It's Not Easy to be a Reality Show Star these Days

UPDATED: Donald Douglas linked my post in a follow up post titled "Did Hollywood Today Plagiarize American Power on Tareq Salahi's Palestinian Ties?" There is another follow up that contains response from Hollywood Today: "Jeffrey Jolson, Publisher and Editor-in-chief at Hollywood Today, Responds to Absence of Source Attributions at Tareq Salahi ATFB Story"

Donald Douglas at American Power predicted there would be a major effort to downplay the security breach that permitted the reality TV wannabes Michaele and Tareq Salahi to crash the White House state dinner Tuesday night.  American Power has a report on Salahi's interesting  political ties that will no doubt be completely ignored in the press as well:

In addition, and ominously, it turns out that Tareq Salahi, the polo-playing intruder, is a Palestinian nationalist with ties to the American Task Force on Palestine (ATFP) , a pro-Palestine lobby demanding the "right of return" for all Palestinian refugees and their descendants. The "right of return" has long been considered the backdoor to Israel's destruction. But not only that: ATFP President Ziad Asali is an America-basher who blamed 9/11 on U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East. Asali was a lead U.S. official to PLO terrorist Yassir Arafat's funeral in 2004. And in a position paper in 2007, the ATFP called for a power-sharing agreement at the Palestinian Authority, which would have included the State Department's designated-terrorist group, Hamas.

Michaele Salahi couldn't resist posting her photos from the event on her fanpage on Facebook revealing how alarmingly close the intruders got to certain Obama administration  officials and foreign dignitaries.  The New York Times points out though, the competition is really fierce these days to get on a reality show.  Hey, these folks really needed a chance to stand out.  Stand out they did:

Here's a photo of the crashers with the guest of honor:

As Rep. Peter King (R) notes someone dropped the ball:

“Obviously, somebody dropped the ball,” said Mr. King, of New York. “I mean, you’re talking about the president of the United States and the vice president and a powerful world leader, the prime minister of India.” The prime minister, Manmohan Singh, was the guest of honor.
Mr. King said he had seen people turned away from similar White House events, including a congressman who brought his daughter instead of his wife, whose name was on the list. He also raised concerns about the Secret Service’s assertion that Mr. Obama was safe because all guests passed through metal detectors."

King is calling for an investigation while the Salahi's get the fame they sought through the event:

Whether or not they wind up on “Housewives,” the couple have certainly acted as if they were stars. They are now scheduled to be on “Larry King Live” on Monday.

On her celebrity-minded Facebook page, Mrs. Salahi telegraphed her television aspirations, writing, “Get Ready Kelly Ripa — Don’t you want a friend to tag team Regis!” She also suggested herself as a co-host for NBC’s “Today” show. On Facebook, she has more than 4,000 friends.

Actually the facebook page now shows more than 7000 fans and there is quite a bit of heckling in comments on various pictures and notes on Michaele Salahi's page.  Salahi couldn't resist posing for a photo with a former "Today" show  host while she had the opportunity:

Michael Hirschorn, former VP at VH1 admits that aggressive lobbying and "self producing" is the name of the game in the competitive arena of reality show appearances:

Mr. Hirschorn said prospective reality stars were becoming smarter about “self-producing,” knowing they had to inject drama into the shows.

“At this point,” he said, “there must be what, a thousand reality personalities on TV at any one time? So they know they have to stand out.”

Even so, Mr. Hirschorn added, this “would seem extreme to me.”

Gee, d'ya think?  Reality-show wannabes weren't the only undesirable folks at the party however.   Michelle Malkin has a list of the cronies, czars and corruptocrats that didn't need to crash the party; they were invited.