Sarah Palin Bars Then Admits Reporters to Meetings

Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin is a magnet for controversy, and I am not sure that there is a good reason. Other than she is obviously someone who scares the democrats. She is well spoken, attractive, intelligent, and not afraid of making the tough decisions. Everyday there are numerous stories about her. Here is the latest one.

Sarah Palin, who has not held a press conference in nearly four weeks of campaigning, initially barred reporters from her first meetings with world leaders Tuesday, but reversed course after they protested.

At first, campaign aides told the TV producer, print and news agency reporters in the press pool that followed the Alaska governor that they would not be admitted along with still photographers and a video camera crew taken in to photograph her meetings with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, who are here for the United Nations General Assembly this week. She also was to meet later with former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.

These sessions and meetings scheduled for Wednesday are part of the Republican campaign's effort to give Palin experience in foreign affairs. She has never met a foreign head of state and first traveled outside North America just last year.

The media were escorted out after about 40 seconds. Campaign aides subsequently announced that reporters would be allowed to accompany photographers into the later sessions with Uribe and Kissinger.
At that point, campaign spokeswoman Tracey Schmitt said it was all just a "miscommunication." Earlier, she had said, "The decision was made for this to be a photo spray with still cameras and video cameras only."