Obama was right.

yawn.

and also just for pr its not a great move. Not sure why he wouldnt want to encourage blogging at these kinds of things to spread the word about campaign events. It would seem like a win/win for them.

well i felt that way with the whole myspace fiasco. Thats what initially put me off to him. I'm not saying this is the same, but i think his whole netroots/grassroots persona is just a gimmick.

I should note this diary was written by an Obama supporter.  Notice how knee-jerk his unthinking drones are.  They don't care what the source is, they go on attack mode.  How sad.

When Edwards makes a mistake I know a number of his supporters who will criticize it.  When Obama makes a mistake they make every excuse in the book.  When one of their own questions a decision, they become a heretic.  My god the Obama cult scares the shit out of me.

Ice, you're always welcome on my team.

I've heard that in Iowa a blogger got rushed press stuff and asked what the Obama camp could do to make his blogging easier. So I think this was a screw up. Not a OFA Policy.

Still, Obama needs to deal with this.

Why does every event have to be for publication?  The meeting was about Faith, Action, and Change and I find it very interesting that they would attempt to give their participants a level of privacy.  

What the staffer should have done is say, you can stay, but we don't want you blogging about it... anyone, everyone, is a blogger in this day and age.

This reminds me of when I, along with Stoller and Trippi, got kicked out for blogging a DNC event during the DNC Chair race, and people off the street blogged diary entries about us getting kicked out, from still inside the event.

I support icebergslim's right to bash Obama any time she pleases.  :-)

And, I would be happy to share my foxhole with her.   :-)

Seriously, we are ALL bloggers here.  Are we not welcome to Obama events because of that fact?  Or should there be a weeding process that separates the Obama-friendly bloggers from those who at some point may have been critical of Obama?  So, then, I can NEVER go to see him, and perhaps be wowed into supporting the guy?

What age do we live in?  The mid-90s?

would result in a hit piece. You Johnbots are unbelievable. The slimiest of the bunch by far.

This is not meant to get overblown.  It is meant for us to "think".  We are talking about freedom and with it responsiblity of speech.  I can sit at an event with one hundred people and all of us will come out with a "different reaction".  It is the responsibility of the blogger to be unbiased, period.  But we know that is hard.  Well, I am an Obama supporter and this is not a flame piece, but an honest one about my candidate.  If we can not take the heat about any of our candidates and the stupid things they can and will pull, then don't put your hands to keyboard and turn off the computer.  This is instant media age.  And not a one, not a one, candidate should be afraid of any person coming to hear them speak.  And if a blogger, the candidate, should already have his/her media team ready, especially the "video feed".  Nuff said.

I think it is important that the event was able to have a free and open exchange regarding religion and politics without being open for publication.  Staging the event in such a way is in my opinion respectful of the individuals who attended, for religion is a very divisive issue in our country and people should feel they have a right to privacy with those beliefs.

It is interesting to me, however, that blogs want to be respected as legitimate news sources and want to carry that kind of clout with campaigns, but when they are treated like like legitimate news sources, bloggers get upset.

Is it OK that the traditional press was excluded?  Is a self-proclaimed blogger a journalist, or not?

Why was this diary written by an Obama supporter?

Bloggers are becoming too self righteous in my opinion.  We are not God and we are not obligated entrance into every political function a candidate throws.  When concerning issues of faith, progressive bloggers have not been known to be very sensitive to those issues.

Finally, iceberg, no disrespect but you seem way too eager to point out things wrong with Obama or his supporters.

I'm of two opinions... on one hand, I think it was stupid... one of those idiotic things that just makes your campaign inept in the press... similiar to the haircut issue with Edwards... Not a big deal to me in the grand scheme, but just stupid on the part of the campaign because at best, nothing happens and at worst you hurt yourself.

On the other hand, according to the account, they did say ALL PRESS IS BANNED.  If they allowed (and I can't tell from the account so maybe Buckeye can clarify) newspapers and TV but shunned bloggers that is just wrong... if they did not allow any press then, right or wrong policy, they were at least CONSISTENT with their policy.  Bloggers have been fighting hard to be considered journalists and part of the press... here they were being treated like the press; you either want to be considered legitimate press or you don't; Bloggers can't have it both ways.

Overall, I think they should allow the bloggers and the press to cover the events.  If print and TV were allowed and the bloggers excluded then that was just plain bad decisions by the campaign or event organizers.  But if all were excluded, then the policy needs to be attacked and not the actions of the campaign... which followed their own policy.

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/arch ives/2007/06/a_brief_photographic_tour_o f_o_1.php

Sounds like ice need to get the full story and not just give a one sided opinion based on a one sided account.

I think the responses show that Obama supporters eat their own.

Not a single Obama supporter.  All Edwards and Hillary supporters.

Most Obama supporters come to the situation saying let me get all the facts first before drawing a negative conclusion.  However, everyone assumes the Obama campaign was in the wrong with this sole blogger who was not let in to a "NO PRESS" event.

Its all an act the idea that he is reaching out to different people or that he is different.  He is running a very safe Washington style campaign.  He is being packaged by his handlers and any rhetoric you hear is just that.

Its the same ole, same ole.

No Press- should include bloggers. Specifically if the format as reported here had to with breaking into pairs and sharing intimate thoughts and views.

At the same time too many silly incompetent looking things are happening in Obama-land.

This blogger could have attended this event as a person rather than as a "blogger," but by announcing at the door "Hi! I'm a blogger!" that indicates that they went there intending to blog about it.

There's lots of good reasons, many of which have been discussed above, for why they didn't want media coverage of this particular event--new media or old media.

They did the right thing for an event of this sort.

It is unbelievable how this site which only a year ago seemed like such a positive thing has become a forum for near-constant Fox-like attacks on Obama. Given that this is the case, and given his earlier response to Fox, is it any wonder that he is freezing out mydd as well? Maybe this particular blogger didn't specify his relationship to mydd, but frankly I have seen pretty much the same shit over at dailykos, so I don't see a huge difference.

Think about it. You have Vox whatever his name is going around posting about Barack "Husayn" Obama being a lying liar or some shit, you have these constant posts which oscillate between slamming Obama for being timid and not attacking Hillary and then slamming Obama for being mean and attacking Hillary! Pretty much every time I log in there is a new hit-piece on the man. Is there really such a total lack of self-awareness in this community that his response would come as a surprise to you?

What is with the netroots, how have they gone so far astray??? Idolizing John Edwards is about the most inane strategy our side of the aisle has embarked on in the past few years. I read posts praising his "poverty center" which amounted to nothing more than a holding front for his campaign staff until the next election, which did not hire people who were experienced in poverty work but instead spent its money on consulting fees to recipients not-yet-specified, and of course on JE's campaign travel expenses! How are you people so blind??

These are the same clowns who idolized McCain in 2000, who attacked Al Gore for being too centrist and then voted for Nader or didn't vote at all... Seriously guys. I know I'm being caustic right now, but you have to realize that this kind of reflexive poor decision making is the reason why the progressive movement has been stalled for so long, and why now despite national momentum, it still moves at a snail's pace.