The Jeff Gannon Experience

[WilliamPitt]

I collected a bunch of the pertinent blog threads and stories on Gannon and put them in one spot:

http://forum.truthout.org/blog/story/2005/2/10/83242/3251

[Hugin]

1. How handy!

Thanks WilliamPitt. :)

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

2. Oh.

I thought you were gonna tell us he took up the guitar and formed a band. :evilgrin:

Well, if he does, I betcha he plays clad only in a thong...

[TomClash]

3. Who the hell is this guy and why is he important?

[NewJeffCT]

14. I take it you have not been on DU the past several days?

Gannon is a GOP operative who always threw loaded, easy questions to Bush, Scott McClellan or Ari Fleischer during press conferences. He and his pseudo news service were outed as frauds. Oh, by the way, Gannon also may be involved in a gay prostitution ring as well providing escorts to military men.

The scandal is how somebody that was so easily uncovered by Media Matters & DailyKos was able to get White House credentials and sit so close to the President.

[TomClash]

38. I see the headlines

but I've had other political tasks to complete the last few days.

Thank you very much for the synapsis.

[merh]

4. Thanks Will

:thumbsup:

[coloradodem2005]

5. So, this isn't like the Jimi Hendrix Experience?

I thought "I didn't know that that dude was a musician." ;)

[Carni]

58. I thought the same thing when I saw the title

And I winced LOL

Message to MR PITT-Thanks for the article but there is NO need to insult the great Jimi Hendrix! ;)

[Riding this Donkey]

6. Hey Will I posted this a bit ago, but you might find a plethora of article

gannon has written at this site, going back to 2002 in the archives, plus that ebberle guy and many others from talon.

Here is the link.

http://www.hawaiireporter.com/list.aspx?Outside+Hawaii

[BuyingThyme]

17. And the follow up:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=3085090&mesg_id=3085090

[Stephanie]

7. FYI Will, this story was first broken by my pal at "webdems" blog

She first posted about this exactly one year ago >

___________________________

http://webdems.blogspot.com/2004_02_01_webdems_archive.html

WebDems
Wednesday, February 18, 2004

Netizens, start your engines.

<excerpt> Let's take a look at the bogeyman of credentialing practiced by this Bush White House. Let's go back to the fourth-row seat designated for the news service mentioned above -- Talon News Service.

The nine volunteer "reporters" of Talon News Service are available for your inspection at Talon. The roster includes (as mentioned above) a high-school student who cites as favorite reading the fundamentalist Oswald Chambers' My Utmost for His Highest; a "reporter" who dutifully lists his work history as "cleaning my family's bar" and sometime camp director; a personal trainer; an aerospace engineer; and a couple of self-proclaimed freelancers.

The Talon reporter assigned to cover the White House is Jeff Gannon, whose product from this plum position is a one-minute daily webcast on Talon's site and a weekly broadcast over the radiofreerepublic.com network. Freerepublic.com is the faded home-base of the Clinton haters; a message board where some dirty tricks against liberals are hatched (the recent bogus photo of Kerry and Fonda originated there) and a whole lot of blind Bush-kissing continues. Freerepublic's shrill, extremist rallies in Washington attract only a handful of people.

Talon News Service is obviously a silly and kooky wannabe outfit. And yet a precious seat in the fourth row of the White House briefing room is Gannon's. He boasts on freerepublic about asking questions designed to elicit "gasps" from the real correspondents.

How and why did Talon gain permission to access White House briefings while the same White House threatened denial of access to correspondents from media giants NBC and CNN and The Washington Post? And doesn't Talon's inclusion cement the critical need for reporters to be credentialed through peer review?

The White House press hasn't always been cowed. It doesn't have to be this way, and there is precedent for another way.

And yet (again) there is no apparent effort by journalists to remedy the problem of intimidation and manipulation by political operatives and agents of the opinion shapers. <more>
_______________________

[WilliamPitt]

9. Updated my post

with this. Many thanks! Credit where credit is due.

[Stephanie]

24. Thanks!

PM'ed you.

[frictionlessO]

45. thanks for giving them the cred Will and for putting this together! nt

[underpants]

8. Okay-How does someone with a FAKE NAME get cleared into the WH?

and allowed to sit ~20 feet from the President?

