A Sari State of Affairs

White House Dinner Party Crashers Michaele and Tareq Salahi caused a media frenzy when they met President Obama, but what they did certainly wasn't new. Charlotte Laws, commentator on NBC's "The Filter with Fred Roggin" and author of the book "Meet the Stars," explores the art and history of A-list party crashing and shares her personal experiences of mingling with U.S. presidents and movie stars. And no, she wasn't invited either.

If you're an alien visitor, you probably think Tareq and Michaele Salahi are subversives, who have single-handedly brought down the Secret Service and Obama administration. Their alleged crime? The most bloodcurdling and despicable of all: party crashing.

They had no armaments other than a blinding red sari-like dress, pearly white teeth and a hand-held camera with which they snapped photos with Vice President Joe Biden and other unsuspecting innocents. Their lack of conventional weaponry made them all the more devious. They have put the media and Congress in a tail-chasing frenzy with barks and howls to throw them in the slammer (at a taxpayer cost of $98,000 per year) and to revoke their much-coveted pass to appear on the reality show, The Real Housewives of DC. I must assume our country has gone mental or fallen off its Plymouth Rock.

The term "party crashing" dates back to the 1920's, and this controversial activity is not likely to come to a "crashing" halt anytime soon. In fact, the gutsy Salahis are not the first to finagle their way past Secret Service. I have some guts myself.

The first time I crashed a Secret Service-guarded event was in the 1980's when I wanted to interview President Ronald Reagan for my book, Meet the Stars. Like the Salahis, I exchanged correspondence with a Washington insider who shooed me away like a featherweight. "The President is not doing any interviews for 6 weeks, and YOU certainly cannot meet with him."

Like the Salahis, I took "no" for a "yes." I maneuvered my way into an exclusive party thrown by billionaire Walter Annenberg by making friends with a White House employee who provided me with an "invitation." I say "invitation" because my name never appeared on the guest list. At the entrance to the event, the employee convinced a Secret Service agent to give me entrance. Of course, I was thoroughly checked to make sure I was weapon-free.

My second Secret Service encounter was in 2004 at a Senator John Kerry fundraiser in Los Angeles when he was the Democratic candidate for president. Some donors had paid as much as $25,000 for a dinner and star-studded show. Why buy a car when you can have mashed potatoes and a steak?

A few lucky folks were able to attend a private party afterwards. Present were: Senator Kerry, Robert De Niro, Barbra Streisand, Ben Affleck, Neil Diamond, Billy Crystal, Ben Stiller, Jamie Foxx and Leonard Dicaprio, among others. Of the 50 or so people in the room all were well-known figures and their spouses or Secret Service agents. And me.

Like the Salahis, who in the words of Secret Service director Mark Sullivan, went through "magnetometers and other levels of screening," I underwent a rigorous check confirming I had no weapon. But no one asked to see my ticket. I had escaped detection in the excitement of the moment and the collage of colorful party gowns. True, I had intentionally shimmied into the center of a group of the wealthiest attendees who seemed to be thinking, "I paid big bucks for this shindig, and I’m not about to wait in line."

During my late teens and early 20's, I gate-crashed with the predictability of a train schedule. While my schoolmates were hovering over beer kegs or rabblerousing outside the local Denny's, I was hobnobbing with the rich and famous, from royalty to politicians, from business leaders to movie stars. Gate-crashing was the only ticket I could afford. My motivation was threefold: for excitement, to pinpoint the universal trait for success (if one existed) and to make some good contacts.

The Secret Service has successfully protected the President and other officials at more than 10,000 events with 100 percent success. Apart from initial screenings, the organization has multiple security procedures in place, and I do not believe for one moment that a person with nefarious intent could gain entrance or cause harm.

America is debating the minutia and antics of the Salahi affair while troops die, while our country’s bank book gets deeper in the red and while jobs bleed away like a wound that will not heal. Crashgate is not Watergate, and it should not be treated as such.

Charlotte Laws, Ph.D. is an author and a weekly commentator on NBC's "The Filter with Fred Roggin." She has also appeared on Larry King Live, The Late Show, Oprah Winfrey, and dozens of other programs. Her website is www.CharlotteLaws.org