Obama Couldn't Eat at Hill Meeting Without Food Taster

** That's the title of the article

Isn't having a 'food taster' in this day and age kind of ... useless? I mean, if someone tastes the food and it has poison, that poison doesn't necessarily work instantly, you know? I would think that there would be better ways to take care of the food of the POTUS than to use 'food tasters'. That's like using ancient egyptian methods. Not to mention the fact that I wouldn't want to be the Secret Service agent who has to be the 'food taster' for the POTUS. You couldn't pay me enough money for that job. YIKES.

Obama Couldn't Eat at Hill Meeting Without Food Taster

Following President Obama’s lunch meeting with Senate Republicans on Capitol Hill, Maine Republican Senator Susan Collins described the food served and said the president was not able to eat since his “taster” was not present ....

He looked longingly at it,” Collins continued. “He honestly did look longingly at it, but apparently he has to have essentially a taster, and I pointed out to him that we were all tasters for him, that if the food had been poisoned all of us would have keeled over so, but he did look longingly at it and he remarked that we have far better food than the Democrats do, and I said that was because I was hosting.”

The food was all 'Maine Dishes' .. lobster, blueberry pie ... yumyumyumyum

The Straight Dope - Does the President Have an Official Food Taster?
Looks like George H.W. Bush had one. Bill Clinton too.

Daily Mail - Bush43 Poisoned at G8
I remember this ... people were saying that Bush43 got drunk and fell off the wagon. But it turns out that there was either food poisoning OR someone tried to poison Bush43. Apparently any 'food taster' didn't do his/her job at the G8. Or maybe Bush43 didn't have them.

Bush 41 (George H.W. Bush) fell 'ill' At a State Dinner in Japan
Was he ill with the stomach flu .. or was it poison ... ??
No mention of 'food tasters' for this ..

I'm just thinking that the notion of 'food taster' is archaic and that a food taster probably isn't going to see the effects of poison right away. And unless that food taster Secret Service agent has a very delicate palate .. he/she probably won't taste the poison anyways ..

reply to post by FlyersFan


Standard protocol.

Say, are you from another country and just don't get America or are you an American on the political right and are looking for anything to pick at ?

I really wanna know.

reply to post by skepticconwatcher


I get that it looks to be standard protocol.
My question is .. isn't there something more reliable to use?
Other than a Secret Service agent and doing things the old fashioned way?
Just seems .... out of date.

Originally posted by skepticconwatcher
reply to post by FlyersFan

 

Standard protocol.

Say, are you from another country and just don't get America or are you an American on the political right and are looking for anything to pick at ?

I really wanna know.

edit on 16-3-2013 by skepticconwatcher because: (no reason given)

Take it easy on her, it must be a slow day over at Breitbart

Originally posted by muse7
Take it easy on her, it must be a slow day over at Breitbart

:shk: you didn't even read what was posted .. or where it came from .. did you?

How about you contribute to the subject -
Why are we using food tasters in this day and age?
Isn't there a better way to do this?

And as I posted ... Apparently at least Obama, Clinton, and Bush41 used them.

reply to post by FlyersFan


ANY POTUS (D or R) that has a food taster in this day and age is an indictment of our political climate and society at large.

Emperors all, need to be deposed!

Originally posted by beezzer
ANY POTUS (D or R) that has a food taster in this day and age is an indictment of our political climate and society at large.

Definately.
Side note .. I showed both republicans and democrats doing this in the opening post.
(those who actually bother to read the opening post will see that).

My thing .. it's SOOO outdated! Isn't there something better?
And yes ... it's sad that our POTUS needs to do this. Be he/she a (D) or an (R).

Well, I don't know how else they would do it, other than to bring along a scientist and a portable lab to test the food. Seems like a tester would be a lot simpler.

I read somewhere... I think it was a former SS agent's bio, that said it was the SS's job to know where the president's food came from and who prepared it. That makes sense to me.

reply to post by FlyersFan


I know that you showed both democrats and republicans.

(I did read your OP)

It's just that some will screech and wail and panic if there is any slight given towards their idol!

reply to post by beezzer

that wasn't directed at you, Beezzer.

Originally posted by kaylaluv
Well, I don't know how else they would do it,

I don't either but .. does it have to be done at all? I mean .. if the Secret Service is there watching everything .. and the food is being tracked before it comes into the kitchen and during serving .. and everyone is checked .. why does a Secret Service agent have to stand there and eat part of the food of the POTUS? I really don't see that doing any good. It's not like the Secret Service agent will keel over immediately. Poison usually takes more than a few seconds to act.

I dunno .. it just seems like a REALLY old fashioned way to do things ....

Originally posted by FlyersFan
reply to post by beezzer

 

that wasn't directed at you, Beezzer.

Originally posted by kaylaluv
Well, I don't know how else they would do it,

I don't either but .. does it have to be done at all? I mean .. if the Secret Service is there watching everything .. and the food is being tracked before it comes into the kitchen and during serving .. and everyone is checked .. why does a Secret Service agent have to stand there and eat part of the food of the POTUS? I really don't see that doing any good. It's not like the Secret Service agent will keel over immediately. Poison usually takes more than a few seconds to act.

I dunno .. it just seems like a REALLY old fashioned way to do things ....

