Would the White House Press Corps please wipe its collective mouth?
Well, well, well. What have we here? It appears that the guy Scott McClellan can count on in his quest to spread propaganda at the expense of the truth at every Bush press conference, enjoyed a rather meteoric rise to the forefront of the WH press corp. And it seems he obtained his White House access the same way Monica Lewinsky did: On his knees.
However, unlike Lewinsky, who was only trying to screw Clinton, he is trying to screw the country. He had access to classified information that he tried to use against Joe Wilson in an talonnews.com interview with him regarding the Valerie Plame affair.
This is the more harmful part of the scandal, but I haven’t finished selling the sex and hypocrisy angle.
Despite the WHPC's stated policy of refusing credentials to a journalist unless they were from an 'independent' news organization, they routinely gave credentials to a man who used a fake name, had no training in journalism, and worked for a news outfit with a staff of two. The WHPC has a policy of refusing credentials to untrained journalists, and they refuse to credential married women unless they use their married name if it differs from the name they use on by-lines. While Helen Thomas, a 40-plus year veteran was generally frozen out of press conferences, Scott McClellan could count on "Jeff Gannon" to raise pandering, biased questions that, facts be damned, advanced the propaganda of the day.
Some examples of his hard-hitting questions include:
Jeff Gannon is a pseudonym for JD Guckert, who has a sexually suggestive profile on AOL, owns three domain names that suggest prostitution of military personnel (one of which caters explicitly to a gay market). In addition to "jeffgannon.com", Guckert also owns "hotmilitarystud.com", "militaryescorts.com", and "militaryescortsm4m.com"
The picture below used to be on http://members.aol.com/jdg17, and the e-mail address given at West Chester University alumni association for JD Guckert is jdg17@aol.com.
With no training in journalism and an apparent enterprise as a gay prostitute, how does one become the “Chief White House Correspondent” for a two-person outfit called Talon News? And how does this two-person, heretofore unknown news organization obtain provisional credentials to White House press conferences? And how does this provisionally-credentialed, unknown “journalist” get more attention from the White House press secretary than other, vetted, members with permanent credentials? What was the nature of the relationship between Mr. Guckert and the other principal of talonnews.com, Robert Eberle? Hey, if Fox News can pull this shit, so can I.
But, more importantly, how did Mr. Guckert obtain a classified memo that he used against Joe Wilson in an interview in October, 2003? It seems the Justice Department has the same question, as Guckert has been subpoenaed in the matter.
OK, Democrats. This is the break you were looking for. This is your Watergate. This has all the same elements (and more egregious crimes) than the affair that got Clinton impeached, and level of corruption and its implications are deeper than Nixon would have ever dreamed of. Start sowing the seeds of doubt. Start publicly questioning the credibility of news organizations that don’t demand answers. Demand an investigation...it looks like Louise Slaughter (NY-27) has already done that.(From her letter to Bush)
"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..."
The Bushies are spinning. The Freeper sites are frothing. Karl Rove is wetting his pants. This will be fun.
However, unlike Lewinsky, who was only trying to screw Clinton, he is trying to screw the country. He had access to classified information that he tried to use against Joe Wilson in an talonnews.com interview with him regarding the Valerie Plame affair.
This is the more harmful part of the scandal, but I haven’t finished selling the sex and hypocrisy angle.
Despite the WHPC's stated policy of refusing credentials to a journalist unless they were from an 'independent' news organization, they routinely gave credentials to a man who used a fake name, had no training in journalism, and worked for a news outfit with a staff of two. The WHPC has a policy of refusing credentials to untrained journalists, and they refuse to credential married women unless they use their married name if it differs from the name they use on by-lines. While Helen Thomas, a 40-plus year veteran was generally frozen out of press conferences, Scott McClellan could count on "Jeff Gannon" to raise pandering, biased questions that, facts be damned, advanced the propaganda of the day.
Some examples of his hard-hitting questions include:
- Regarding the decision to attack Iraq:"And doesn't that, combined with the now-proven al Qaeda link between Iraq -- between Saddam Hussein and the terrorist organization -- unequivocally make the case for going to war in Iraq?"
- Regarding the issue of Bush’s TANG service:"Since there have been so many questions about what the President was doing over 30 years ago, what is it that he did after his honorable discharge from the National Guard? Did he make speeches alongside [actress and anti-Vietnam War activist] Jane Fonda, denouncing America's racist war in Vietnam? Did he testify before Congress that American troops committed war crimes in Vietnam? And did he throw somebody else's medals at the White House to protest a war America was still fighting? What was he doing after he was honorably discharged?"
- Regarding Bush’s SOTU remarks on the alleged Iraqi uranium purchase from Niger:Doesn't Joe Wilson owe the President and America an apology for his deception and his own intelligence failure?
Jeff Gannon is a pseudonym for JD Guckert, who has a sexually suggestive profile on AOL, owns three domain names that suggest prostitution of military personnel (one of which caters explicitly to a gay market). In addition to "jeffgannon.com", Guckert also owns "hotmilitarystud.com", "militaryescorts.com", and "militaryescortsm4m.com"
The picture below used to be on http://members.aol.com/jdg17, and the e-mail address given at West Chester University alumni association for JD Guckert is jdg17@aol.com.
With no training in journalism and an apparent enterprise as a gay prostitute, how does one become the “Chief White House Correspondent” for a two-person outfit called Talon News? And how does this two-person, heretofore unknown news organization obtain provisional credentials to White House press conferences? And how does this provisionally-credentialed, unknown “journalist” get more attention from the White House press secretary than other, vetted, members with permanent credentials? What was the nature of the relationship between Mr. Guckert and the other principal of talonnews.com, Robert Eberle? Hey, if Fox News can pull this shit, so can I.
But, more importantly, how did Mr. Guckert obtain a classified memo that he used against Joe Wilson in an interview in October, 2003? It seems the Justice Department has the same question, as Guckert has been subpoenaed in the matter.
OK, Democrats. This is the break you were looking for. This is your Watergate. This has all the same elements (and more egregious crimes) than the affair that got Clinton impeached, and level of corruption and its implications are deeper than Nixon would have ever dreamed of. Start sowing the seeds of doubt. Start publicly questioning the credibility of news organizations that don’t demand answers. Demand an investigation...it looks like Louise Slaughter (NY-27) has already done that.(From her letter to Bush)
"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..."
The Bushies are spinning. The Freeper sites are frothing. Karl Rove is wetting his pants. This will be fun.