“It is this world, a world where cruise ships throw away more food in a day than most residents of Port-au-Prince see in a year, where white folks’ greed runs a world in need, apartheid in one hemisphere, apathy in another hemisphere… That’s the world! On which hope sits!” Barack Obama, The Audacity of Hope
We hear a lot about Tea Parties now a days. Well this is the Obama's Other Tea Party. Also know as Obama's Wondergate. While you probably did not anything about it at the time, the Obamas, with the assistance of Johnny Depp and Tim Burton, had their own private tea part at the White House back in 2009. Here are photos of the event.
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| Johnny Depp and Tim Burton pose with the First Family |
The White House claims it is not embarrassed by this party and fĂȘte, since it was allegedly for poor District of Columbia children and military families, yet the White House visitor log does not reflect the party guests that day. And in fact, this is a tale of two parties (actually three if you count the adult after-party). A halloween candy event widely reported in the press, then a later private party for the Obamas with their own exclusive guest list, and an adult after party. Solidad O"Brien, in response to the story, claims CNN reported it at the time, but that is refuted by her own network. It is the cover up, more than the crime, that is the true story here.
A White House “Alice in Wonderland” costume ball — put on by Johnny Depp and Hollywood director Tim Burton — proved to be a Mad-as-a-Hatter idea that was never made public for fear of a political backlash during hard economic times, according to a new tell-all.
“The Obamas,” by New York Times correspondent Jodi Kantor, tells of the first Halloween party the first couple feted at the White House in 2009. It was so over the top that “Star Wars” creator George Lucas sent the original Chewbacca to mingle with invited guests.
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It was a hell of a party!
And sign the White House log?
I don't need to sign any stinking White House log! |
The book reveals how any official announcement of the glittering affair — coming at a time when Tea Party activists and voters furious over the lagging economy, 10-percent unemployment rate, bank bailouts and Obama’s health-care plan were staging protests — quickly vanished down the rabbit hole.
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| Cheers! It is good to be the King! |
“White House officials were so nervous about how a splashy, Hollywood-esque party would look to jobless Americans — or their representatives in Congress, who would soon vote on health care — that the event was not discussed publicly and Burton’s and Depp’s contributions went unacknowledged,” the book says.
However, the White House made certain that more humble Halloween festivities earlier that day — for thousands of Washington-area schoolkids — were well reported by the press corps.
Then the Obamas went inside, where an invitation-only affair for children of military personnel and White House administrators unfolded in the East Room.
Unbeknownst to reporters, the State Dining Room had also been transformed into a secretive White House Wonderland.
Tim Burton decorated it “in his signature creepy-comic style. His film version was about to be released, and he had turned the room into the Mad Hatter’s tea party, with a long table set with antique-looking linens, enormous stuffed animals in chairs, and tiered serving plates with treats like bone-shaped meringue cookies,” reports the book, which The Post purchased at a Manhattan bookstore.
“Fruit punch was served in blood vials at the bar. Burton’s own Mad Hatter, the actor Johnny Depp, presided over the scene in full costume, standing up on a table to welcome everyone in character.”
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| Even little Kal Penn got an invite? Damn! |
The Obamas obviously knew that having a lavish party at the White House might be perceived as a bad idea during a recession. But rather than tone it back, or truly make it about the less needy (which in that case it could have been widely reported), they chose to hide it.
As the description from the Burton Land commenter above reveals, there were three phases to the event: First, an outdoor party with kids and trick-or-treating (at which all the press photos were taken); then a private party inside the White House with Jonny Depp and all the “Alice in Wonderland” cast members in costume (at which the photos above were all taken); and finally an even more exclusive ultra-private adults-only affair at the end of the evening at which Depp (and the rest of the cast) had changed back into normal clothes...
And when called out about it know, the Obama Administration lied about it. Okay, it is an election year, and the White House can't let its own faux pas from get in the way of savaging the Republican nominee later this year. But what is even more disturbing, is a complicit White House press corps that covered for the Administration doing so. It is the hypocrisy of taking the position he did in The Audacity of Hope, and then doing what he and Michelle have criticized others doing (and criticizing them on the basis of race) that is the offense. The White House lies about this because it think it can get away with it. And the sad part is much of the major media does give the Obama White House a pass.
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Marie Antoinette was a victim...Michelle Obama is more like this Queen.
Or as Rahm Emanuel learned, "Off with their heads!" |
And that hypocrisy was made evident by the over the top reaction of the Los Angeles Times to a mild parody of Michelle Obama as Marie Antoinette, claiming it was racist. Given this secret party of Michelle Obama's and especially given the Barack Obama quote at the top of this post, the parody was spot on. And there was nothing racist at all about Gateway Pundit's parody.
Of course the L.A. Times completely ignores its own previous racially tinged mockery directed against Condoleezza Rice. It is more concerned with throwing stones at the conservative blogosphere for daring to even question the Obamas. But hey, Rice is a Republican. That gives the L.A. Times a pass to do it.
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| A spooky skeleton band plays. |
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| Guests drive for the Obama's private Wonderland tea party and festivities! |
Update: Politico reports this:
An administration source said that entertainers are generally not recorded in the visitors logs. "Entertainers and production crews who are working events are generally not WAVED in since they are not guests visiting the White House, they are working," the official said.
So now they were "working"? So how much did Burton and Depp get paid?
H/T to all the links (and others) who assembled the information on this, including (I apologize if I missed anyone). They put this together, not me:
Update:
EBL, calf investigative reporter, good job!
ReplyDeleteA tour de farce!
ReplyDeleteSomehow, I have the feeling Harry Truman wouldn't have gone for this.
ReplyDeleteC'mon, did this really happen?
I got home from work very late (11 PM), and I am tired. I only got 3-1/2 hrs sleep last night, and something similar the night before. Maybe I'm hallucinating, and this will all not be here in the morning.
(Saying a little prayer right now that I am just stressed out and imagining things. The US hasn't come to this, has it?)
Has it??
**sobbing quietly**
Sadly it did happen. Kennedy would have gone for it, but he would have had a far hipper set of participants.
ReplyDeleteCome to think of it JFK got a complete pass by the press. That does not make it right for Obama to get it.
ReplyDelete