Where Did They Get Their Credentials?

One of the things that struck me about this convention is just how tight security was. Before you could even go through the metal detectors, you had to have your credentials scanned. Then once you got to the metal detectors your credentials were scanned again! On the first day of the convention I had the bar code on the back of my credentials scanned three times. Then, once you got into the X you had to show your credentials multiple times in and around the seating area. So given all of that, just how did Code Pink get into the convention on Wednesday and Thursday? Spokes people for the the Pinks said that they were "given" the credentials by disaffected Republican delegates. However, according to delegates I spoke to, that was not the case.

This Code Pinker came in and halfway down the stairs took off the top of her outfit to reveal a pink sign about the war. She was quickly grabbed by one of our CT delegates and smacked to the floor. The other one was also grabbed by another CT delegate and shoved onto the stairs. Turns out they got media/press passes..

Emphasis mine. It turns out this was not the first time.

Later, after radio host Laura Ingraham spoke, Schlafly returned to the podium, and additional Code Pink protestors mounted the stage and chanted from in front of the stage. These protestors were escorted from the stage and the front of the stage to outside the hotel.

Abileah was among the Code Pink protestors escorted out of the hotel after the second disruption.

“Someone gave me it from a media outlet,” Abileah said outside the hotel. “It’s friendly of them. There’s a lot of media out there that support our message.”

Newsbusters is reporting that the RNCC knows whose press passes were used by the Pinks. Any guesses?

There is another, much more intriguing, explanation out there. According to Shay at Booker Rising, which describes itself a newsite for black moderates and black conservatives [emphasis added]:

I took the shuttle bus back to Minneapolis, and I overheard a convention organizer named Phil telling a convention delegate that the protesters on Wednesday night got through because of media credentials that were traced back to MSNBC (he told her that each credential has an individual bar code for each convention invitee). They suspect MSNBC this time as well.

Emphasis in the original. As I said, each credential was bar coded and the bar code identified the organization you were with. When the Pinks were arrested, they still had their purloined credentials on them. It certainly would have been easy enough to identify where the credentials came from. If they were indeed from a "traditional" media outlet, what will this mean for future conventions and candidate availabilities?

If the purloined credentials did indeed come from someone in a MSM outlet, that outlet runs the risk of being excluded from all future RNCC Conventions. I can not believe that someone who relies on access would be so stupid as to endanger the access for his entire organization just to promote an agenda. Then again, if it was indeed MSNBC credentials, being the home of Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews, anything is indeed possible.