How low will they go

[Scarletwine]

First there was Armstrong then a couple more supposed independent pundits getting paid to promote the admins programs.

Now we have a GOP plant in the White House Press core. Not a real reporter, not a real new outlet, and now even not his real name. He was even caught repeating Rush verbatim and attributing to Reid.

Here's a few highlights.

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/w...ouse_friendly_reporter_under_scrutiny?pg=full
White House-friendly reporter under scrutiny
By Charlie Savage and Alan Wirzbicki, Globe Staff and Globe Correspondent | February 2, 2005

WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration has provided White House media credentials to a man who has virtually no journalistic background, asks softball questions to the president and his spokesman in the midst of contentious news conferences, and routinely reprints long passages verbatim from official press releases as original news articles on his website.
Jeff Gannon calls himself the White House correspondent for TalonNews.com, a website that says it is "committed to delivering accurate, unbiased news coverage to our readers." It is operated by a Texas-based Republican Party delegate and political activist who also runs GOPUSA.com, a website that touts itself as "bringing the conservative message to America."

Called on last week by President Bush at a press conference, Gannon attacked Democratic Senate leaders and called them "divorced from reality." During the presidential campaign, when called on by Press Secretary Scott McClellan, Gannon linked Senator John F. Kerry, Democrat of Massachusetts, to Jane Fonda and questioned why anyone would dispute Bush's National Guard service.

Now, the question of how Gannon gets into White House press conferences is coming under intense scrutiny from critics who contend that Gannon is not a journalist but rather a White House tool to soften media coverage of Bush. The issue was raised by a media watchdog group and picked up by Internet bloggers, who linked Gannon's presence in White House briefings to recent controversies over whether the administration manipulates the flow of information to the public

Gannon reverses course, quits as Talon News "reporter"

Talon News Washington bureau chief and White House correspondent Jeff Gannon's decision "to return to private life" "ecause of the attention being paid" to him represents a departure from his recent public statements indicating that he was grateful for the media attention and that he would continue as a conservative journalist.

They must be terribly desperate.

 

[Sheltie]

Why am I not surprised?

 

[Irvine511]

Orwell.

 

[deep]

if this is true

bush 1 fired rove for sleeze tactics


W promotes him

so much for restoring honor and dignity to the WH

this is the most unethical administration ever.

 

[Scarletwine]

Isn't that the truth Deep

http://www.louise.house.gov/HoR/Lou...5+Press+Releases/WH+Briefing+Room+Scandal.htm

Rep. Slaughter Calls on President Bush to Explain Emerging White House Briefing Room Scandal

Washington, DC - Rep. Louise M. Slaughter (NY-28), long time champion of media reform and Ranking Member of the House Committee on Rules, sent a letter to President George W. Bush today asking him to explain how discredited "reporter" Jeff Gannon was credentialed as a member of the legitimate media by the White House.

The letter follows:

Wednesday, February 9, 2005

The Honorable George W. Bush
President of the United States
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, DC 20500

Dear Mr. President:

In light of the mounting evidence that your Administration has, on several occasions, paid members of the media to advocate in favor of Administration policies, I feel compelled to ask you to address a matter brought to my attention by the Niagara Falls Reporter (article attached), a local newspaper in my district, regarding James "JD" Guckert (AKA Jeff Gannon) of Talon News.

According to several credible reports, "Mr. Gannon" has been repeatedly credentialed as a member of the White House press corps by your office and has been regularly called upon in White House press briefings by your Press Secretary Scott McClellan, despite the fact evidence shows that "Mr. Gannon" is a Republican political operative, uses a false name, has phony or questionable journalistic credentials, is known for plagiarizing much of the "news" he reports, and according to several web reports, may have ties to the promotion of the prostitution of military personnel.

Several weeks ago when it was revealed that radio/TV host Armstrong Williams had received payment from your Administration in exchange for his vocal support of the 'No Child Left Behind' initiative, I was stunned. For years now I have been leading the fight in Congress for fairness and accountability in the media; the Williams revelation only underscored the need for a media that has integrity, is balanced and expresses the local interests and concerns of its consumers.

Since that time, two more members of the media have been found to have received money from your Administration in exchange for their vocal, yet undisclosed support of Administration policies.