[NewJeffCT]

12. Probably vetted by the same folks that vetted Bernie Kerik

and most of the rest of this administration.

[underpants]

18. To sit 20 feet away from the POTUS???

He's a freakin' day trader for crying out loud.

This goes back to W's stunt on the USS Lincoln-I knew it would blow up in his face (okay not really hardly mentioned during the campaign) but the thing that pissed me off about it was the unnecessary risk he was taking with the OFFICE of the Presidency. This seems to be more of the same.

[snippy]

13. By orally pleasuring Bush and McClellan. n/t

[G_j]

21. they knew it was a fake name

they had to.
The fact that he was cleared absolutely implicates the WH in the deception.

[underpants]

25. Right

Fully implicated

[tabasco]

37. That's what I emailed CNN about yesterday.

I asked them to look into Howard Kurtz assertions from yesterday (while whoring with Leslie Blitzer):

Howard Kurtz, 2-09-05: "just about any journalist can get a day-to-day press pass for White House press conferences."

I asked CNN to verify Kurtz's claim and to look into the security implications. I sure they'll get right on it.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

40. A softball question hurled from 20 feet can really hurt, ya know. :)

[Jack Rabbit]

10. Thanks, Will

My concern on the coverage of this story is that Mr. Gannon's seedy private life will mute the real concern of the White House's use of planted journalists, paid pundits and PR productions designed to look like news reports to get their point of view out in a way that looks like facts and common perception.

Mr. Gannon's cavorting with prostitutes is a red herring. Let's hope he gets the help he needs to modify his behavior, as it is destructive to other people's lives. Nevertheless, it does not undermine our system of government or the institution of a free and independent press. The use the White House made of him at press briefings, as well as their use of Karen Ryan and Armstrong Williams, does.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

11. Morning Will! thanks! nt

[BlueEyedSon]

15. Thx, added your link to Demopedia! nt

http://demopedia.democraticunderground.com/index.php/Jeff_Gannon

[merh]

19. So glad you set all this up in demopedia

Thanks

[merh]

51. Will you add this one to your collection?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x3087388

[merh]

53. Did you see this link? Does it deserve inclusion in you demopedia?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x3088005

[CatBoreal]

16. Good work Will!

Thanks for doing this.

BOOKMARKED!

[rocktivity]

20. Thanks, Will--this is more important than it might seem

I'm almost sorry that this story gay "angle"--almost. ;)

But seriously, folks, we mustn't overlook the fact that a serious breach of White House security has been committed. If Gannon got press credentials under an assumed name, then investigations, hearings, and possibly criminal charges are in order. We have a right to know if the Bush White House staffer responsible is an incompetent or an accomplice.

:headbang:
rocknation

[Jack Rabbit]

26. I agree and disagree

See my post, number 10, above, for how I agree.

On the other hand, I don't think there was a breach of security. They knew exactly who Gannon was and they used him as directed. That was the plan. It was just part of the same overall plan that includes getting a PR firm to produce a faux news report on Medicare "reform" and paying Armstrong Williams and other pundits to hype administration programs.

[rocktivity]

30. Of COURSE there wasn't a breach of security--that's the point, LOL

If it WASN'T a breach of security (meaning someone needs to be fired), it was a Bush White House setup (meaning someone needs to be investigated). Either way, President Mightymouse loses--and to an extent, the mainstream media does, too!

:headbang:
rocknation

[Jack Rabbit]

41. Well, you know where I stand on that

It was a setup.

Want to bet the Bushies try to turn this into a breach of security and make some low-level stiff take the fall?

[BR_Parkway]

31. What about the classified Plame memo he had access to?? That is the one

big part of the story, the other is the older story about gay prostitutes in Reagan/Poppy WH - anyone remember those stories?

[Jack Rabbit]

39. The Plame caper is a breach of security on its face

That is true regardless of whether Gannon in involved in it or not. If he is involved, that just makes this story more bizarre.

[snippy]

22. Has Bush planted other phony journalists in the White House press corps?

Bush rarely limits himself to just one incident of illegal or unethical behavior of this nature.

[bpilgrim]

23. Thank GORE he 'INVENTED' the INTERNET's!

good job will :toast:

peace

[Quakerfriend]

27. Excellent job, Will!

[Misunderestimator]

28. Thank you... I haven't even wanted to try to follow it all... This helps

tremendously.

