Free Heroes of Freedom Speak Freely For Freedom In the Free World

Fox News quasi-personality Neil "Babyface" Cavuto is scared shitless that Wang Wenyi was allowed to heckle Hu Jintao at the White House:

She was within a feet of them—able to get that close to them—legally, correctly and with all the proper credentials. And all because she was a reporter for The Epoch Times, a New York newspaper that supports Falun Gong.

For all I know, she could have been a nut or worse.

But she had credentials and legitimacy and she got in…

My point is how she got in so easily to the most secure grounds in the most secure city at this most secure ceremony.

Most people are brushing off the woman as a malcontent.

Not me.

Meanwhile, a former Pentagon Asia adviser is embarrassed because China "must know that this Bush administration is good at controlling crowds for themselves, and the fact that they couldn't control this is going to play to their worst fears and suspicions about the United States." And a blogger who doesn't have time for nominatives says of the heckling, "Serves absolutely nothing." The Guardian calls Wang a gatecrasher.

How is it frightening, or a security risk, or a gatecrashing incident, when a correspondent for an established newspaper gets a day pass to stand in the press ghetto at a White House event? I pick up The Epoch Times most weeks (I enjoyed their big Picasso-was-a-fraud screed in the last issue), and it's obviously a cult paper, but so what? The Christian Science Monitor is affiliated with a cult too. So is the Washington Times. Since when does a news affiliiation make you a security risk? Aren't there legitimate security measures (ie, checking to make sure you don't have weapons on your person) that are more effective than illegitimate measures (pre-empting dissent at the gate)? Was Wang (excuse me, Dr. Wang) not checked for weapons when she entered the event? Should a Falun Gong paper not be eligible for press credentials? How about a Taiwanese paper? What is Cavuto's concern here?

Breathe easy, Neil! Wang has been denied press cred in the past, in countries with more Cavutonian notions of security. And the People's Republic of Freedom has tried to restrict her movement in other ways. She still managed to get some face time with former President Jiang Zemin in the past. And here's a little more on Wang Wenyi, from her fellow meditationoids.

Meanwhile, it appears the cameraman with his hand over the Doctor's mouth was "comforting her but not quieting her." That description is believable if you view the whole tape of the incident.