The Rightwing Script on Gannon is out now

[Sparkly]

When anything happens that embarrasses Republicans, rightwing parrots don't have to wait long to get their scripts so they'll know how to react. There's now a popular distortion, advanced by people from Andy Sullivan to David "Korn" (sic), that goes something like this:

"Sure it may bring up questions of security, media propagandizing, vetting processes and standards for White House press credentials when someone working for a partisan organization under a phony name with a questionable background and no credentials asks planted questions, BUT LEFTWING BLOGGERS ARE MAKING IT ALL ABOUT GANNON'S PERSONAL SEX LIFE!!"

What usually follows is some variation on four deductions from that:

1. Leftwing Bloggers are homophobic and hypocritical;
2. What if we subjected all reporters to scrutiny of their personal lives? Let's not set a precedent here;
3. What's wrong with a question that reflects a point of view? The Librul Media does it all the time;
4. Lots of people use pseudonyms.

No doubt now that the script has been refined, it's all we'll hear IF or when anybody talks about it on tomorrow's TV "news" shows.

Facts to be ignored are the things that follow "Sure it may bring up questions that..." Such as, Jim/Jeff is NOT a journalist, did NOT work for a real news source, did NOT have any credentials, and did NOT use his real name... Oh yes, and his so-called "personal life" involved breaking the law.

Now imagine this scenario: What if a straight guy named Bob Johnson got into the press briefings posing as a journalist and asked fishy questions; but it later turned out his real name was Bill Jones, he sold pot for a living, had no journalistic credentials, and was a shill for a GOP website that isn't even a news organization? It'd be pretty much the same thing (except his websites wouldn't be pornographic). Would they look into it then? Or would they say we leftwing bloggers are making this all about pot?

Okay, now let's change the equation in one more way: "Bob Johnson," phony journalist/pot dealer gets into the White House briefings but he asks questions like, "The preznit is talking about spreading democracy throughout the middle east by invading and creating wars; how can Europe work with people like him who are divorced from reality?" Turns out he's shilling for a Democratic website, ya see... Oh yeah -- THEN it'd be an issue.THEN they'd investigate it. THEN they'd have a problem with phony credentials, illegal activities, shilling, and press passes.

[Vinca]

1. It's hard to imagine these folks are going to embarrass themselves

by defending Gannon, but if that's the case, it sure gives the Democrats an edge in the next election when the questions of "morals" or "security in the aftermath of 9/11" come up.

[SpiralHawk]

2. REJECT the way they are trying to fame the issues

And reframe it to get at the matters DU posters know far supercede the issue of widespread Republican sexual perversion and attendant (pathetic) hypocricy.

BushCo is using our tax dollars to spread PROPAGANDA all over the place. That's an issue. "Jeff 'Bulldog' Gannon" is part of that White House culture of propaganda.

We don't need no steenkin BushCo Skull & Bones Harken Zapata Halliburton Brown and Root Chevron Fox Mobil, Evil Thieving Ghost of the Silverado Bank corpo-PROPAGANDA.

Message to Mr. Bush and his cronies: Stop trying to manipulate the minds of the American people.

We want the simple truth. About everything.

"I think the American people--I hope the American--I don't think, let me--I hope the American people trust me."
- George W. Bush, Washington, D.C., Dec. 18, 2002

[jean]

3. this is one topic the RW think tanks HADN'T analyzed yet. Pre-fab reaction

to most any issue is so obvious. They've done their homework on tons of issues and prepared their plan of attack. The RW can cough up a pre-fabbed response on almost anything and get it out to their audio and print culture instantly.

But not with this one: The rise to prominance of Jeff/Jim Gannon/Guckert in the White House. This one is special, right Church Lady?

[LostInAnomie]

4. I think "Liberals are only after him because he's gay..." falls flat.

Gays know that the Repukes aren't on their side, and Repukes who hear this argument aren't about to say "Yeah, why can't those liberals just leave homosexuals alone and let them live their life."

In reality, no one actually knows anything about the story. If you would as 20 people of the street what they think about the Gannon/Guckert controversy 17 of the 20 wouldn't know what the hell you're talking about.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

5. Homosexuality is not the issue

It's ethics and security.

The Whitehouse refuses to talk to Helen Thomas because they say she's an opinion writer. And Gannon/Guckert isn't?

How is one issued a press pass without getting a security clearance?

[Jackpine Radical]

8. G/G IS NOT an opinion writer. He's an opinion STENOGRAPHER.

[JDPriestly]

6. The issue is

why the White House, which is so paranoid about security risks, didn't know more about Gannon/Guckert before allowing him into the press corps? It doesn't have so much to do with what political side he took or even that he was partisan, but that, had the White House vetted his private life minimally, say enough to make sure he wasn't a security risk, they would have recognized what an embarrassment and potential threat he would be to the White House.

It doesn't seem possible that they simply missed the problem with his past. Is it more likely that the person who OK'd his entry into the White House press corps knew about his extracurricular activities and let him in anyway? Is it possible that the person who OK'd him owed him a debt or was threatened with exposure as a customer if the person did not OK Gannon/Guckert?

There is also the adjunct issue as to how Gannon/Guckert was earning his living while working at the White House. Was he being paid for his so-called "journalism"? Was he being paid pure and simple as a propagandist? Or was he earning his living at some other activity while volunteering as a "journalist"? And if he was being paid as a "journalist" or propagandist, who was paying him? Where did the money really come from?

The Gannon/Guckert matter raises more questions than the Lewinsky matter did. And, just as with the Lewinsky scandal, the fact that sex is involved gives the questions sprinter's legs. The White House had better come forward with an honest, full explanation soon. Nobody is going to accept excuses.

[JohnnyRingo]

7. I've noticed a standard reply by republicans on negative stories

"I haven't heard about this"

Translated:
"I haven't heard from the White House what my opinion is"

[sandnsea]

9. We know they're used to criminals in the White House

Ollie North, Eliot Abrams, John Poindexter; but still, we kind of thought even the Republican Party would draw the line at pimps and whores.

[annabanana]

10. "personal lives"......"privacy"?!?!?!? ...gay schmay....

A) If you put it out on the 'net yourself...It ain't "personal and Private".

B) Prostitution is illegal.

C) He is NOT "media"... he is a plant.

D) Guckert is not hard to pronounce.

[UTUSN]

11. Sames as When Orrin HATCH Claims Libs Are Racist for Opposing GONZALES

or ESTRADA or Clarence THOMAS. Yet, he insists that these fellows be approved BECAUSE of their ethnicity/racism.

[Al-CIAda]

12. Inform your fellow citizens. They have a right to know-

Inform your fellow citizens. They have a right to know-

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