On Friday, the White House was temporarily on lockdown after 42-year-old Omar J. Gonzalez of Copperas Cove, Texas jumped the fence and managed to make it inside the North Portico doors of the presidential residence before being apprehended. According to CNN, Gonzalez was carrying a folding knife in his pocket.
On radio this morning, Glenn and Pat questioned what kind of lapse in security would allow someone to get over the fence – let alone inside the White House. But, then again, this is not the first time unauthorized persons have made it past the Secret Service.
“Are the Secret Service understaffed, worn out? Do they have a sense of mission? Are they too tired from making out with hookers? Are they drunk? I don't know,” Glenn said. “But I have been saying this from the time that the White House had a breach of security at that first gala dinner, where people just strolled in that weren't even on the White House guest list… Is it just me?”
The media has chosen to focus on the mental state of Gonzalez and the fact that President Obama was not home at the time of the breach, but Glenn believes that narrative misses the point.
“Please, can we just have a serious conversation with one another,” Glenn asked. “I don't know if anyone notices that [radical Islamists] are talking about flying the black flag of Islam over the White House. I don't think now would be a good time to cut back on security. But, don't worry, he only had a pocket knife, machete, black flag.”
Glenn explained he recently had an intruder make it over the fence at his home, but between his personal security detail and the police, the situation was rectified immediately.
“Last week, somebody jumped the fence of my house… We're pretty well equipped. Let's just say the guy didn't get very far,” Glenn joked. “Now, that's me… If the guy would have touched the doorknob on my house, I certainly wouldn't have said, ‘Guys, did you lock the door?’ My door is always locked… We've put in these things, where I don't have to worry about locking my door.”
Considering the constant security threat the president and first family face, wouldn’t you just assume even more comprehensive security procedures would be in place?
“Can you imagine the president going, ‘Honey, did you lock the door?’ Does the president or the first lady lay in bed in the middle of the night and say, ‘Did you turn on the alarm?’ ‘I heard something. Grab your gun. Go downstairs,’” Glenn said. “The president and the first lady shouldn't have to be saying those things. I say them. You say them. The president and first lady don't say those things… How is this happening?”
Ultimately, Glenn said he has never met anyone – liberal or conservative – who is against the president receiving the best possible protection available, so it is simply unacceptable that the Secret Service cannot seem to get its act together.
“Could I just point out that no time in my life… as a fiscally responsible conservative… have I said, ‘We really need to cut back on the president's security,’” Glenn concluded. “Never in my life have I said or would I say, ‘Hey, the president's on his own here.’ It's the White House, for the love of Pete!”
Front page image courtesy of the AP
