Greta Van Susteren Blows Story About Chicago Cops With Obama at DNC in Charlotte NC, Tinfoil Hatters Go Crazy

Greta Van Susteren - Photo: Facebook

September 3, 2012 - A lot of Americans are in a panic after learning that Chicago Police Officers are protecting Barack Obama at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte (DNC), North Carolina this week.  

Rumors of conspiracy and whatever else the Tinfoil Hat Crowd is panicking about are flying. Greta Van Susteren at Fox News seems to be the primary culprit in all of this idiocy, but careless bloggers are spreading the crap around like cheap fertilizer. It's a typical case of truth being blown all out of proportion, facts being twisted, and facts being omitted.

What is actually happening in Charlotte, North Carolina? Simple, really. The DNC is a big event with big security concerns. The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department is good, but it does not have enough officers to handle the security for such an event - which includes POTUS, after all - and so officers from outside agencies will be there to supplement their own manpower. (During the recent NATO Summit in Chicago, hundreds of officers from other cities, including Homeland Security personnel, assisted Chicago Police. With that in mind, cops from other cities being in Charlotte NC is not unusual.)

"Hundreds of law enforcement officers from across the country arrived Saturday at the Charlotte Police Training Academy," reported Your News Now yesterday. "CMPD is not releasing the exact number of officers being brought in for the Democratic National Convention, but they did say there are hundreds and they are all ready for any challenge."

CMPD make an arrest at DNC2012. Book 'em!

Despite that report, people are freaking out. I became aware of this panic when I happened across a post on The Ulsterman Report, a blog I respect a little bit less today after reading a post titled "Why is Obama Using Chicago Police At South Carolina DNC Convention?" The headline even got the state wrong. The DNC is in the other Carolina (North), as Ulsterman even wrote when quoting Fox: "A Fox News reporter just shared information regarding a considerable contingent of Chicago police inside the DNC convention center in Charlotte, North Carolina.  Yet another Obama related act that makes one go hmmmmm…"

One thing that made me go "hmmmm" was the fact that Ulsterman obviously did not bother to actually Google this for himself. Instead, this idiotic comment was added: "As has so often been said regarding the Obama regime – all roads always seem to lead “Back to Chicago." I'm not sure what the hell that mean, but it sure sounds – oh hell, it just sounds stupid. I will explain why below.

Greta Van Susteren, though, should really be ashamed of herself. She can be a good reporter, but sometimes she just sucks at it. When she's bad, she's really, really damned bad. She is not some underpaid blogger desperate for a few more website visitors: Greta is a trained journalist, and yet she published this tripe today, without bothering to research it or in collusion with Pergram:

CHICAGO POLICE AT THE NORTH CAROLINA CONVENTION
by Greta Van Susteren
Sep 3 2012 - 12:06 PM ET

Below is a note I was just emailed by FNC’s Chad Pergram

And just an interesting note. There are lots of police here from other organizations. But at the convention center, Chicago Police are here….not just folks from across the state or South Carolina.Of course, remember the confrontations Democrats had with Chicago Police at the ’68 Convention….

Chad Pergram
FOX News
Senior Producer for Capitol Hill

Since I know that she knows better, I must assume that Greta's only motivation for publishing such a load of crap is this: Sensationalism. In my opinion, Greta Van Susteren is an overpaid blogger who deliberately sensationalizes just to get more website visitors. There's a word for that kind of person: It starts with "w" and ends with "hore."

The same, I contend, can be said of Chad Pergram. I would say that he is either a moron who doesn't deserve to work in the mail room of any news organization, or he deliberately added that part about the Democrats and the Chicago Police in 1968 - which has NOTHING to do with the reality of what's happening currently in Charlotte.

As for Chicago Police being at the convention center, well, so what? Notice that Pergram did not say that only Chicago cops are at the convention center. Pergram's note is written either as a moron would write such a note, or as a very clever manipulator would. I suspect that Pergram is not a moron.

To be fair, Greta's blog post did say that there are many police officers from other cities, not just Chicago, in Charlotte.  Which part of that did Ulsterman - and others - miss or not understand? 

To recap, Chad sent a stupid note to Greta, who then reproduced it on her Fox site without a shred of added value or any research. Idiot readers won't bother looking beyond Greta's steaming pile, and so the panic and rumors are flying today across blogs run by non-journalists, across Facebook timelines by people who are stupid and/or intellectually lazy, and on Twitter by all of the above.