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UPDATE: Emails sent between Tareq and Michaele Salahi and Pentagon official Michelle S. Jones show that the couple was never granted approval to attend last week's White House state dinner, according to ABC News. Yet, interviewed on the Today Show Tuesday morning, the sober, soft-spoken Salahis --both in black, she wearing a cross -- told Matt Lauer: "We're devastated ... mischaracterized .... Our lives have been destroyed ... We were invited .... We're not crashers .... No one would do that ..."
When asked who invited them to the state dinner there was no answer. "We’re definitely going to work with the secret service .... We'll show documentation ..... In our view it's clear... we will be completely exonerated .... We're working on the secret service timetable."
The interview comes after news that the Salahis had contacted a senior Pentagon official for invitations to the state dinnner, and that on September 26 they were escorted out of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Awards, where President Obama appeared. ("This is the first time I heard we weren’t invited," said Mr. Salahi.)
The couple, along with Secret Service director Mark Sullivan and White House social secretary Desirée Rogers are said to be testifying at a congressional hearing.]
Much has been made lately about naming the decade bookended by 9/11 and financial collapse/continuing wars. “The Noughts,” “The Oughts,” “The Decade from Hell”? Whatever the label, it was a miserable period for many and deadly for far too many.
But entering the last month of the decade’s last year, I suggest that its symbol could very well be the attention-seeking couple who just crashed the party: The Salahis.
Think about the decade's issues they evoked -- corruption, terrorism, ineffective regulation, reality tv, greed, freebies, bankruptcy, hypocrisy, litigation, entitlement, red-carpet façade, narcissism, 15-minutes of fame for trying to be famous, and the media scrambling to enable. Read about their overblown lives, their overconsumption, their distorted values, and these folks represented it all in one vapid, potentially dangerous package on one festive night in our capital.
And at that glittering White House state dinner the couple fit right in amid other symbols of the decade -- from Katie Couric who jumped the shark to CBS and then jumped on the snark lady from Alaska to redeem herself; to Colin Powell who stood before the UN with false proof of WMD and then didn’t have the balls to leave when he was ashamed. The movers and shakers dressed themselves to the nines and tens -- many in comped designer clothes and borrowed baubles in that humongous tent on the White House lawn with the non-mitigating placebo of home-grown salad greens.
What has become so terribly wrong with our country?
Even the Salahi’s appearance represents the decade – she no doubt bleached and botoxed, pin thin, channeling every Fox anchor wannabe; he, horsey, a fashionably younger Brownie (“heckava job”) with the cheeky affect of a fat-cat trader gambling away others’ life savings at no personal risk.
Amid the flash of cameras these people reflect style over substance, lies over truth, appearance over reality. And this sewage of falsity has now seeped right up to this much- threatened president’s door. Yes, this oval office, where things do not quite seem to be what some of us thought they would.
The Salahis lied, they crashed, they sought to be famous, they duped and they stiffed the people who propped them up. And now these uber-capitalists, who inherited money and lost it, demand more fast money -- hundreds of thousands of dollars -- for an interview.
They’ll no doubt hire a show-off lawyer and a crackerjack PR firm (and stiff them, too) and they’ll skip prosecution, book the interview and hire a ghostwriter to shape a bestseller and grab the headlines some more—maybe she on “The Housewives of DC” on Bravo (all about ratings, you know). And as the years pass they may eventually still land D-list celeb game shows where the Kato Kalins of our world eventually land with a thud, watched by millions.
America the beautiful?
Before simply castigating the Salahis as weird attention seekers like the balloon-boy family, we really do need to draw back and look upon ourselves as individuals, and who we are as a nation. Yes, there’s a larger picture in this incident. So many of us admire what they admire and seek what they sought, and how did this happen?
How do people get away with this? And just a step further, how much more of this truthiness and sham and selfishness and ignorance and lobby-genuflecting hypocrisy can we stand from the people we vote for. Not just Boehner and Lieberman. Most of them.
Will the bawling Becks and nazifying Limbaughs implode from their lies, or will the armed numbskulls who follow them continue to rattle at the White House gates? What does it say when our most honest news coverage comes from Comedy Central? Can we ever get back to civilized debate, to reasoned compromise, to reality over “reality”? When will we demand it, and who is going to lead us out of this? Or is it already too late?
If the Salahis are the symbols of this decade we can only wonder who will become our symbols of the next.
