Secret Service Scandal: White House Fires Back On Sarah Palin Criticism

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney fired back at Sarah Palin's criticism of the Secret Service after a recent prostitution scandal, saying "it is preposterous to politicize the Secret Service."

On Thursday, Sarah Palin spoke with Fox News about one of the Secret Service agents caught up in the Colombia prostitution scandal, noting that he had been in her security detail during the 2008 presidential campaign. She reacted to a comment the agent made that he was "checking her out" and managed to work in a jab at Obama for eating dog meat as a child.

"Well check this out, bodyguard, you're fired," Palin said. "I hope his wife ... sends him to the doghouse -- as long as he's not eating the dog, along with his former boss."

Carney criticized Palin and other politicians who have coupled the Secret Service incident with other recent scandals, including lavish spending by the General Services Administration that's currently under investigation and the recent killing of 16 Afghan civilians by an American soldier.

"What they're doing is trying to turn these incidents -- one that's still under investigation -- to political advantage," Carney said. "On the face of it, it's a ridiculous assertion that trivializes both the very serious nature of the endeavor that our military is engaged in in Afghanistan and the very serious nature both of the work that the Secret Service does, the apolitical nature of the institution, and the seriousness of the investigation under way."