It’s just a theory so far. But I’m surprised we haven’t heard this mentioned before. Gawker notes that crasher couple Michaele and Tareq Salahi have fairly substantial connections to the Indian Embassy in Washington. That doesn’t prove anything. And what it suggests would probably be much less worrisome than the story we’re hearing now. But it’s hard for me to imagine that their being good friends (apparently) with the DCM at the Indian Embassy (the number two at an Embassy who is usually a professional diplomat) didn’t have something to do with their ease getting in.
In our conversation in the office about this incident this morning, one thing I mentioned was that what seemed strange to me wasn’t just that they got in but that they were apparently so confident about their ability to get in.
We’re looking into this now. Here’s our first report on the crasher story.
In my last post I noted that the White House party crasher couple appears to have pretty substantial ties to the Indian Embassy in Washington. So let’s put our thinking caps on and think about what may have happened. Read More
We’re trying to find out more about White House party crasher Tareq Salahi. Salahi is on the board of the American Task Force on Palestine, a DC lobby group closely tied to the Palestinian Authority government of Mahmoud Abbas. But his name seems already to have been scrubbed from the site. Here’s what it looked like before the party-crashing incident.
Meanwhile, if you need more evidence that Tareq Salahi is the Zelig of fame-grabbing celebrity-socialite nonsense, here’s video of Tareq and his wife interviewing Will.i.am and thanking him for his support for the America’s Polo Cup. Salahi is the captain of the US Polo Team, or at least that’s what he says. Does the US really have an official team?
Details are still sketchy, but according to local news reports in Florida, Tiger Woods was seriously injured in an early morning car accident near his home there.
Although the accident happened at 2:25 a.m., it was some 11 hours before the Florida Highway Patrol issued a report and news organizations began reporting the accident.
According to one report, Woods’ agent says he’s “fine.”
Late Update: While the initial police report said Woods had serious injuries, Woods just issued a statement saying he’d been treated and released from the hospital.
It was really difficult to imagine Woods being seriously injured and in a U.S. hospital for 11 hours before news leaked out.
New statement out from the Secret Service under the fold … Read More
In a statement just released to TPMDC, the Indian Embassy categorically denies any role in the incident whatsoever.
A White House official tells TPM the party-crashing Salahis managed to meet President Obama on the receiving line at the state dinner.
A pretty staggering number out of the new Daily Kos weekly tracking poll. They asked voters, basically, how are sure are you you’re going to vote next year.
The first number is certain or likely to vote; the second is unlikely or certain not to vote.
Republican Voters: 81/14
Independent Voters: 65/23
Democratic Voters: 56/40
Everyone knows there’s an enthusiasm gap. You don’t even need a poll to tell you. You can feel it. On the one hand you’ve got very gunned up conservatives, who make up an even greater proportion of the diminished GOP. On the other you’ve got a mix of demoralized progressives and other Dems who feel like they got the job done in November 2008 and have checked out on politics … at least for now.
All together, it points to very, very rough seas in 2010.
From the write-up in the Post …
Last year Michaele, now 44, told a Post reporter that she had been a Washington Redskins cheerleader, and she has been photographed at several alumni events. But the cheerleaders’ director of marketing, Melanie Coburn, wrote in an e-mail: “We have no record of her being a member of the Washington Redskins Cheerleaders.”
Nor could the Washington Redskins Cheerleaders Alumni Association find any record of her, said Terri Crane-Lamb, president of the association.
One former cheerleader, Konnie McKee, said Michaele came to alumni events, but no one remembered her being on the squad. McKee and Crane-Lamb noticed Michaele attending WRCAA events. “I remember Terri and I talking: ‘What’s the deal? Does anyone remember her?'”