The fact Chase both approved and issued a Presidential Plus credit card to a new customer is proof Chase is willing to do so; it could have simply denied the application had it not wanted to. Yes, the zombie link may be exorcised now, but the fact remains Chase issued a new PP card and therefore could possibly do so again under certain (unknown) circumstances.
RNE, not saying this is likely, merely possible.
I think with the zombie link it was all automated. If the offer wasn't expired, I could see it going through without any human interaction. Chase has the ability to issue new account numbers, as evidenced by getting two new PPMCs over the past year due the Home Depot and Target breeches.
The short of it: someone could have forgotten to shut off the offer for new customers