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David Kinne
Sean Murphy
Marcie J
Kathy Peacock
Christine Macdonald
Brian Carter
Salon.com
Comments
Take care of yourself regardless of the impact on others. It's ok to lie, cheat, steal, or prosletyze if it helps in personally enriching you or promoting you.
Sheep, I agree. Well put. Alas.
Nicely done, Lea.
I will say this though, I have never in my life seen a time when the Shallow-End of the Pool is so celebrated.
CK, this couple is so iconic of our times you would have to make them up to do any better.
tomreedtoon, I don't mind it being free. I'm pleased it summed things up well for you, chaos and all.
Outside, lethal is a good word here, our superficial values dripping like an overdose of drugs so we can pretend we are ok. We are high on things that will eventually do us in.
Leonde, "maybe this last decade is just the outrageously blatant pinnacle of many decades in the making of a mere simulation of reality over actual and substantial reality." It's the tv generation gone wild, among other things.
R
designanator, yes I remember the excess of the Reagan era -- the White House china and all that. How quaint.
Sheila, we need a real leader on this who can grab us and shake us. Rachel Maddow, Bill Moyers --who? And we need political leaders with balls, willing to sacrifice.
Kathy, but it's not just them. It's what they represent. We all give them attention, and those like them. They are many of us, or what many aspire to.
Maria, and fame is a thing to respect --for fame.
Pilgrim, I wish it were a footnote. To me the whole thing is a wake-up call. We have gone too far. How do we get back or will we go even further?
I have said for years that the historic saving factor for capitalism was the religious belief that one should help one's neighbor and minister to those in need. Since the 80's, this altruistic force has diminished so much that it is only seen in pockets like food pantries or in massive donations to causes celebrated by TV celebrities. We have become such a self-involved nation that even the flagrant abuses of the Constitution offered by the Bush administration have gone unchecked (warrentless wiretapes? yawn). We DO need a leader, but we also (and I don't mean you specifically-- I mean "we" collectively) need to get off our butts and get our priorities straight and start ACTING like the people we say we are.
I agree they they are the symbol of everything wrong with this decade. But I'd still rather think of them, and everything they represent as a nasty, persistent virus that will ultimately make us stronger.
As somebody who hit my prime in the greedy, grungy, apathetic 90s, I do believe that this decade has seen progress. But the perfect symbol of that progress? I'm going to have to keep thinking on that.
Kathy, maybe Bravo pushed them, or the hope of being there. But many of us watch the Bravo programs. These folks are the end of a continuum.
MAWB, whether they get paid for an interview will be interesting indeed. If they get sued they would probably like it for the attention.
voicegal, yes I thought about the warrantless wiretapping and Obama's seeming indifference. As I mentioned, the sewage seems to be at the door of the oval office and has been for many years.
"Tabloid Nation." Could be the phrase of the decade, Steve.
Capitalism, has brought this country to it's knees twice in the past 80 years, they took of the reins, and left us with this... Plenty of compassionate souls are fighting for a more educated, just, and verdant society Lea... Better days are possible, but greed is capable enemy... Great Post! RRR
Jane, yes we have a big messy footprint and often in our best neighbor's yard. And yes, I'm pissed.
Wordsmith, see above. I'm glad if you are able to avoid our messiness.
nana, it's really scary to contemplate --with the deficit, increasing rogue terrorism, loss of manufacturing, etc. Seize the day?
Succinct, Surly.
Thanks Lea.
Patrick, as Pogo the late-great cartoon character said: "We have met the enemy, and it is us."
Thank you, Bart. I think many of the pieces on the cover today are relevant and intelligent.
The 70s were the Me Decade, weren't they? Others have already pointed out how much they seem to evoke the unbridled greed of the 80s. And if they couldn't be the well-heeled poster children of the Clinton-era 90s, when America enjoyed its greatest Republican president ever, then I can't think of anyone better off the top of my head.
If the Salahis are symbolic of anything, they are symbolic of how little we have learned since the 60s, of how little we have grown, how spare has been our progress, how stunted our evolution.
And, please, all of you in the madding crowd who'd prosecute them or clap them in irons - for what? They broke no law, uttered or posed no threat. Don't hate them because they are beautiful (rich, thin, lucky, whatever).
No, if you are looking for a symbol of the Decade bookended by 9/11 and the financial collapse, you're going to need something that evokes militaristic heard-heartedness and absence of compassion, something steeped in paranoid delusion and infused with the stench of death. White House Ken and Barbie just don't cut it.
