Teabaggers claim media victimhood even as they try to "earn" media

Having originally banned all but five media outlets, the Teabaggers are now claiming transparency cred for allowing a hundred or so sources, including C-SPAN, which Mrs. Palin mocked during her speech. Curiously, the Baggers allowed a reporter from Brazil but not one from the local newspaper, The Tennessean:

“Unlike the promises of this administration, we actually have C-SPAN covering our convention,” convention spokesman Mark A. Skoda said.

“We desire transparency at this convention and have worked with media that are friendly to the Tea Party movement as well as those that have not been seen to be supportive of our efforts.”

Skoda said of the 120 media organizations that asked to cover the convention, the group credentialed 111 members of the press. A notable exception was the host city’s own paper, the Tennessean.

During a interview Thursday with reporters on the convention’s hallways, a reporter from the Nashville paper pressed Skoda on why the Tennessean was not allowed to cover the event. Skoda did not budge. Mark Silverman, editor of the Tennessean, did not return a request for comment.