Gannongate:

[Korgoth]

I'm sure by now, all of you know about this right?

http://www.cumberlink.com/articles/2005/02/23/editorial/francis_volpe/volpe01.txt

The Washington Post noted in a story from a year ago that press secretary Scott McClellan appreciated Gannon's methods, calling on Gannon whenever he wanted to blunt reaction to other reporters' more difficult questions.

Whenever called upon during the daily press gaggle, Gannon would ask "questions" that were attacks on the Bush administration's perceived opponents, rather than honest attempts to elicit information.

he discovery of his real name — J.D. Guckert — helped uncover his ownership of such Internet domain names as HotMilitaryStuds.com. And that led to the revelation of his secret life as a gay escort. Maybe not so secret, since he advertised his services and rates on the Internet.

Interesting...

http://www.newsday.com/news/opinion...,0,4769100.story?coll=ny-viewpoints-headlines

f America's mainstream media were as liberal as conservatives claim we are, we would be ballyhooing the fiasco of James D. Guckert, aka Jeff Gannon, with page-one banner headlines and hourly bulletins.

Imagine, then, how the conservative choir would sing out at this point if a Democratic White House knocked long-tenured journalists off its pressroom access lists so that it could give access to a fellow like Guckert, who dependably asks softball questions because he reports for a partisan Web site that supports the administration.

http://www.buzzflash.com/editorial/05/02/edi05032.html

Indeed, this is quite a milestone for the Republican Party to be defending Gay Internet Prostitution. In fact, it's a revolutionary turnaround from an election in which they rode the homophobic horse as their twin issue, paired with scaring the nation half to death (what ever suddenly happened to all those terror alerts AFTER the election?).

Hmmmmm.... Just how deep does this rabbit hole go exactly?

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/2/16/212018/281

White House spokesman Scott McClellan On Thursday challenged liberal media activists, who are currently feigning outrage over events surrounding "Jeff Gannon," to examine the definition of reporter in the new century.

That's it. That's Drudge on Gannon. Can you spell "coverup?" Can you smell one?

Interestingly, Drudge's "exclusive" is datelined Feb. 10, 2005, yet it links to the Yahoo "Gannon resigns" story datelined Feb. 11. But beyond that peculiar time-warp anomaly, Drudge has offered nada, zip, zero on Gannongate. Search his archives and you'll find that solitary McClellan piece and no more.

Lets stoke the fire a little...
http://rawstory.com/news/2005/index.php?p=117

Dear Mr. President,

At a press conference in the White House on January 26, you stated that “there needs to be a nice, independent relationship between the White House and the press.” In that same press conference, you called on a reporter then known as Jeff Gannon, who worked for an organization called Talon News.

Since that time, the public has learned that the real name of that reporter is James Dale Guckert, not Jeff Gannon, and that he had regular access to the White House press facilities for more than a year. We have also learned that the questions he posed at White House press briefings and the stories he filed for Talon News frequently mirrored Republican Party talking points, that Talon News is a news organization in name only and that it has apparently close connections to the Republican party.

Given the unprecedented level of security in Washington since 9/11, it is troubling that that a non-journalist using a false name and working for a sham news organization could have gained regular access to the White House for such an extended period of time.

Another reason the Gannon/Guckert affair is disturbing is because of what we have recently learned about apparent efforts by some in your Administration to try to “buy” favorable news coverage. These other efforts include paying news personalities Armstrong Williams and Maggie Gallagher large sums of money to promote your Administration’s education and marriage initiatives, and using tax payer dollars to produce video news releases promoting the new prescription drug benefit for Medicare beneficiaries and other policies the Administration regards as accomplishments. A recent report by the General Accountability Office called such video news releases illegal uses of public funds. More recently, we have heard troubling reports that Social Security Administration officials may be using public funds and pressuring public employees to promote your goal of privatizing Social Security.

As you know, concerns that government officials may be trying to deceive the public by manipulating the media can be extremely corrosive to public

trust. For that reason, we respectfully request that you order an immediate and thorough investigation into the Gannon/Guckert matter. How is it possible that a man using a fake name, with dubious journalism credentials, was able to clear the White House’s extensive security screening process and gain such close access to you and your staff for such an extended period of time? Have there been other, similar breaches of security and journalism standards?

We appreciate your prompt attention to this important matter. We urge you to order a full inquiry so that the American people know the facts.

 

[No Limit]

This story is amazing and continues to grow each day; I've been following it since day one. This guy has absolutely no prior press experiance yet he's been allowed in the white house press confrances since late 2002. All the questions he has asked have been softball questions and he has been called on when questions got too hard to answer. This fits in to Bush's agenda of propaganda.

 

[Korgoth]

Yup, I provided plenty of links to educate our fellow forummites on this issue, its just up to them to read the links

BTW no limit, who do you pick will be the fall guy for this? I'm bettin' mcclellan gets booted, just to make it look like they did something and the rest gets swept under the rug.