And just this morning we have learned that "Mr. Gannon" has resigned his post at the, so called, Talon News amid growing concerns over his controversial background and falsified qualifications. In fact, it appears that "Mr. Gannon's" presence in the White House press corps was merely as a tool of propaganda for your Administration.

Mr. President, I am sure we both agree the White House Press Corps is an honored institution in America that should be beyond the scope of partisan meddling, and that a free and independent media is the cornerstone of our success as a democracy. Likewise, I am sure we can both agree the American people have the right to expect that journalists who question their President everyday are experienced, independent, and perhaps most importantly, unbiased in their approach.

I was already concerned about what appears to be an organized campaign to mask partisan propaganda as legitimate news by your Administration. That we have now learned this same type of deception is occurring inside the White House briefing room itself is even more disturbing.

That is why I am asking you to please explain to the Congress and to the American people how and why the individual known as "Mr. Gannon" was repeatedly cleared by your staff to join the legitimate White House press corps?

Mr. President, your Administration has driven the so-called "values" debate in this country. But the most important value for those of us in public service should always be honesty and integrity, particularly when considering the manner in which we conduct our affairs of state.

I would appreciate your prompt response on this matter.



Respectfully,


/LMS

 

[deep]

he is probably on the payroll, scumbag!

I guess this is not Drudge worthy.

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

Pseudo President, pseudo reporters. It all makes sense when you look at it that way

 

[Scarletwine]

Nice twist on that Acedemy awards speech

 

[verte76]

This is disgusting.

 

[A_Wanderer]

Every politician has media assets at their disposal, always have and always will.

 

[Judah]

Maybe they were thinking "Hey, fake journalists do a great job. Look at the Daily Show. Why can't we have some at our briefings?"

What gets me is the greed. Look, you won the presidency, and have majorities in the house and all over the place. You WON. Now quit being such huge wankers!

 

[U2Kitten]

Oh I thought this was another thread about those pants

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

http://blogs.salon.com/0002874/2005/02/08.html#a1473

 

[Scarletwine]

It's is a starting to get serious as it appears he was involved in the Valerie Plame crime.


`Jeff Gannon' and L'Affaire Plame: Summary of CIA leak
by spiderleaf
Wed Feb 9th, 2005 at 17:04:12 PST

(From the diaries -- kos)
This diary condenses the huge and detailed timeline laid out in the previous diary "Plame leak timeline II".

It lays the case for the leak of the classified 2002 CIA memo to Gannon.

For all interested, please read the original diary as it contains facts, sources, etc.

Thanks to all for your help compiling this, thanks to Ambassador Wilson for filling in some holes and special thanks to Kiw for all her help tracking down leads.

And of course, SusanG, who started the ball rolling and continues to dig for the larger story.

Diaries :: spiderleaf's diary :: There's more... (257 comments, 4352 words in story)


Now he's been exposed as another Conservative hypocrite. I'm only mentioning this because he also wrote several articles blasting gay marriage also.


Bush press pal quits over gay prostie link

BY HELEN KENNEDY
DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU

WASHINGTON - A conservative ringer who was given a press pass to the White House and lobbed softball questions at President Bush quit yesterday after left-leaning Internet bloggers discovered possible ties to gay prostitution.

"The voice goes silent," Jeff Gannon wrote on his Web site. "In consideration of the welfare of me and my family, I have decided to return to private life."

Gannon began covering the White House two years ago for an obscure Republican Web site (Talon-News.com). He was known for his friendly questions, including asking Bush at last month's news conference how he could work with Democrats "who seem to have divorced themselves from reality."

Gannon was also given a classified CIA memo that named agent Valerie Plame, leading to his grilling by the grand jury investigating her outing.

He came under lefty scrutiny after revelations that the administration was paying conservative pundits to talk up Bush's proposals. By examining Internet records, online sleuths at DailyKos.com figured out that his real name was Jim Guckert and he owned various Web sites, including HotMilitaryStud.com, MilitaryEscorts.com and MilitaryEscortsM4M.com.

"The issue here is whether someone with connections to male prostitution was given unfettered access to the White House and copies of internal CIA documents. For a family values administration, that's pretty creepy," said John Aravosis, one of the bloggers chasing the story.

The White House didn't return a call asking how someone using an alias was given daily clearance to enter the White House.

On his TalonNews Web site, Gannon had written that liberals were out to get him because he's a white conservative man who owns a gun, drives a sport-utility vehicle and is a born-again Christian.

