corrente

Big politicians love small-town newspapers, TV and radio stations. They are supposed to be the conduit to the "little people" who aren't online, don't read the New York Times or the Washington Post every day. They are also supposed to be staffed by "down home folks" who will be SO thrilled to be in the presence of the Great Ones that they ask no embarassing questions like the smartass city boys do.

They are not supposed to get uppity and question their masters, dammit!

(via Arizona Star, via Atrios)

President Bush's re-election campaign insisted on knowing the race of an Arizona Daily Star journalist assigned to photograph Vice President Dick Cheney.

The Star refused to provide the information. Cheney is scheduled to appear at a rally this afternoon at the Pima County Fairgrounds.

A rally organizer for the Bush-Cheney re-election campaign asked Teri Hayt, the Star's managing editor, to disclose the journalist's race on Friday. After Hayt refused, the organizer called back and said the journalist probably would be allowed to photograph the vice president.

Danny Diaz, a spokesman for the president's re-election campaign, said the information was needed for security purposes.

Diaz repeated that answer when asked if it is the practice of the White House to ask for racial information or if the photographer, Mamta Popat, was singled out because of her name.

Organizer Christine Walton asked for Popat's race in telephone conversations with two other Star editors before she spoke to Hayt. They also refused to provide the information. Walton told Hayt that Popat's race was necessary to allow the Secret Service to distinguish her from someone else who might have the same name.

Every time I hear a story from Tucson, Arizona I know I will spend the rest of the day with a certain song running through my head: Get back! Get back! Get back to where you once belonged....