skippy the bush kangaroo: chicken hawks on parade (but no liberals are allowed to see them)

Friday, July 14, 2006

chicken hawks on parade (but no liberals are allowed to see them)

steve gilliard of the news blog is reporting that jason mattera of the young america's foundation (a conservative campus group) is hosting the national conservative conference the beginning of next month at george washington u. in dc.

not big news for blogtopia (y!wctp!), but what is news, is that there won't be any liberal news allowed. that's right, jason has taken it upon himself to deny press credentials to any and all liberal and progressive organizations, from the lowliest campus paper all the way up to the nation magazine:

julie siegel, a reporter for the daily pennsylvanian at upenn, contacted yaf and asked for credentials to cover the convention on behalf of campusprogress.org, the student publication at the center for american progress.

yaf’s spokesman jason mattera, who describes himself as “the surprisingly fresh face of conservatism,” denied her request:

our event is open to real members of the press. you will not receive press credentials. my advice for you is to watch it on c-span. if you have a problem with that decision, you can complain to the foundation’s media department spokesman. oh wait…that’s…me. :)

subsequently, mattera made clear that his decision to reject siegel’s request was made on ideological grounds. mattera told campusprogress.org editor ben adler that the nation, the country’s oldest progressive magazine a monthly circulation of almost 200,000, would also be denied credentials.

if that's not bad enough, gilliard points out (via alternet) a crooks&liars video that has the self-same jason mattera stuttering and stumbling over the question posed by chris matthews: "you're 21, why don't you enlist to fight in iraq?"

we figure that mattera's refusal to credential liberal reporters for a national conference ought to be national news. so, since mr. mattera is well-known to hardball, we sent the following letter to chris matthews:

mr. matthews,

as you have had jason mattera, from the young america's foundation student organization on your show, i thought you'd be interested in the latest developments about him and his group.

the young american's foundation is sponsoring the national conservative student conference at george washington university in dc this July 30-aug 5.

The National Conservative Student Conference

mr. mattera personally has refused to issue press credentials to any and all liberal press organs to cover his conference, including the nation magazine.

Think Progress » Young America’s Foundation Student Conference Bans Progressive Reporters

mr. mattera has also stated blatantly it's because of ideological grounds.

we would submit that mr. mattera is very afraid of open discussion about his ideas.

we would request mr. matthews to have mr. mattera back on hardball to ask him exactly why he refuses to let members of the press access to his conference.

sincerely,

addendum: we just want to point out something in the original article by campus reporter julie siegel for the campusprogress.org, which we think shows the clear difference between progressives and the hardly-ever-right wing. emphasis ours:

two weeks ago, my editor here at campusprogress.org, our daily web magazine, asked me if i would like to cover the young america’s foundation (yaf) national conservative student conference, set for july 30 to august 5 in washington. i’m a firm believer that if i want to learn, i can’t always be surrounded by people with whom i agree, so i wanted the assignment.

and that difference, dear readers, will be the hardly-ever-right wing's downfall.

posted by skippy at 10:06 AM |