Obama Campaign Says Having a Blog = The Press

Where is then line drawn then?

Published on June 22, 2007 By greywar In Democrat

Apparently I am a member of the press. So are most of you reading this according to barack Obama's campaign folks who turned away Jerid of Buckeye State Blog from an event that was "closed to the press". Note that this guy was not turned away because he had a major blog like the Daily Kos or Instapundit but simply because he stated that he had a blog.

Where is the line drawn then? If you talk to people about your political views offline does that constitute being part of the press since you are in effect a "town crier"? What about emailing people about politics? Same thing? Putting a sign out in your yard endorsing political candidates? Bumper stickers?

Just seems like a poorly thought out strategy for any politician in this day and age. The blogger who was turned away is very Obama friendly and even he reacted in pretty strong fashion. He was then attacked several times in the comments section of his blog by Kool-aid drinkers who will not tolerate any dissent at all of their chosen messiah. Spending political capital and goodwill on keeping normal people out is unwise at best.

WWFTD?

(What Would Fred Thompson Do?)

Comments

singrdave

on Jun 22, 2007

He's banning bloggers? I thought he'd want to get the word out -- he could use all the good publicity he can get.

Since any shmoe can have a blog, it's incredible that he'd ban bloggers. Not a very media-friendly move.

Thanks for the compliment, though... apparently I'm now a journalist. Or at least a pundit.

You know, there was no media allowed at Saddam's hanging, but we saw that.

In this pirahna feeding frenzy we call modern media, how on earth is Obama going to keep bloggers out?

singrdave

on Jun 22, 2007

Accidental double post. Mah bad.

Dr Guy

on Jun 22, 2007

They have been trying to corral blogs under the McCain Feingold abortion of legislation too. I see this as just another extension of suppressing free speech when it comes to the little guy with averge means to express themselves.

greywar

on Jun 22, 2007

He's banning bloggers?

Honestly no... this event was a supposed to be "no press" which meant "no bloggers" to his staff. Many of his events have had bloggers at them before. I think this is a case of overzealous and underinformed staffers making decisions without the candidate's foreknowledge.

Nonetheless, the candidate is responsible for educating their staffers.

SanChonino

on Jun 22, 2007

I think this is a case of overzealous and underinformed staffers making decisions without the candidate's foreknowledge.

Nonetheless, the candidate is responsible for educating their staffers.

I agree. I figure that this will be a good learning experience for those staffers (as they get a serious tongue-lashing from the campaign manager) and I doubt you'll see an instance of this happening again.

singrdave

on Jun 22, 2007

I think this is a case of overzealous and underinformed staffers making decisions without the candidate's foreknowledge.

Aren't staffers usually hyper-caffeinated college students anyway? And they don't know bloggers from journalists? Methinks you give them a pass.

Welcome Guest! Please take the time to register with us.
There are many great features available to you once you register, including:

Richer content, access to many features that are disabled for guests like commenting on the forums.
Access to a great community, with a massive database of many, many areas of interest.
Access to contests & subscription offers like exclusive emails.
It's simple, and FREE!