Representative Louise Slaughter's Dan Rather Moment

me | 2/9/2005 | dirtboy

[dirtboy]

On February 7th, US Representative Louise Slaughter, D-NY, issued a press release on Jeff Gannon, a reporter from the web news site Talon News who somehow, despite the best efforts of the Mainstream Media, managed to gain access to the inner sanctum of White House press conferences. Gannon has since resigned from Talon News.

In her press release, Representative Slaughter made the following statements:

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...

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.

The impassioned words roll off the press release ... unbiased ... honesty ... integrity...

And then, in order to support her charges against Gannon, Representative Slaughter cited an open letter from the Niagara Falls Reporter, which levelelled, among other things, allegations published in the Philadelphia Daily News:

He is affiliated with an organization called Talon News, and is frequently called on by White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan and President Bush. This individual has no background in journalism whatsoever, and his "syndicated column" appears solely on his personal Web site, www.jeffgannon.com. According to the Philadelphia Daily News, "Jeff Gannon" isn't even his real name.

In his biography at the Talon News site, where he holds the title of "Washington Bureau Chief," he claims to be a graduate of the "Pennsylvania State University System" and the Leadership Institute Broadcast School of Journalism.

While the 23 schools in the Penn State system award diplomas, the system itself does not, and the Daily News investigation has thus far failed to turn up a "Jeff Gannon" who holds a degree in education from Penn State, as this person claims he does...

Sounds pretty damning.

However, this is the age of Google and web searches, the greatest equalizer since the Colt revolver. A search of Philly.com, the website for the Philadelphia Daily News and the Philadelphia Inquirer, along with archive searches performed by a source at the Daily News, turned up no such story. Additional Google research finally revealed that a blog affiliated with the Daily News by political reporter William Bunch had this story about Gannon, and is apparently the source referenced by this article:

"Jeff Gannon" and Karl Rove -- one degree of separation

Who is the conservative pseudo-journalist who calls himself "Jeff Gannon" and has a hard-to-get White House press pass, so he can toss softball questions at President Bush and rewrite press releases for a right-wing outlet called Talon News?

We wish we knew. We're on the trail, though. Here's a few more interesting things about Gannon, whose unlikely West Wing access is shedding new light on the unseemly White House propaganda machine.

One thing is that there's an excellent chance he's a native Pennsylvanian (wouldn't you just know it?). His "bio" on the Talon News site states "Jeff is a graduate of the Pennsylvania State University System and holds a Bachelor of Science in Education." The vast majority of students who attend Penn State, either at State College or its many satellite campuses, tend to be in-state residents...

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Additional reading of Bunch's website shows that he maintains a countdown for Bush's impeachment. Where is Representative's Slaughter's concern about Bunch's failure to be unbiased?

But I digress. Now, let's compare the open letter from the Niagara Falls Reporter, which somehow failed to mention that the piece in question was from a reporter's blog and wasn't actually in the paper itself, to the actual content of Bunch's blog entry:

Niagara Falls Reporter: According to the Philadelphia Daily News, "Jeff Gannon" isn't even his real name.

William Bunch: Bunch makes no such claim.

Niagara Falls Reporter: the Daily News investigation has thus far failed to turn up a "Jeff Gannon" who holds a degree in education from Penn State, as this person claims he does.

William Bunch: One thing is that there's an excellent chance he's a native Pennsylvanian (wouldn't you just know it?). His "bio" on the Talon News site states "Jeff is a graduate of the Pennsylvania State University System and holds a Bachelor of Science in Education." The vast majority of students who attend Penn State, either at State College or its many satellite campuses, tend to be in-state residents.

Notice there is no mention that any investigation was made by the Daily News (or Bunch) to see if Gannon had a degree from any of the Penn State campuses.

So we have two clear lies in an open letter cited by a United States Congresswoman as the rationale for a press release to attack the Bush Admininstration for dishonesty. Representative Slaughter also chastised Jeff Gannon's bias but failed to call either the writers of the open letter or William Bunch for their bias. Honesty and integrity apparently are nothing more to Representative Slaughter than words, devoid of their underlying values.

The fact checking involved isn't rocket science - a few minutes on Google were all that sufficed to run this information down. It is both highly ironic and deeply disturbing that Representative Slaughter would issue a press release about journalistic integrity and honesty that relies upon an open letter from a liberal newspaper that grossly misrepresents its key source. But she apparently is too busy booking face time on CNN to make sure her staff checked the facts behind her allegations.

[dirtboy]

Wait a second. Hasn't the White House Press Corps included such stalwarts as Sam Donaldson and Helen Thomas? Haw does that fit with the complaint?

Like I said:

Honesty and integrity apparently are nothing more to Representative Slaughter than words, devoid of their underlying values.