Yesterday, however, he abruptly quit, and all of the stories he wrote were erased from the Web site. A great many were on gay issues, including one detailing John Kerry's "pro-homosexual platform" that was headlined mockingly, "Kerry Could Become First Gay President."

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

I just read that gay prostie article, you beat me to it this just gets juicier by the day Prostie? Anyway...

"Also, on James Gannon, the blogger who was able to get a question in at the president’s last news conference, McClellan said the president did not know who Gannon was before he called on him."

---Michael Fletcher

The Washington Post

Someone needs to find a photo of this guy and W together . I bet Michael Moore will find one

 

[Scarletwine]

That's funny he called him by his first name, or fake name anyway.
So did Bush when he answered his question at the last press conference.
It also seems that he was repeatedly rejected for a press pass, so he bypassed the procedure and got a daily pass everyday directly from the WH. Hmmm wonder who gave it to him? Speculation has it that this has Rove's fingerprints all over it.

 

[melon]

The CIA memo could get Bush impeached, if they can trace it back to him.

Fucking treasonous bastard.

Melon

 

[Irvine511]

Gannon looks like the guy who tried to pick me up last weekend at Cobalt on 17th street.

hey, wait a minute ... wasn't he also the bad guy from Legend of Zelda?

 

[melon]

hey, wait a minute ... wasn't he also the bad guy from Legend of Zelda?

Melon

 

[Scarletwine]

Irvine511, he fits your date description, shaved head and seemingly buff. Not bad looking.

Latest headlines.
Lautenberg Requests All Documents From White House Relating to Discredited "Journalist" James D. Guckert, A.K.A. Jeff Gannon

Funny how no Admin supporters participate in really discussing the lack of ethical aka moral values. Sure all admins. have their champions and their detractors, but this is a new low.

 

[Irvine511]

there's also a pic of him in his underware floating around somewhere. he's in excellent shape!

 

[Scarletwine]

LOL, I heard that on the radio this morning on Unfilitered but it was hastily pulled down.

That's the real measure of a man, eh

edited to add There's a pic like that of Bono floating around Pleba also. (that was for Kitty)

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

Speculation has it that this has Rove's fingerprints all over it.

Karl Rove would never do anything like that

I can't believe anyone would question his integrity and moral standards

 

[Scarletwine]

This has really turned into a comedy thread.

A theory is that they will self destruct themselves and the GOP by thinking they have this mandate and by getting away with the crap during the prior term and the campaign.

History shows networks and journalists are a lot less likely to let crap by and from the first few aggressive weeks of the
congressional term they turn off the masses with the CORPORATE only agenda. What pisses me off is how no one is taking about the employer's portion will reduce making this another corporate giveaway.

PS - I'm getting more inclined to quit using euphanisms and call them what they are.

 

[melon]

there's also a pic of him in his underware floating around somewhere. he's in excellent shape!

Same with the villain from Legend of Zelda.

http://www.geocities.com/abortdave/Ganondorf.jpg



Melon

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

White House press secretary Scott McClellan said Guckert did not have a regular White House press pass but was cleared on a day-by-day basis to attend briefings and used his real name.

"He, like anyone else, showed that he was representing a news organization that published regularly and so he was cleared two years ago to receive daily passes just like many others are," McClellan said. "In this day and age, when you have a changing media, it's not an easy issue to decide, to try to pick and choose who is a journalist. It gets into the issue of advocacy journalism. Where do you draw the line? There are a number of people who cross that line in the briefing room."

He said he had been was unaware of Guckert's affiliation with any sexually suggestive domain addresses.

 

[Irvine511]

Same with the villain from Legend of Zelda.

http://www.geocities.com/abortdave/Ganondorf.jpg



Melon

oh my.

just pluck those eyebrows, and we're in business ...

 

[Irvine511]

He said he had been was unaware of Guckert's affiliation with any sexually suggestive domain addresses.

the guy who cuts my hair is *totally* suspicious of McClellan ...

 

[diamond]

devious minds always jump to conclusions.

db9

 

[sharky]

ok posting this here to kill redundant thread...

This guy says he used a work alias but how can you get a White House press pass under a fake name when you have to give your social security number and have a thorough background check from the Secret Service and FBI to get into the briefing room in the first place? And since when did some Web site called Talon News that operated for five days before this guy get a pass have more of a sway to get a press pass than legit news organizations that have existed for years?