[fertilizeonarbusto]

29. Someone call Helen Thomas!!!!!!

If anyone has the dibs (and the name recognition) to go after this sory, it's her. And you KNOW she'll be very thorough. :evilgrin:

[SoCalDem]

48. The problem poor Helen has, is that these days, she has a small voice

....just a column now and then. I had so hoped that a democratic adminsitration could come in and let her retire with some dignity. She's devoted to continue, but at her age, one of these days she's not going to be able to continue, and I just hope she doesn't have to leave while this bunch is in power.. You just know they will gloat and declare her "banished" by them :(

[peacetalksforall]

32. MSM is going to scramble this all up to cover it up...

We need to be alert to priorities.

Country vs Personal:

Country:
He is obviously a shill for the Republican Party because the person who pays for Talon News is a Republican operative...Eberle.

It is obvious that the White House set up this plant.

He personally is involved in a major event that involves breaking laws - disclosure of undercover agents - by his interview of WIlson disclosing an internal CIA memo that other journalists had not seen.

No one should be able to get a press pass under a false name.

If he, a person who hardly writes a word, and posts other people's stuff on a website calling it Talon News, the door is open to news writers who are more legitimate to get in...Josh Marhsall, Will Pitt.

It is doubtful that he, a Republican operative, would be a physical danger to Bush. It is doubtful, that other press pass holders, get in without Secret Service or FBI scrutiny, therefore there is probably little danger to Bush.

It appears that Talon News existed to provide a voice in press conferences for political purposes.

ALL of the above are matters of our COUNTRY.

Personal:
The part about the potential male prostitution is all PERSONAL.
Male prostitution, if true, is not the same as pornography.

Male prostitution is a matter of hypocrisy because of the persecution of gays by the Republican Party.

Referring to the PERSONAL life of this operative is justified as long as the Republican Party continues to persecute gays and holds their Party members up as morally superior to Democrats. Investigating his life is justified because of the political act of planting him in the press conferences and giving him a voice.

This is all about breaking laws (Plame) first, political manipulation, and exposure of their moral hypocrisy.

[Walt Starr]

33. Hey Will, I compiled a list of links to Guckert bragging about his

involvement in the Plame affair. Here's a link to the thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x3080029

[WilliamPitt]

34. Added, thanks Walt!!!

What is his FR screen name, and how do we know that?

[Walt Starr]

35. James D. Guckert went by the FR Screen Name of

Jeff Gannon

:evilgrin:

Most of his scrubbed Talon articles still exist in their entirety as posted by him. Talked about every time he asked questions at the press conferences.

A complete list of every post this asshat ever made there can be found here:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/user-posts?name=jeff%20gannon

When you get to the bottom, click the "Show more results..." link.

[rocktivity]

44. Quick, somebody download articles before they get scrubbed, too!

:headbang:
rocknation

[kohodog]

46. Not even a peep in the NYT

This should be a major headline.

And why has the White House Press Corps been so quiet for all this time? Are they so afraid of being given the cold shoulder that they say nothing? I have a hard time believing that they didn't know something was up with this softballer who got regular day passes.

[paineinthearse]

36. Brilliant minds think alike!

I've done the same with the MSM coverage (what there is of it). See http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=109&topic_id=18103&mesg_id=18103

It's been running since the February 2 Boston Globe article.

[Sydnie]

42. Will, check out this thread

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=3085090

I also emailed this to you at FYI.

[Coventina]

43. 'SCUZE ME WHILE I KISS THIS GUY!!!!!!

sorry, I just had to go there.

:spank:

[WilliamPitt]

47. .

[robertpaulsen]

49. Smooth move, Will!

:kick:

Let's keep this kicked. The more focus we keep on Gannon, perhaps we will get closer to the truth on Plame hitting MSM.

[sub.theory]

50. Excellent Summary, Will

Kicked for truth

[mac56]

52. Has anyone posted the reactions from FR about the Gannon escapade?

Just curious...

[KuTava]

54. He's gay. Get over it.

[Stephanie]

55. Yeah - way to miss the point

Nice try

[enigmatic]

56. Actually....

When all his lies, distortions, and whatever else turns out to be on his little resume come out, I'm sure he'll be quite melancholy instead.

[SlavesandBulldozers]

57. i get it

nice dry delivery.