Three Newspapers Barred From Obama's Aircraft

Reporters from The Washington Times, The New York Post, and The Dallas Morning News are no longer welcome on Barack Air. The Obama campaign says that it's a space issue, but some wonder if the recent endorsement of John McCain by all three papers might be the reason for the revocation.

The Washington Times, N.Y. Post and Dallas Morning News -- three newspapers that recently endorsed John McCain -- have been kicked off Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama's plane in the final days of his campaign. [...]

"This feels like the journalistic equivalent of redistributing the wealth. We spent hundreds of thousands of dollars covering Senator Obama's campaign, traveling on his plane, and taking our turn in the reporters' pool, only to have our seat given away to someone else in the last days of the campaign," said Washington Times Executive Editor John Solomon. [...]

Obama spokeswoman Linda Douglass said the changes on the plane had "absolutely nothing" to do with the organizations' coverage, an explanation echoed by Obama advisor and communications chief Anita Dunn.

"Demand for seats on the plane during this final weekend has far exceeded supply, and because of logistical issues we made the decision not to add a second plane. This means we've had to make hard and unpleasant for all concerned decisions about limiting some news organizations and in some cases not being in a position to offer space to news organizations altogether," Ms. Dunn wrote in an e-mail to The Times Thursday night.

Look, it is Obama's aircraft, and he has every right to decide who can and cannot be on that aircraft. I'm all for private property rights.

The thing that everyone should be wondering about, though, is why were those three newspapers chosen to be excluded? Why not The New York Times? Why not The Los Angeles Times? Why not Time?

I think that the reason is three-fold. First, I think that the Obama campaign wanted some smaller sympathetic publishers (such as Ebony and Jet magazines), who could not afford to have their reporters with Obama since 2007, to now have their reporters on board for the last weekend of the campaign. Second, I think that the Obama campaign decided that those who were denied access should be able to afford to still send their reporters to follow the campaign independently. Third, I think that the Obama campaign chose to remove those who have endorsed someone other than Barack [REDACTED] Obama.

Oh yes, he is so open, accessible, and such a breath of fresh air. How is it that Obama's politics as usual is different from what we get from any other typical politician?

USMC 9971 OUT