BREAKING NEWS: Arkansas Democrats Hate Bloggers (UPDATE)
Blake’s Think Tank writes about the Democratic Party of Arkansas seemingly denying press credentials to bloggers for their Jefferson-Jackson Dinner tonight where former Clinton advisor Paul Begala (aka The Forehead) is scheduled to speak. I also sent a message to the DPA executive director asking about the event and never heard anything back.
I find it interesting that the DPA would ignore bloggers for this event. I can certainly understand ignoring a right winger like myself but Rutherford is a full fledged Yellow Dog. In sharp contrast, when the Republican Party of Arkansas hosted Gov. Tim Pawlenty for the Governor’s Dinner a few weeks back, they were more than accommodating. They send me a full schedule, invited me to attend all the events, and gave me updates
when the schedule changed due to Pawlenty’s flight being delayed.
Luckily, Rutherford managed to score a ticket for tonight through his numerous connections so the blogosphere will be represented. Follow him for live twitter updates on what salad dressing Dustin McDaniel uses and how many drinks Jason Willett has consumed.
UPDATE - Almost immediately after posting, DPA Executive Director Mariah Hatta sends me a message telling me the deadline for credentials was Wednesday and I asked on Thursday. I still say they hate bloggers. If they truly understood us, they would know we are not responsible enough to ask ahead of time.
July 24th, 2009 at 12:52 pm
[...] Crimes: Blogger Jason Tolbert thinks Arkansas Democrats hate bloggers, but it turns out Arkansas Democrats just hate Tolbert and his stupid little Flipcam. (The Tolbert [...]
July 24th, 2009 at 5:16 pm
It is amazing how a little public attention can get a quick response out of a political official. The only thing that gets one quicker is a LOT of money. I wonder how those folks at the DPA expected bloggers to know what the deadline for press credentials was for their event? Did they post them on the DPA website? Did they send out notices?
July 24th, 2009 at 9:44 pm
Jason
They fear you.
Bryan
July 25th, 2009 at 8:58 pm
I have some sympathy for Mariah Hattah. She is in a position where she is regularly required to say stupid and indefensible things while keeping a straight face. (As someone who attended my share of House State Agencies Committee meetings earlier this year where she repeatedly testified against election reform laws, I heard her say her share of them.) Nonetheless, I have to wonder about the specificity of this deadline. What on earth required the state party to have a Wednesday deadline? Are they doing background checks on the bloggers? Do they have engraved invitations that list all the journalists in attendance? Is there some kind of special chair that they have to order for each reporter?
Poor Mariah. I guess they must pay her well. I hope for her sake that it’s worth it.