Lonnie, sounds like you could be nominating Dick Cheney-- Halliburton and all it represents, 9/11 exploitation, taxing the middle class, chicken-hearted war-enthusiast, hypocrite, law-breaker (scot-free), and way over his 15-minutes of fame.
Jane, we're learning alot from your discussion with Wordsmith.
M. Chariot, I am try to tame my own poor taste in tv, but the human condition in all its forms fascinates. (And many of the classics are based on these types of people.) I fear I have dumbed down, along with so many of us.
What can I say other than I think you are a brilliant voice here and I totally agree with you?
Thank you for speaking so clearly.
Is there any wonder our country is the laughing stock of the world?
Boa, I find this symptomatic of a deep problem in our country. I see a bigger picture of a sick people.
Chuck, we do not sacrifice anymore, although we want to be *seen* as sacrificing. Life in this decade has become so virtual, and yet I feel more honest here than almost anywhere. And can still find real people. All ironic.
I don't know if you're familiar with Willie Brown, who was Speaker of the Calif assembly for eons and then mayor of SF. He's an institution around here and he now does a column for the SF Chron about politics and society that is funny and cutting about all the powerful people (he seems to know everyone and he's always jetting around to different events). His sniffy take on the Salahis is that someone should have known right away they were crashers as the guy is obviously wearing a rented tux and her gown is cheap. (Willie is known for his Brioni suits, so he knows fashion.) I thought that was pretty funny.
But I believe someone above me suggested - Turn off the TV Don't give them their voice.
I too will be thinking about the symbol of our decade. Thanks for the brain exercise. Whatever it winds up being, it's not going to be good.
ladyfarmerjed, laughingstock, except that other countries probably have many of the same problems in this media age. It is a sea change from when I grew up, that's for sure.
Silk, yes I've heard Willie Brown and find him really brash and funny. As for Ms Dowd, in 2005 I was appearing at the Miami Book Fair for Solo Traveler and she was appearing at the same time for a book she had just written. She had a huge audience and disappointed them terribly, as she read from notes and took no questions. My small group had a ball, with Q and A and lots of fun and discussion. But she has the bucks and the rep and once and awhile can still hit it out of the park with her wordplay and comparisons. I just find her spiteful and bitter. (But many thanks for the compliment)
From 9/11 to the economy--stock market, financial institutions and corporations, car companies, real estate, banks--to lives (and International 'face') lost in Iraq and Afghanistan to nukes in the Middle East and North Korea to the collapse of health care, social security, congressional responsibility, to crime and violence both domestic and foreign to values both real and desired... we all know the rest.
Al-Qaida started the ball rolling, but GWB and Evil Posse caused most of it, opening the floodgates for greedy leaders and raiders and home grown self-appointed moralists to do the rest.
We have all been living though a shit-storm of Destruction and it has taken a huge toll on our values, our ability to cope or to reason. Most of all on our hope and trust.
Obama may have campaigned on Change. I believe the years to come will have to be at *least* the Half Decade of Damage Control.
John, they are a danger because they are mant of us, if we had the opportunity. Our society, manners, modest behavior is crumbling.
Sally, the damage control may have to go on for decades, IF we can get the problems under control. Thanks for the great comment (as usual).
Boomer, I think this whole narcissism epidemic burst forth post Dr. Spock, when children started getting indulged and felt entitled. It has become off-the-charts. How far will it go?
This woman, btw, is a close cousin of my friend Katy and we've been having an online discussion of the need for recognition all week. I mean, we all need recognition but at what price?
As to our culture, yeah, it is shot in the ass. But perhaps it's just bottoming out now. Political and economic turmoil have been background for cultural revivals in the past. It could happen again.
Nikki, what is Michaele like? Typical? Obvious? I have a feeling I know lots of women like her. And thanks for the insight.
Donna, I'd like to believe that is true. Except listen to all the teabaggers and birthers and all the rest of the 24-hour cable pundits who sound like idiots with tabloid news. I'm afraid I have less hope than you.
Susan we'll see. That will be interesting to find out.
Jim, usually there is violence, rioting, and strikes, when there is upheaval. Or some horrible act of terror. Or a complete change of government. (I don't see much change since Obama --yet .) I'm afraid that otherwise it's just a continuing drift.
Thanks, Stacey. "Anything goes" has been taken to a new level.
When something real happens, this non-story will disappear faster than a fart in a firestorm. Cause these folks don't mean _anything_. There's nothing new or interesting about social-climbing.
