If your only source of news is the mainstream media, you might think that Donald Trump is the first president to act against a reporter who heckled him, and that denial of a White House pass to CNN heckler Jim Acosta is a grave threat to the public’s right to know. But that very same media largely applauded, or at least remained silent, when President Obama several times had reporters ejected from public events where he was speaking because he didn’t like their behavior or their questions.

The Political Insider takes us on a short trip down memory lane, rescuing those incidents from the memory hole.  Most remarkably, some of the reporters were from officially-designated victim groups, and therefore, in the eyes of the politically correct, entitled to holy status. For one example:

Not long after taking office, the Secret Service literally dragged away a black female reporter. Imagine the optics if an African-American woman were dragged away by Trump’s Secret Service.

YouTube screen grab

Here is another view of the incident:

Here's a Female, African American reporter with White House Press credentials being carried away by Secret Service in 2009 for attempting to ask President Obama to protect "traditional marriage"#KaitlanCollins https://t.co/t2UFivG6Z4 pic.twitter.com/WHLH8s4tzi

— Rosie Memos (@almostjingo) July 26, 2018

 In 2015, President Obama had a transgender reporter who was heckling him ejected from a meeting, claiming that the White House is his house. Not the property of the American people,apparently:

“Hey, listen, you’re in my house,” the president continued. “You don’t start — it’s not respectful when you get invited to somebody … you’re not going to get a good response from me by interrupting me like this.”

“I’m sorry — no, no, no, no, no. Shame on you,” Obama added. “You shouldn’t be doing this.”

“You can either stay or be quite or we’ll have to take you out,” Obama told the person.

But perhaps worst of all, no misbehavior, or even any words, were need to eject a reporter from a news event.  

Washington Free Beacon reporter Adam Kredo was reportedly ejected from a State Department media briefing in Vienna Monday, as senior department officials threatened to call security on him.

Kredo, who is covering the White House's ongoing nuclear negotiations with Iran, tried unsuccessfully to attend a briefing with the State Department's undersecretary of state for political affairs Wendy Sherman.

The Free Beacon reporter, who is credentialed through the Austrian government, suggested Monday that he was kicked out of the briefing because Obama administration officials are concerned about how media may cover its alleged concessions to Iran.

Ben Rhodes wrote about the importance of the “echo chamber” in support of the Iran deal, bamboozling reporters who “literally know nothing” into ginning up public support for the shipping of billions of dollars to the world’s leading sponsor of terrorism. Having a savvy reporter with contrary views present would get in the way of Rhodes’s game.

There are more examples at the link. But when you review them, keep in mind that in emails uncovered by Judicial Watch, Josh Earnest was caught bragging about the ability of Obama administration officials to “exclude Fox News from significant interviews.” (hat tip: Rosie Memos)

Do you remember the firestorm this disclosure ignited? Neither do I.

So, take these protests over Acosta with a grain of salt. Make that a box of salt.

Hat tip: John McMahon