Dan Calabrese

I’m not sure the story I’m about to tell you has the partisan twist you might want it to have. It’s been my experience that political operatives have an astounding capacity for stupidity that does not respect party lines.

But the idiots here work for Vice President Joe Biden, so make of it what you will.

According to a report by the UK’s Mail Online, Biden’s staff came up with a novel way to prevent an Orlando Sentinel reporter from speaking to guests at a political fundraiser before Biden arrived to speak. They locked him in a closet. Twice.

Reporter Scott Powers showed up at the home of developer Alan Ginsburg in Winter Falls, Florida, to cover speaking engagements by Biden and U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson. Because Powers arrived some 90 minutes before Biden and Nelson, Biden’s staff were concerned that Powers would mill around and talk to other guests, when the only thing they had agreed to let him do was cover the speeches.

So what to do with Powers? Hey, some genius suggested, let’s lock him in a closet.

You know, in every group, there is a biggest lamebrain, who suggests the dumbest idea. That’s life. But you don’t actually implement the big lamebrain”s dumb idea. Unless you’re Joe Biden’s staff, it would appear.

Into the closet Powers went, for 90 minutes, while everyone waited for Biden and Nelson to arrive. The other guests at the $500-a-plate fundraiser ate caprese crostini, whatever that is, while Powers stood in a closet and e-mailed his office to tell them what was going on.

They let him out when Biden and Nelson arrived, and then, 35 minutes later when the speeches were done, they stuffed him back in the closet again.

Now, leaving aside the outrageous nature of their actions, what kinds of dipwads are these people? First of all, if you’re going to kidnap someone, do you think it might make a difference that the guy is a) a journalist who will be free to write about the incident?; and b) holding a device in his hands that he can use to make phone calls and send e-mails?

If I’m ever kidnapped, I hope it’s by these nitwits.

As to why this sort of thing would happen, you have to realize how obsessed political operatives tend to be with control of information and messages. People who work in media relations (and I used to be one) want to expose journalists to only the information, occurrences and images that suit their purposes, and nothing more. That’s why they issue prepared statements instead of just talking to you. That’s why they provide video news releases instead of letting you shoot your own.

(In fairness, much of the media does sensationalize stuff that is actually quite mundane, so I understand some of the motivation to control information, but it leads to an environment in which no one is really getting informed about anything.)

In this case, Biden’s staff wanted Powers to hear the speeches – and only the speeches. When he showed up early, and they realized he would be free to roam around and possibly get quotes from others at the fundraiser, they freaked. Really freaked.

If they were that determined to prevent Powers from interviewing guests, they could have at least told him he had to wait until Biden arrived before he could get in. You can set rules for press accessibility to events. But once the guy is inside, you don’t stick him in a freaking closet.

Look, I’ve seen Republican operatives behave in similarly stupid ways – not this stupid, not lock-a-reporter-in-a-closet stupid – but pretty darn stupid. What it really comes down to is the fact that people in the political world and people in the media don’t really trust each other. Maybe that’s because they both have agendas they want to hide from the other.

But in this case, you clearly have to add the arrogance of people who think they can simply do whatever they want because they work for the vice president of the United States. And this is what you end up with – a guy in a closet, with his smartphone, while the guests mill about and eat caprese crostini.

Whatever that is.

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