[SolidRedState]

Great job, dirtboy! Here's to Congresswoman Slaughter...

[JesseJane]

Wow, over 140K to the DNC...

[AZ_Cowboy]

This was never about facts. This was about trying to flame out a guy that was not of the monolithic ideological bent found in the press corps, of course.

This is the classic dog-and-pony show, folks. It has all the classic elements.
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1. The overblown press manipulation is performed by someone who has a dead lock on their seat.
C'mon, folks, the only way a rat loses an election in New York usually involves committing suicide these days. Slaughter was the designated extremist, just like Sen. Boxer was for the previous D&P show regarding Rice.
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2. Citation of sources that are obviously biased.
All the Philadelphia MSM Papers lie between Che Guevara and Joseph Stalin on the ideological spectrum. They are notorious for making serious mistakes and editorializing in their articles. They ran 21 editorials straight for Kerry, folks!

Other citations by the anti-Gannonites include the blog Daily Kos, which we have recently learned was paid off by the Dean Campaign to boost the failed candidate. Why anyone with even a vestige of a brain would take the word of people bought and paid for by political mad hatters over a man with whom there is not even a suspicion of payoff is beyond me. Well, alright, it isn't. This is a D&P show, so it's all a lie to begin with.
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3. Intimidation of the target

Obviously, a mad rush is under way to disclose Mr. Gannon's real name, if indeed he is using a pseudonym. Why is this necessary, if not to inflict a deluge of hate mail, death threats, and other similar disturbances upon this man and his family? We all know the answer. That is what political D&P shows are always about, intimidation of the opposition.

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As a final point, what do they figure they'll gain by trashing Gannon? They've used similar tactics against Rush Limbaugh, Fox News at a bunch of levels, and God knows what else, and the so-called "right-wing media" continues to grow and prosper while they continue their cycle of decline. Americans root for the underdog, and they're making underdogs out of these people. If it weren't for their patent inability to understand the people of this country, they might have learned all this by now.

[dirtboy]

If that paper didn't have a sports section, no one would buy it.

That paper, to its credit, runs a lot of my letters to it that are harshly critical of it.

I have respect for a media outlet that can take it as well as dish it out.

[Alia]

JJ -- this hadn't even occurred to me: Does Slaughter have a relationship with this gay-baiting liberalblog scene that hammered Gannon??

[MEG33]

Good job.

[dirtboy]

JJ -- this hadn't even occurred to me: Does Slaughter have a relationship with this gay-baiting liberalblog scene that hammered Gannon??

A very interesting question.

[eleni121]

Slaughter really lives up to her name - she never met an infant she didn't want dead:

Voted NO on making it a crime to harm a fetus during another crime. (Feb 2004)

Voted NO on banning partial-birth abortion except to save mother’s life. (Oct 2003)

Voted NO on forbidding human cloning for reproduction & medical research. (Feb 2003)

Voted NO on funding for health providers who don't provide abortion info. (Sep 2002)

Voted NO on banning human cloning, including medical research. (Jul 2001)

Voted NO on banning Family Planning funding in US aid abroad. (May 2001)

Voted NO on federal crime to harm fetus while committing other crimes. (Apr 2001)

Voted NO on banning partial-birth abortions. (Apr 2000)
Voted NO on barring transporting minors to get an abortion. (Jun 1999)

Recommended by EMILY's List of pro-choice women. (Apr 2001)

Rated 100% by NARAL, indicating a pro-choice voting record. (Dec 2003)

[Republican Wildcat]

[JesseJane]

Enquiring minds................

[Alia]

JJ came up with that. And, well, it does fit in neatly with many of the variables in this matter. AZ Cowboy is right; Slaughter is the designated "hitter" (like Boxer going after Rice). So, does Slaughter work with Wonkette? Or is it just one of those "casual" thingies at places where the elite meet and greet? Doing little European cheek kisses?

[hipaatwo]

This is great! You should sent it to Olberslug who ran with it with Dana Milbank and Anderson Cooper who also ran with it. Nice to embarass the MSM some more!

[Alia]

Ah. She's Hillary's gal.

[JesseJane]

You know the old quote:

Those that support abortion are already born.

[dirtboy]

You should sent it to Olberslug who ran with it with Dana Milbank and Anderson Cooper who also ran with it. Nice to embarass the MSM some more!

Those two are beyond embarassment. My target in this vanity is Slaughter, who ran with an open letter from a newspaper as the justification for a press release about journalistic integrity - without fact-checking the letter itself. There was just too much irony there to pass up.

[hipaatwo]

Do you mind if I sent it to Powerline and Captains Quarters?

[dirtboy]

I can only aspire to be worthy of those PJs....(but if you have some in 3X tall...)

[dirtboy]

Please do.

[hipaatwo]

sent=send..sorry