In case you missed it: Mary Cheney saw Secret Service as her personal chauffeurs

December 1, 2009 · Posted in News and Current Affairs, People

Mary Cheney - Secret Service diva

Tucked into the “Hardball” interview regarding the alarming party crash by the fame-seeking Salahis with Washington Post columnist Roxanne Roberts and Ron Kessler, former Secret Service agent and author of “In the President’s Secret Service,” was the claim by Kessler that Mary Cheney, daughter of Dick “One Vote” Cheney and younger sister of The Spawn,) abused the Secret Service when her father was vice president. No, really? A Cheney??? Here’s my rough transcript (until the official one is available):

KESSLER: Threats are up 400 percent since Obama became president. Secret Service agents I talk to say it’s a miracle that there hasn’t been an assassination already, because of all the (inaudible.) They let people in without magnetometers, they shut it down early, uh, there’s a fear of offending political staffs or White House staffs. Uh, for example, Mary Cheney, Dick Cheney’s daughter, your favorite person …

CHRIS: Who’s that?

KESSLER: Dick Cheney … Mary Cheney’s

CHRIS: His name is “Cheeney…” (crosstalk, as Chris nurses his Cheney pronunciation obsession…)

KESSLER: Mary Cheney, when she was under protection, insisted that her Secret Service agents take her friends to restaurants, and of course they’re not taxi drivers…

CHRIS: Yeah.

KESSLER: … they refused, and because they refused, she got her detail leader removed. So in other words, the management of Secret Service removed someone for doing his job. That is the type of thing that is going on, that this uniform officer was aware of, as well as the corner cutting, the understaffing …

CHRIS: Yeah.

Kessler also issued a stinging indictment of the way the Secret Service has operated since the agency was placed under the Homeland Security Department (it used to be overseen by Treasury) during the Bush administration, which screwed up so many things this one is just one more for the pile — except that this one has to do with the protection of a president facing the highest threat level of any U.S. president since JFK.

The story of Mary’s diva-like behavior with the Secret Service first hit in August when the book dropped, but I don’t remember hearing any noise about it. But in the wake of the Salahi disaster, it’s a relevant detail, particularly as it relates to how forceful the Service feels comfortable being with political officials, their family and friends. I for one will tell you that during the campaign, then-candidate Obama’s Secret Service detail was no-nonsense, highly professional, dedicated and thorough. But even then, there were instances where their priorities didn’t match campaign staff priorities, and therein lies the potential for problems. In this case, it sounds like the White House social staff and the Service fell down on the job, together.

Meanwhile, Mary Cheney is today busily preparing for her new baby (with a lady, right wingers …) and hanging her shingle for a new consulting firm, possibly with her father and sister, the better to give something back to the right wing dictator who has everything. Here’s the “Hardball” segment:

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