obvious that Rep. King has a wild hair to make this political.

[GoCubsGo]

8. Not just King....

Tweety was doing his best to pin this whole thing on Desiree Rogers last night. He had some twit reporter on his show harping about how she told the Secret Service that those two were not on the list, and they had the audacity to ignore her. Yeah. If they had just listened to her, this would all have been prevented. Uh huh. It was sickening.

[lynne]

5. We've yet to hear the whole story on what went down -

- The Washington Post just published article showing Pentagon official involvement before the party where they were trying to get an invite.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/30/AR2009113003237.html

VA Governor and head of DNC, Tim Kaine, knows these people and they had hosted events for him at their winery. Also known by Gov. Gilmore and Mark Warner, now Senator.
http://www2.newsadvance.com/lna/news/state_regional/article/kaine_says_he_knows_white_house_crashers/21875/

My point is that they ran in political circles for quite some time, their names were known and its way too early to be hanging anybody with this mess before the facts are fully out. Because they were known may have been the reason for the snafu. I'm inclined to believe that this could have been a combination of errors by several factions that resulted in them getting into the event. But, hey, that's just me.

[EffieBlack]

6. Not "hanging" anybody - the Secret Service has already said it was their mistake

Yet people are trying to turn it into something else.

[Diamonique]

7. It doesn't matter who they knew.

They weren't invited.

They hadn't had a background check.

They hadn't been cleared.

They shouldn't have been allowed to enter.

Period.

[high density]

9. Pentagon involvement?

The woman at the Pentagon didn't invite them anywhere, and I tend to trust her word more than the relatives of these crazy people. Next I'm sure they'll say they emailed [e-mail] and said, "Don't respond to this email if we're invited to the dinner!" as a defense.

Overall this incident shows how out of control our media is. Add that to the sudden absolutely raging anti-war/anti-deficit/anti-spending angle that has broadly come up and I wonder where this was during the Bush years.

[Empowerer]

10. What kind of big time Washington "socialite"

thinks one gets invited to a WH State Dinner by email from the Pentagon?

Please.

[EffieBlack]

11. Exactly!

[harkadog]

13. The SS is part of his staff also.

[Empowerer]

14. No, they aren't

The Secret Service agents and uniformed division officers are career employees of the Homeland Security Department. They are not a part of the President's staff nor are they presidential appointees.

[harkadog]

15. Fail

The HSD is part of the Executive branch and all senior officials are appointed by the President.

[me b zola]

16. No, you failed

The people working in Federal agencies are not President Obama's "staff".

[harkadog]

17. Really! Whose staff are they?

Are they independent contractors? Who is their ultimate boss? You really need to read the Constitution. It spells it all out there for you. In easy to read words.

[EffieBlack]

18. Where in the Constitution does it say that every federal employee is part of the President's staff?

Please be specific.

The fact that Homeland Security's senior officials are appointed by the President no more makes every one of the thousands of people employed by the U.S. Secret Service the President's "staff" than my mailman is part of the President's staff because the Postmaster General is a presidential appointee.

You apparently don't understand the difference between the President's staff, presidential appointees, and Executive Branch employees. Here's a brief synopsis: The President's staff are employed in the Executive Office of the President. About 1500 other presidential appointees serve in various departments and agencies - they range from Cabinet Secretaries, Deputy Secretaries and Undersecretaries to lower level "Schedule C" appointees. The President's staff and other presidential appointees are appointed by and serve at the pleasure of the President. Their tenure ends when his term ends, if not before. They are in a different category than the other civil service federal government employees..

Members of the President's staff are presidential appointees AND they are also Executive Branch employees. All presidential appointees are Executive Branch employees, but they are not necessarily on the President's staff. The vast majority of Executive Branch employees are neither on the President's staff nor are they presidential appointees. Claiming that a Secret Service Uniformed Division Officer is part of the President's staff is just flat out wrong, no matter how much you try to argue the point.

You might want to learn a little something about this before you fire off any more snide posts that only make you look both ignorant and silly.

[harkadog]

19. You are the only one ignorant and silly here

Article II, Section 1 and Article II, Section 2, part 2 gives the President the power to appoint Department heads. They serve him. The head of Homeland Security and the Secret Service are Presidential appointments. If you want to play word games and say that civil service employees are not part of his staff then it just that - a game for the internet. Again the SS is the staff of whom if not Obama??????

[harkadog]

20. White House accepts part blame

http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSTRE5B164E20091202?feedType=RSS&feedName=domesticNews&rpc=22&sp=true