New Romney BFF Sheldon Adelson

New Romney BFF Sheldon Adelson

LAKEWOOD, Colorado — Presumptive Republican vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan's first major fundraiser will be closed to the press, in apparent violation of the Romney-Ryan campaign's oft-strained agreement with the reporters who cover the campaign. [...] As of Tuesday morning, reporters would not be permitted to cover Ryan's fundraiser with billionaire mega-donor Sheldon Adelson at The Venetian in Las Vegas tonight.

According to the Romney campaign, the reason for barring the press is not because they are trying to hide Paul Ryan from being reported on, or because Sheldon Adelson is quite possibly a crazy person and God knows what he's going to say this time round.

No, the reason reporters are barred from the event is because:



UPDATE: A Romney aide told reporters that the event in Las Vegas is not a fundraiser but a "finance event," and therefore closed to reporters. The aide would not say what the distinction is between the two, declining to say whether the campaign is collecting checks at the event.

Pfft, why didn't they say so in the first place? Oh, and I can help Buzzfeed out with the terminology here. A fundraising event is when you meet with a bunch of people and collect money from them. A finance event is when you meet with a bunch of people and collect money from them, but it's done in a "quiet room," as all proper conversations about finance are. So a "finance event" is like a "fundraising event," but the people attending it are so crazy rich and important that they just don't have to put up with your stupid public-right-to-know bullcrap.

So far, it seems that the inclusion of Paul Ryan is apparently not going to make the Romney campaign any better at not pissing off the press corps. Oh well.