During the Friday afternoon session, a young Marine addressed the assembly. He lost his leg and one finger after stepping on a mine during Gulf War 2. His positive and encouraging message was very motivating and moved the crowd.

The next morning, during my CD caucus, Tom DeLay mentioned that one of our opponents in this election is the media. He noted that this morning, the San Antonio Express-News ran an article pointing out that this same Marine was a potential Kerry voter. I managed to located the offending article (registration required), and here is the introduction:

Standing in his crisp dress blues behind the stage at the state Republican convention Friday afternoon, Marine Staff Sgt. Eric Alva must have seemed the perfect spokesman for the Grand Old Party.

Clean-cut, patriotic and grateful for the party's support of the military, Alva drew standing ovations, laughter and tears from the crowd of 17,000 at the Convention Center.

Here was the first casualty of the conflict, a hero who remains one of the most visible local faces of the war. Some in attendance yelled for him to run for office.

But as the 5-foot-1 Marine stood on a box talking about having no regrets despite losing his leg and trigger finger in Iraq, Alva had a secret. Come November, he just might vote for John Kerry — the presumptive Democratic candidate for president.

This story would be interesting enough if it ended right there, but it does not. During the Saturday general session, Staff Sgt. Alva made an encore appearance. He presented a very pro-Republican, pro-Bush message. As he left the stage, the announcer explained the erroneous newspaper coverage and encouraged the delegates to write or call the publication and express their discontent. The paper's email address and phone number were also provided.

I observed this development from a unique vantage point, inside the media center. During Alva's speech, no one was paying any mind to his words. Everyone was heads down, either napping or working on a story or collecting ideas. As the announcer explained the morning coverage, a few reporters took notice and tried to get the attention of one woman - presumably, the San Antonio News-Express reporter. Her response was very nonchalant; she looked up, waved that she didn't care and then went back to whatever she was working on.

This followup article (by a different reporter) focuses on how correct the original story was and how the media is treated unfairly by the nasty Republicans. It also neglected to mention the second appearance by Eric Alva. The most notable paragraph is a quote from Brett Thacker, managing editor:

"This is exactly the kind of partisan rancor that increasingly taints the view of the media in society. If you don't like what you read or hear, then tar the messenger as undermining America," Thacker said. "Some people forget that we are a nation that was built not only on the tenets of the First Amendment, but the diversity of opinion fostered by those five freedoms."

Diversity of opinion is great if you consider 7% diverse.