Well, for the record, the White House had officially denied it in the past, so I'm not 100% convinced it's even true. Maybe SS wasn't able to go into the kitchen before this luncheon to check the food prep. I know I have seen videos and pics of Obama going into a deli and ordering and eating food in real time without a taster, so.....

Originally posted by FlyersFan
reply to post by beezzer

 

that wasn't directed at you, Beezzer.

Originally posted by kaylaluv
Well, I don't know how else they would do it,

I don't either but .. does it have to be done at all? I mean .. if the Secret Service is there watching everything .. and the food is being tracked before it comes into the kitchen and during serving .. and everyone is checked .. why does a Secret Service agent have to stand there and eat part of the food of the POTUS? I really don't see that doing any good. It's not like the Secret Service agent will keel over immediately. Poison usually takes more than a few seconds to act.

I dunno .. it just seems like a REALLY old fashioned way to do things ....

I was in the US Navy, submarines for about 12 year. After any hull repairs where made, the engineers that designed the repair and the welders/workers that did the repair where required to come under way with us on the first underway after the repairs.

I see it as a type of quality assurance, they have everything to loose (their life) if they don't do the job correctly. In the case of the secret service it isn't so much that they will give the president warning of poisoned food, but that they are sure to watch the sourcing, preparation, storage of his food to ensure that they don't die as well.

Haven't Emperors and dictators always traditionally had tasters? Why should King Barack be any different?
Hmmmm....I wonder what that guy's annual salary is.

reply to post by FlyersFan


Get real. You folks think in medieval terms about this "food taster" business.
Leastways, it won't be a mere human. It will be an array of sensors that sniff and sample the meal for a huge variety of killing substances up to radioactive elements. I image a little unit microwave-seized unit where a sample of one substance is put in one end onto a little belt and it runs it through to exit. Just like the airport scanners. These days they can put hundreds of different sensors on one little chip. All it needs is a whiff of its targeted material and the red light goes off and the whole place goes into lockdown. OK, that is a bit extreme, but you get the idea?

Ok...if I were Obama in a room
surrounded by people like Mitch McConnel
Ted Cruz and Rand Paul, I wouldn't just have an agent do it,
I'd make them be my food taster.

As I've said many times, God bless the Secret Service.
They are earning their keep with this president.

You folks are all focusing on our current emperor, His Royalness High Wondermous; Obama.

What the heck are presidents, any presidents doing with fracking food tasters???

There are a number of substances that are notoriously hard to discover, and can be concealed in really disturbing ways.

Many modern poisons, have such a low dose requirement it could be laced on the head of a pin, and all one would have to do is dip or touch it to the food.

Now mind you some of THOSE poisons would be hard to come by, and likely wouldn't be the main concern as to get a hold of them you would be flagged the moment you thought of their names lol.

A low tech "poison" that comes to mind is anthrax, or really any food born illness. Some of these would be hard to detect with out a lab and qualified technician/scientist. In food goods, there aren't going to be any anti-bodies to test for(which tends to be standard procedure when looking for many illnesses.) So how would you test it? Biological threats aren't instantly detectable, so test strips, or even a portable machine wouldn't be likely to pick those up. As far as chemicals(poisons.) I've heard of machines capable of detecting various chemicals from a swab being portable enough to be in police cruisers.(expensive toys.)

So I'm sure some things could be "tested" with a portable device, but even snake venom mixed with caustic soda, or fiber glass(They use this in chewing tobacco so you absorb the nicotine.) would cause minute bleeding and wounds where you could then absorb that venom. I don't know, I can see the need for a food tester when you have a whole world full of crazy's and displeased citizens.

Assassination plots are no joke. It's not often many of them ever get to a point they could pose serious risk to the president but people do plot. With all the creative things you could attempt to give the president I think a food taster might actually be the best bet.

On the note of a SS(does anyone else always think of the Nazi's when mentioning Secret Service??? ha ha), Secret Service Agents are sworn to give their lives to protect the president. What's the difference if the bullet comes out of a gun, or from some food in the form of a poison?

Still the same idea, giving ones life to protect the man.

Originally posted by beezzer
You folks are all focusing on our current emperor, His Royalness High Wondermous; Obama.

What the heck are presidents, any presidents doing with fracking food tasters???

Der Führer ist wunderbar!

You have to wonder to yourself, what did the man do to be so concerned about being poisoned that he needs a food taster. ????

Originally posted by lnfideI

You have to wonder to yourself, what did the man do to be so concerned about being poisoned that he needs a food taster. ????

Got voted into office for the second time, not going to war with Iran, being of non-white decent, ex-muslim, currently Christian, smokes cigarettes, enjoys the color blue, only wears wool socks. Take your pic, crazy people have all sorts of criteria for people they want to kill.

You could also use the deficit issue, Obama-care, current gun legislation talks(either side of this fence really.).

I don't think one of these things is a legitimate reason to harm the man, but it's apparent many feel more than a few of the things I've listed are reasonable cause for them to try and harm him. I know I listed some really ridiculous ones, and no I do not think people are crazy for being upset about some of the things the man has done. How ever, not one of them condemns him to death as far as I'm concerned.

Did you miss the part about him not being the first or only president to have a taster?