"I was kidnapped. That was news to me."

[Clio the Leo]

How my wait in a closet almost brought down the White House
posted by scottpowers on March, 27 2011

I was kidnapped.

That was news to me.

My paper and I conspired to cover this up, to protect Vice President Joe Biden and his staff from charges they had imprisoned me at a fundraiser last week.

That was news to me too.

In fact, a lot of details circulating through the blogosphere — and into some mainstream media — about my coverage of Biden’s fundraising visit to a Winter Park home last Wednesday were news to me.

Take a couple details of information, toss them into the Internet and it can become like a child’s game of telephone — with each rendition adding spin and details. Only in this politically-charged environment, those spin and details can crystallize toward scandal. That’s especially true when it involves the vice president of the United States in an administration that has enraged a segment of American society.

Here’s what happened. I showed up at the private home of developer, philanthropist and political contributor Alan Ginsburg Wednesday morning to file a pool report on the visit there by Biden and U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Orlando. When I arrived I was told I would not be able to speak with any of the people at the party, and that I was to wait in a room until Biden and Nelson arrived. I went in willingly, with the understanding that I was free to leave — but if I left I’d probably have to leave the house entirely, and not get to cover the speeches.

<snip>

It was more than an hour, and when I was finally led out, Ginsburg, Nelson and Biden were just getting ready to talk. I listened, recorded the speeches and took notes, then was led back to the little room to wait until they left, about 15 more minutes, before they led me to my car.

While I was in the closet, getting impatient and annoyed, I snapped a picture with my cell phone and e-mailed it to my editor, Bob Shaw, explaining that this is where I was at, and this is why I wouldn’t be filing anything about the party before the speeches. He wrote up an item and posted it, with the picture, on this blog. His post was a bit snarky. He likes snarky. So do I. I thought it was funny. The post and picture also ran in the Orlando Sentinel newspaper the next morning, along with my write-up of Biden’s speech. People told me they thought it was funny.

The vice president’s press secretary, Elizabeth Alexander, e-mailed me an apology, which I accepted. (Today we talked and she said that the choice of rooms was a screw-up by an inexperienced staffer and would never happen again.) Ginsburg called me with an apology, saying he had known nothing about what happened and was very upset by it, and I accepted his apology too. Aside from a couple other e-mails and phone calls, I’d pretty much forgotten all about the event and moved on to other stories I was working on.

Then the blogosphere went crazy. ......

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/news_politics/2011/03/how-my-wait-in-a-closet-almost-brought-down-the-white-house.html

Clearly this man is a thug....

[liberal N proud]

1. Media is having a heyday blowing this out of proportion

[sharp_stick]

2. And bloggers like to think

of themselves as "journalists". Why people trust them at all is surprising to me. What surprises me is when a blogger actually attempts to do a fact check.

[girl gone mad]

5. Judith Miller wasn't a blogger.

Nor Stephen Glass, Jayson Blair, Janet Cooke, Jay Forman..

[sharp_stick]

6. One difference

they were held accountable to at least some extent.

[The Backlash Cometh]

3. Dupe

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x757839

[BlueIris]

4. That's like something out of an episode of The West Wing.

And not a very well written episode either.