Pimping for the Whitehouse

[tuvor]

From The Brattleboro Reformer (VT)

Pimping for the Whitehouse

Heard about the Jeff Gannon/Jim Guckert muck-up in Washington? If you are an aficionado of the blogs, you've heard plenty. They're having a field day with it. But underneath all the fun lies a serious problem that hasn't got its due from the mainstream press: This White House employs a lot more kinds of fakery than just budgetary smoke and mirrors.

Here's a summary: For more than two years, a reporter named Jeff Gannon turned up at White House briefings and press conferences, where he asked softball questions with a decidedly pro-Bush bent. For example, at President Bush's Jan. 26 press conference, Gannon asked how Bush could work with lawmakers like Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid and Sen. Hillary Clinton, "who seem to have divorced themselves from reality."

Well, it turns out that "Jeff Gannon" is really Jim Guckert, and he was a reporter for an online outfit called "Talon News," which was associated with the online group GOPUSA.com, owned by Texas Republicans. It also turns out that Guckert, in addition to reporting for a phony Web site, has no real journalism training and is a $200-an-hour gay prostitute. He ran numerous Web sites like militaryescortsm4m.com. The photos of Gannon that were displayed on those Web sites left nothing to the imagination about his physical attributes.

So the question becomes, just how did this character get White House press credentials, despite supposed post-Sept. 11 security requirements? Bruce Bartlett, a conservative columnist who worked in the Reagan and first Bush administrations, says that "if Gannon was using an alias, the White House staff had to be involved in maintaining his cover." In other words, the White House wanted him at those briefings and wanted him to ask his softball questions, most likely to divert attention when legitimate reporters were getting too pushy.

http://www.reformer.com/Stories/0,1413,102~8854~2723826,00.html

[uppityperson]

1. Exactly, thank you for the succinct writeup.

Who did it?

[tuvor]

2. No credit was given.

Click on the link if you want more information. Not to mention, more article.

[KharmaTrain]

3. There Was Intimidation, Too

The "legit" corporate media in that White House Press corpse knew more about "Gannon" that they're keeping very, very quiet about right now. Why? Cause they knew "Gannon" was a plant and dare that they admit that, they and their corporate owner admit they are complicit in the Repugnican's campaigns of media manipulation and distortion.

There are several shots of "Gannon" sitting next to David Gregory. I'm sure they had lots of meetings in the 2 plus years this mole was sitting in the same room he was for several hours a day. My wife said "it's like being a major in college...you know everyone whose in your class...how they got there and if they were real or not".

"Gannon" sat around that Press pool and made sure the corporate media was being "good"...or they knew he'd snitch it to Scotty or someone else. And what was the penalty to these media-types? Their own access to this coven.

Too bad people are still fixated with "Gannon's Mighty Whiteys"

[Metrix]

4. Has Libby been considered as the person who planted Guckert?

http://www.wrmea.com/archives/Sept_2004/0409018.html

"Libby is strikingly reticent to volunteer personal details about himself. He refuses to use his first name, for example, using only his initial, nor does he offer any details about his marital or family status. Despite his prominence in the public arena, then, one can accurately describe Libby as a true enigma."

The timeline was Guckert into the press room in March (?), then Ari Fleischer out in July, and Novak outs Plame the next day. As devious as Rove is, I don't think he has enough power to decide to out a CIA agent.