Soldier Prevented From Speaking at YearlyKos Convention

Pajamas Media is reporting that some fireworks broke out Friday morning during the YearlyKos convention in Chicago (h/t NBer Saw the Light).

During a breakout session ironically titled "The Military and Progressives: Are They Really That Different," an as of yet unidentified soldier in uniform stood up to address the panel -- which included Wesley Clark -- to discuss how the surge is going.

According to Pajamas Media (video available here):

He was unceremoniously escorted out by panelist John Soltz.

The soldier’s words were either suppressed or inaudible on the convention’s own video. They can be heard hear on this exclusive PJM Video by Andrew Marcus, who also interviews the soldier and tries to interview Soltz.

Soltz claimed that the soldier was trying to talk politics with a uniform on, which he said is against the law.

However, from the video, it appeared that all the soldier was doing was trying to inform the panel and the attendees what is happening in Iraq after the surge.

Hot Air's Allahpundit has more:

Even more interesting than the rules governing what he did yesterday will be the rules governing what he can do this week. The media’s going to want to talk to him as much as his commanders are going to want to stop that from happening lest it draw more attention to his probable breach of military regs yesterday.

[...]

Soltz is the head of the anti-war veterans’ group VoteVets; he’s on cable news every other day precisely because he’s a vet whose view of the war coincides with the media’s. He’s not wearing his uniform in those appearances but he might as well be. The only significant ethical difference between him and the mystery soldier is that an observer might think the mystery soldier is speaking as an official military spokesman.

Allah also pointed out that Soltz features a picture of himself in uniform at his website.

Can you say "Do As I Say, Not As I Do?"

For those interested, Soltz got into quite a heated exchange with KSFO's Melanie Morgan on "The News Hour" earlier this year (videos in two parts available here and here).