Lonnie, they did break the law. At the least, they trespassed, which is only a misdemeanor, but possibly also committed other crimes given the situation (a White House event, not a neighbor's lawn party) and how they pulled it off (we don't know how they did, as the Secret Service isn't talking). I think if there's not already a law on the books making it more of a crime to enter gov't property under false pretenses, there soon will be! Surely in our Age of Terrorism and paranoia, Congress will want to get right on that.
Lea, I hope you weren't insulted by my mentioning Maureen Dowd! I think you'd be far better at her job than she is, and this post is a great example of why.
Thanks, Nikki for the fascinating info that seems to fit what most of us suspected: another entitled woman.
Agree Silk, that they may gave to find a new way to make this sort of trepassing illegal if it isn't already.
And as for MD, I'm flattered to be compared to such a successful writer.
As for this decade I tend to think of it as the "WTF???" era.
I blame the greed head scumbag media outlets in this country for providing said intelligence. When and if this country goes down the tubes the media will lead the way!
the issue i have with this piece and others like it isn't that these societal ills are being pointed out - they should be! it's about time for a little bit of national self examination. however, by splashing the salahis' picture on your blog and using their name not just as a jumping off point for a more important discussion, you're giving them what they want - media attention and their pictures plastered all over the internet.
these people posed a grave threat to the security of the president of our country. clearly the secret service needs to conduct an internal investigation to determine precisely what went wrong. but as for the salahis, they shouldn't be given any coverage other than reporting what crimes they are going to be charged with and when. as long as they keep getting this type of attention, they others like them will continue their desperate grabs at "fame," no matter the consequences, even at the expense of national security.
GeeBee, the "WTF era." Has a nice ring to it. You and Procopius have coined some pretty good lables.
coachcaptain, yes it might give ideas to our enemies. Let's hope security tightens/and learns from this as well.
bookgrrrl68, I understand what you're saying. And in this internet age, it's a problem. But as much as I value this site, I doubt if this piece will go viral. And everyone is already caught up. It *is* a news story as a breach of security.
Great piece, Lea.
R
Connie, thanks. Always glad to see you.
Luis, did you notice how she was holding Biden? She could have put anthrax or poison right in his mouth.
there is a true conundrum here, and i actually think about it often. how does one talk about how loathsome people like this are - without actually talking about them themselves? i don't have the answer, and i know people are talking about them and about the incident. i just wish there were a way to talk about the incident without giving these people what they want - their stupid, worthless 15 minutes. this situation arises often in these days of "fame" grubbing whores who will do anything to seek attention, and it truly frustrates me that the stories build upon the stories, which build upon the stories and then these people just garner more time in the spotlight. i wish i were clever enough to devise a good solution!
and hey, you might go viral! who knows??? :)
Highly Rated
That old "good 'ol days" thing is a myth. The fact is, politics was even dirtier, it has always been dirty, and it will always be dirty. If anything the communication technology of our modern world aids in the exposure of the sleazeballs. Before we toss out all the sleazeballs we should note that they are often very smart and might be an asset and some do, happily reform. I have noted that the reformists seem to have been artful in their international banking.
Now, regarding those crazy Salahis, what perplexes me most is, if Patron Salahi was so intent on attending the ball why didn't he approach the State Dept.? After all he's a "patron" in the Polo world and polo is a big thing in India, the POMs invented it there! They could have easily obtained an invite if they are who say are, maybe, well, sort of.
Oh, BTW, I've been so busy snake teasing and doing my amateur fruit loop/whackadoodle diagnosing that I almost missed this post.
Now that I'm sure I have your attention Leah L. I beseech you to please share with us (or just me) the intoxicating, lustful and somewhat distracting details (all of them, unexpurgated) of your love life.
Trust me, I am not making up my lack of suitable suitors, they are few and far between. Or, like my friend was told when she arrived at the Microsoft campus for a very high level soiree, "the quantity is high but the quality is low." She was naively hoping that being in the sexual minority she would at least have even the most minor of advantages.
So, Lea I am envious of not only your fab writing and to die for travel journal, but pleased to know you. The Salahis? They are not going to be pleased in the weeks to come, and I bet their name is on a blacklist, if not it should be.
Thing about the Salahis in all this and their virtual disappearance from the scene. To me the whole story is high smoking crap that no one should smoke till you are already sometimes in your twenties.
book, I appreciate your insightful comments.
