The Tartan, CMU’s own fish-wrapper, lands a minor scoop at Michelle Obama’s rally at the UC:
Some students at the event questioned the practices of Mrs. Obama’s event coordinators, who handpicked the crowd sitting behind Mrs. Obama. The Tartan’s correspondents observed one event coordinator say to another, “Get me more white people, we need more white people.” To an Asian girl sitting in the back row, one coordinator said, “We’re moving you, sorry. It’s going to look so pretty, though.”
“I didn’t know they would say, ‘We need a white person here,’ ” said attendee and senior psychology major Shayna Watson, who sat in the crowd behind Mrs. Obama. “I understood they would want a show of diversity, but to pick up people and to reseat them, I didn’t know it would be so outright.”
This story got picked up throughout the conservative/libertarian blogosphere (LGF, the Weekly Standard, Instapundit, Gateway Pundit). Honestly, though, I can’t see why anyone would be surprised by this. Political rallies are always stage managed, and given the nature of Obama’s campaign — particularly in the wake of the Wright revelations — it’s no surprise that race is a big part of that management. What I do find surprising is that the Tartan actually went off message here, if only briefly.
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