The U.S. Secret Service has asked for the race of guests attending a media reception with Bush before the annual White House Correspondents' Association dinner on Saturday. REUTERS/Jason ReedAnd, here is the REST of that story, from www.reuters.com:
...The Secret Service said it routinely asks for information about the race of people who are going to be in close proximity to the president."It's nothing to do with racial profiling. We wouldn't tolerate any racial or cultural bias in these types of matters," Tom Mazur, spokesman for the Secret Service, said.
But he said he did not know whether race information had been requested for this reception in previous years.
The Secret Service, which is responsible for protecting Bush and his family, "routinely" asks for five "identifiers" of people who will be near the president to run through a criminal data base, Mazur said.
The five factors -- name, date-of-birth, Social Security number, gender and race -- are used to search the database "in a most timely and effective manner," he said.
"When the president travels or has events, this is information that is routinely requested," Mazur said.
White House spokesman Scott McClellan said the White House had not requested the information on race, and it was a law enforcement matter...
I'm watching this. It's pretty funny. There's a sort of a roped off area for I guess "celebrity watchers", there are a bunch of ladies in evening dress who look like they don't walk in heels very often. It's kind of a hoot.