I'm interested to see the list of clientel for which this gay PROSTITUTE served in D.C. hehehehe

 

[The Monkey]

I dont get it...was it a guy who pretended to be a jurnalist, but wasn't? And he was allowed to be in the white house's press room? What's the big deal?

 

[No Limit]

Yup, I provided plenty of links to educate our fellow forummites on this issue, its just up to them to read the links

BTW no limit, who do you pick will be the fall guy for this? I'm bettin' mcclellan gets booted, just to make it look like they did something and the rest gets swept under the rug.

I'm interested to see the list of clientel for which this gay PROSTITUTE served in D.C. hehehehe

I really don't know who will take the fall; you never can predict anything with this administration. This Gannon character (or whatever his real name is) has been invited to numerous white house parties and there is even evidance he got to see the memo that leaked the name of an undercover CIA agent. So if I had to guess I think he is part of Rove's creation but it is clear that he has been in bed (no pun intended) with other administration/intelligence officials.

 

[No Limit]

I dont get it...was it a guy who pretended to be a jurnalist, but wasn't? And he was allowed to be in the white house's press room? What's the big deal?

The big deal is reporters from the New York times, for example, were denied access. This guy used a false name, had absolutely no prior press experiance, was a male prostitute, and he was allowed in that press room every single day for the last few years. This guy was called on by Mcclellan on numerous occasions when the questioning got tough. He would ask the dumbest partisan questions ever. In the last press conference he got to ask Bush how he would work with hard headed democrats who refused to see the truth (I'm paraphrasing). People like this have absolutely no right to be in the press room nor do they have the right to view classified information (as evidance shows he did).

 

[No Limit]

Just an addition, this story broke thanks to Media Matters and they have been doing a great job covering the story. Here is the archive:

http://mediamatters.org/archives/search.html?string=gannon

American Blog has also done a lot of great coverage of this:

http://americablog.blogspot.com/

It doesn't matter if you are a conservative or liberal, what happened in this case is a direct slap in the face to journalistic integrity in the white house and needs to be investigated.

 

[Korgoth]

He was an inside for the white house, instead of asking real questions, he would form his questions as an attack on the democrats/opposition, and they (whitehouse) were more than happy to call on him more than once.

First of all

As you know, concerns that government officials may be trying to deceive the public by manipulating the media can be extremely corrosive to public trust.

To quote the letter above, they are spreading deception and propaganda. Secondly this guy, whit no credentials, using a fake name, and no access pass, was allowed into the white hosue press core (which is supposted to be reserved for only the best of the best in the journalism world, and must go through extensive background checks etc.) he was even allowed access to president Bush himself.... You don't see a problem here?

Rathergate is rather petty in comparison...

 

[CptStern]

"Not that it's surprising that this administration would indiscriminately wave a shill into the press room, given its recently revealed history of paying pundits to advocate its policies and distributing video P.R. releases dressed up as news broadcasts with fake anchors."


somebody's been greasng the propaganda machine ..and methinks it's very high up in the chain of command

 

[Korgoth]

Am i the only one who finds it funny how the bush tapes were released right on the heels of this contriversy???? Hehehehe nice try guys, hopefully this won't get flushed so quickly

 

[clarky003]

somebody's been greasng the propaganda machine ..and methinks it's very high up in the chain of command

possibly people you and I havnt even seen or heard of. The dictators behind the democracey.

 

[CptStern]

the neo cons are the shadow cabinet ..PNAC proves that

 

[K e r b e r o s]

This fits in to Bush's agenda of propaganda.

So, just because its softcore questioning, it means its fitting Bush's agenda?

Tell me, whats the definition of softcore questioning, and whats "Bush's"
agenda?

 

[No Limit]

So, just because its softcore questioning, it means its fitting Bush's agenda?

Tell me, whats the definition of softcore questioning, and whats "Bush's"
agenda?

This goes far beyond softball questioning. This guy was given unlimited access to the press room for years to spread RNC talking points. He had close access to Bush, Rove, and others. He had access to classified memos (like the one that exposed the undercover CIA agent), and all this while real reporters weren't allowed in. Add this to the 2 KNOWN cases where the Bush administration paid reporters to spread their talking points and you have a real serious problem with propaganda in this administration.

 

[bliink]

I just deleted 8 off topic posts.
Lets keep it on track.

 

[diluted]

I think the funniest thing about the whole fiasco is that this fake reporter planted by the White House has been linked to gay prostitution and gay porn. So much for conservative values..

 

[CptStern]

funny how the guy who's behind this would hire someone who's behind these domains:

Conservativeguy.com
Conservative-guy.com
Conservativelegal.com
Exposejessejackson.com
Jeffgannon.com
Theconservativeguy.com
Theconservativelegal.com
The-conservative-guy.com
conservative-guy.com
Hotmilitarystud.com
Militaryescorts.com
Militaryescortsm4m.com

source


......hotmilitarystud.com

truth is definately stranger than fiction ...you couldnt make this stuff up

 

[gh0st]

Somehow I doubt bush knew this guy was such a sick person.