Thanks, little Willie.
Ablonde, I will write about personal things on other posts (and do). But I came to salon because of politics and recently have felt the need to rant again. Feels like shaking my fists against the skies but at least we can get our feelings vented.
Question: How new is this kind of look-at-me behavior, really? I think of the Great Gatsby and all the other portrayals of self-invented "heroes." It could be deeply imprinted in our American bones, for better or worse.
I like Blumenthal's legislation; I might sponsor it if I were in congress.
I don't have a symbol for the next decade, but here's one for the century: the hard-working Chinese student. America's day in the sun has ended.
Trudge, trouble is there's a "new normalcy" and it ain't pretty.
Yes, I think theses people are sick, Lonnie. Sick with lust for fame and fortune. And the legs may be that so are many others like them. Boundaries are widened, values are lessened. We are changing as a people.
Nikki, I admit to being one who watches the Housewives series and loathes most of them. I have a kind of trash tv addiction I wrote about in another post. I am going to rethink this and start reading novels.
Steve, I agree with you, sad to say. We've had our 2oo-plus years of fame.
And mare, do you really want her to be on tv after this?
Jane, yes. GAH.
Translation: I assume everyone wants to see us anywhere we choose to go! I have a hunch this isn't just spin -- I can imagine that these people are deluded enough to think they should be able to go wherever they want and that they will be welcomed by everyone when they get there....
amittaizero, who knows which generation is worst. We all are pretty bad.
Politicians in democracies are routinely exposed to their citizenry. I understand why this makes some people nervous, but it is a condition of employment. That this turned into a big slow-news-day story, I suspect, has more to do with the remark that "these invites are coveted social symbols", than any actual threat to your President's safety. What, is he only supposed to encounter people who are known to like him?
Can't help but notice...they have a vineyard. You cannot buy this kind of publicity for your business--but they are sure getting it! Better than that "Real H-Wives" crap would provide...
Lea, thanks for your thorough and courteous responses, even though I don't buy the premise...
We are not amused, we are outraged. We will regulate and ban unsafe behavior out of existence. The "precautionary principle" will be used as the ultimate axiom for government to preform its final purpose:
crowd control.
Noah, pranksters can be terrorists and terrorists can be pranksters. This is a news story, imho.
Carol, I agree. Reality has become a joke.
Did like her estranged brother's scathing remarks about them. When news programs lost their own budget, where they were not expected to make a profit, news became entertainment--subject to ratings. The only one worth watching is the PBS newshour.
Thanks for this. Well said!
After seeing Capitalism: A Love Story, and reading the latest on Tigger Woods' saga (he doesn't deserve the name Tiger anymore, from now on it's Tigger for me) - can you believe both him and Elin are negotiating like crazy for her to stay in the marriage ... she gets $60M for 2 years, $80M (!!!!!!) for 7 years??
So yes, I add Woods' and his desperate grasping to hold onto his $1B empire by extending his sham of a marriage (and Elin by extension for even willing to stay in the marriage for a pretty price) as what's wrong with America today. Disgusting disgusting disgusting.
The Salahis are definitely a symbol of the triumph of 'reality' over reality. The fact that they weren't routed / outed until after the event makes me uneasy - it shows how empty the conversations must have been, that no one copped heir caper.
You didn't mention Michael Jackson, but the month-long fixation on someone who was nothing more than a song-and-dance man astounded me. All news has become tabloid news and third-rate manufactured entertainment just as Paddy Chayefsky predicted thirty years ago in Network.
But it isn't just TV; falsity has become reality. In Japan, venereal disease is down among under-25 males, and authorities attribute that decline to the young men's two-dimensional girlfriends. Lord knows what will happen when 3-D becomes reality -- as James Cameron and other appear to have done.
The barbarians are at the gates, and what few grown-ups are left in this world have abandoned their posts.
Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity.
What profit hath a man of all his labor which he taketh under the sun?
One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth for ever.
The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he arose.
The wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the north; it whirleth about continually, and the wind returneth again according to his circuits.
All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full: unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again.
All things are full of labor; man cannot utter it: the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.
The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.
Is there any thing whereof it may be said, See, this is new? it hath been already of old time, which was before us.
There is no remembrance of former things; neither shall there be any remembrance of things that are to come with those that shall come after. (Ecclesiastes.)
We are developing the science to recreate our body parts, yet in important ways get stupider every day. That's why a few words from rational beings helps so much. Thanks Lea and the rest of you.