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.

In The Tank

On Wednesday, the SLTrib breathlessly reported...

Obama out-raising McCain in Utah

As always, the truth is not exactly what was reported...

The rumors of John McCain's Utah demise are at least slightly exaggerated.

Media reports citing Barack Obama's sizeable fundraising advantage only show part of the picture. It is true the Democrats' presumptive nominee has outraised the GOP contender over the entire campaign -- $706,046 to $595,320. But trends are everything in politics, and a closer look at the numbers shows a story more murky than Utah Lake.

Conventional wisdom is that Mitt Romney simply drained Utah pocketbooks in his attempt to secure the nomination. (He took nearly 90 percent of the Utah vote in the primary.)

Romney and McCain were also bitter rivals in the primary races, putting McCain on many Utahns' bad side. So it's no wonder he had raised only about $160,000 here by February, when Romney suspended his campaign.

The first thing to look at in a McCain-Obama race then, is fundraising after Romney dropped out to see if the state's Republican base forgave the GOP pick. Beginning in March, Utahns gave about the same amount to each presumptive nominee through Aug. 20 -- $433,470 to McCain, $431,659 to Obama.

The Herald even did the basic reporting that the AP and the SLTrib neglected to do.

•¬ According to Federal Election Commission reports, McCain took it on the chin for two more months after Romney suspended his campaign, bringing in less than $20,000 each month. But in May, things turned around in a big way, with Utahns giving $257,862 to McCain when Romney and President George Bush came to town for a fundraiser.

• Obama had a huge March, bringing in $119,699. But he was in a battle royale with Democratic opponent Sen. Hillary Clinton until June, and his fundraising here has also been up and down. But if you count just the last three months, Obama has out-raised McCain by about $47,000.

Again I have to ask, is it any wonder at all why the average Joe and Jane Voter have little trust in what they hear from most major media outlets? I mean when they can not even be bothered to do the basic research that is required of their jobs...

Why People Distrust The Press

Here is a prime example of why people distrust the press. At 12:15 Mountain Time, I pulled the following story off of both Fox News AND the Cleveland Plain Dealer websites.

EAST CLEVELAND, Ohio — U.S. Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, the first black woman to represent Ohio in Congress, has died, FOX News confirms.

Tubbs Jones, 58, was earlier sent to the hospital Tuesday evening after suffering an aneurysm while driving her car.

Tubbs Jones' car veered off the side of the road Tuesday night. Police found her unconscious behind the wheel.

According to a police report, an officer was driving behind Tubbs Jones' car at about 9 p.m.ET and observed her weaving.

After a couple of turns, the officer turned on his lights to stop the congresswoman. When she pulled to the side, her car then started to roll across the lanes of oncoming traffic. The officer then pulled his cruiser in front of her car to block it from oncoming traffic, the report said.

When the officer walked up to her sedan, he noticed she was in "medical distress" and called for an ambulance.

Only one problem with that....as both sites (and numerous others) are reporting Rep. Tubbs Jones is not dead but in critical condition.

This is what happens when you rush to be the FIRST to report anything. You run the very real risk of ending up with egg on your face.

My prayers go out to Rep. Tubbs Jones and her family.

UPDATE AND BUMP: The Cleveland Plain Dealer says that the family is confirming that Rep. Tubbs-Jones died t 6:12pm (EST) as the result of a brain hemorrhage caused by an aneurysm in an inaccessible part of her brain. Our prayers and sympathies go out to her family as they mourn her loss.