Though I question why all you self professed libs would say theres anything wrong with being gay, hasnt bush already told you all he's not against the gay agenda?

 

[CptStern]

hey there's nothing wrong with being a conservative AND gay


btw besides poor judgement and questionable means of employment how is he "sick"?

 

[gh0st]

btw besides poor judgement and questionable means of employment how is he "sick"?

He's sick because I would say anybody who deals that much in pr0n (besides watching that, thats definatly acceptable[wouldnt want to be a hypocrite]) has got to be 'sick' as in socially unaccetable. Personally I think prostitution (especially gay, come on) is reprehensible. But Hot military studs? Yes thats sick. To me, personally. You might enjoy it stern but I dont.

 

[CptStern]

what's wrong with hot military studs? there's gotta be gays in the military ..not that there's anything wrong with that

 

[gh0st]

there's gotta be gays in the military

WHAT?! NEVER! WHAT lS THIS BLASPHEMY OF WHICH YOU SPEAK?!

 

[CptStern]

? you're not being serious right?

anyways it's kind of disturbing that someone with no background in journalism had acess to classied documents

 

[ComradeBadger]

This is interesting, but people need to realise that every government ever has done something like this - however, the guy involved wasn't a gay escort

 

[No Limit]

Somehow I doubt bush knew this guy was such a sick person.

Though I question why all you self professed libs would say theres anything wrong with being gay, hasnt bush already told you all he's not against the gay agenda?

The problem is that to get in to that press room the secret serivce needs to do a background check on that person. Don't you think letting in any prostitute off the street that has no press credentials and uses a false name is a security risk? They had to know this guy wasn't qualified to be in that room; so why was he allowed in every day while real journalists were denied access.

The gay porn part has little to do with anything and you all might be concentrating too much on that; that simply adds the juice to bring attention to the story. The real issue is why was he allowed in and why is this adminstration running a propaganda campaign.

Some more information on Bush's propaganda campaign as described in this senate bill:

http://www.fas.org/sgp/congress/2005/s020205.html

Our bill will shut down the Administration's propaganda mill once and
for all.
Propaganda had its place in Saddam's Iraq. Propaganda was a staple of
the old Soviet Union. But covert government propaganda has no place in
the United States Government.
In the last few weeks, we have seen revelations that a number of
conservative columnists are actually on the Bush Administration's
payroll to push the President's agenda.
Armstrong Williams was paid to improve the image of President Bush's
education programs, and the columnists Maggie Gallagher and Mike
McManus were paid to promote the President's ``marriage initiative.''
Some have called it the ``pundit payola'' scandal. But this scandal
goes well beyond these particular payments to journalists.
In fact, these secret payments are only the latest in a series of
covert propaganda activities conducted by this Administration.
Last year, we discovered that the Administration was paying a public
relations firm to creat fake television news stories. These fake news
stories touting the new Medicare law made their way onto local news
shows on forty television stations across the country.
These fake news stories even featured a fake reporter--Karen Ryan
``reporting from Washington.'' While Karen Ryan does exist, she's not a
reporter. She is a public relations consultant based here in
Washington.
Worse, the viewers who watched these fake news stories thought they
were hearing real news. But what they were watching was Government-
produced propaganda.
The Government Accountability Office investigated the legality of
these fake news stories and came back with a clear decision: it was
illegal propaganda. The GAO also said that the Administration must
officially report the misspent funds to Congress.
But the Bush Administration simply ignored GAO's legal ruling. The
Administration said that because of the separation of powers, the GAO
can't tell them what to do.
So, in other words, the Administration has said that they will ignore
the current law on the books. That is why we are introducing new
legislation today that will put real teeth in the anti-propaganda law.

 

[Korgoth]

There is absolute nothing wrong with him being gay, other than the fact that its a little ironic that he is gay and working for such a gay hating administration... Whats wrong is that he is a PROSTITUTE which is ILLEGAL.

 

[No Limit]

Here is how the wonderful Coulter is trying to spin this:

http://mediamatters.org/items/200502250002

 

[ComradeBadger]

There is absolute nothing wrong with him being gay, other than the fact that its a little ironic that he is gay and working for such a gay hating administration... Whats wrong is that he is a PROSTITUTE which is ILLEGAL.

It was the illegal thing that made me funny.

Got no problem with gay people, my cousin is gay

 

[Korgoth]

It was the illegal thing that made me funny.

Got no problem with gay people, my cousin is gay

Eh... Ooops sorry badger, i was actually referring to the comment gh0st made about us liberals hating on a gay guy, we weren't talking about his homosexuality, i was trying to express that the problem i had was that this guy was a prostitute.

And no limit, anyone who believes ann coultier without doing research is as bad as anyone who believes michael moore or bill o reilly without doing research. Clearly coultier is mistaken, again