Posted on 02/10/2005 4:18:44 PM PST by EveningStar
Jeff Gannon to appear on Larry Elder - upcoming momentarily
true
Have you not heard that freepers who viewed the picture say it's not Gannon.
What gay underwear pic and how can you tell?
I GOT SMEARED!
For the second time in as many weeks, the liberal media has taken a shot at me. Recently an article appeared in the Washingtonian magazine’s online feature, Washington Buzz entitled, “Can White House Stay on Message Amid Leaks?”. In it, political writer Harry Jaffe tried to make the point that the alleged leak of a CIA agent’s name by someone in the administration has caused problems for a White House that had been otherwise effective in maintaining a unified front in dealing with the press corps.
While it is true that decidedly partisan reporters in the White House press corps have dominated the briefings with endless questions about “leakgate”, the administration does not appear on the verge of collapse from defections on the lower echelons. Neither has the administration gone into the “stonewalling” mode so often seen during the Clinton years. In fact, the investigation into the matter is proceeding at lightning speed.
But Jaffe suggested that the White House is reacting to the negative reporting by attacking members of the press corps. He wrote:
“There are signs the White House may be going on the offensive, striking back at reporters it considers too aggressive. Both Moran [of ABC] and NBC’s David Gregory were singled out in a dispatch published in Talon News, a news service sponsored by GOPUSA, a Republican Party news service.”
He’s talking about me! Jaffe is claiming that I am a Republican Party operative instructed by the White House to write a hit piece on these two reporters. Both of those allegations are totally and completely false.
My article, “White House Cites Partisanship in Furor Over Alleged Leak” accurately reported the administration’s contention that some have tried to take political advantage of the investigation. It should be noted at this point that Harry Jaffe began his Washington career in the 1970s as press secretary to U. S. Senator Patrick Leahy, Democrat of Vermont.
After several emails and telephone calls, the article was changed to “conservatives may be going on the offensive” and Talon News was a “Web-based conservative information company.” But the implication that the “vast right-wing conspiracy” was attacking reporters remained.
What was most surprising about the article is that Jaffe didn’t do his homework on Talon News. He either made incorrect assumptions without checking facts or some “unnamed source” misled him. Either way, he was very wrong. To he credit, he did make the corrections.
However, the most bothersome aspect of the article was that Jaffe contacted Ken Bazinet of the New York Daily News, Bob Deans of Cox Newspapers and Terry Moran of ABC News for quotes to use in his story. These are all people I work with every day in the White House briefing room. He didn’t bother to contact me before putting on the smear.
Misfeasance or malfeasance, take your pick. It’s poor journalism and Jaffe’s accusations never would have been made about a liberal member of the press. My questions at the daily White House press briefing stand out because no one else asks them.
The second stab came last week from an admittedly liberal reporter at the White House who gave me what she thought was friendly advice. She said, “Don’t suck up to these people [the Bush administration], you’ll lose your credibility.” After an edgy discussion during which I pointed out that I was pursuing stories and angles that no one else was, she realized I was not interested in her counsel and that I categorically rejected her assessment of my credibility.
To say that I lack credibility because I ask questions that don’t assume the President is an illegitimate, corrupt, lying, warmongering extremist is laughable. It seems that I am virtually alone in trying to balance out the agenda-driven questions so that the full story can be told. Apparently the President sees it that way as well, since he recently spoke out about the filtering that news gets about events in Iraq.
While I get twisted up for a bit over these kinds of things, I have come to know that it is part of the territory. As my editor wisely observes, if my reporting is being noticed, I’m doing my job. That’s my agenda.
This is a great interview! Hope he does more and more of these. Help get the word out about how things really are with the liberal press.
Oh, I missed that. I started a new job and so haven't been freeping all day.
They're done. It didn't come up. I am a huge Larry fan but he softballed Jeff this time.
Good while it lasted.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1340673/posts
Transcript of Jeff Gannon's interview with Wolf Blitzer
snip
And it's been very troubling. And when it went toward my family, then I said that I needed to put an end to it.
BLITZER: And when you say your family, could you be a little bit more...
GANNON: Well, I mean -- I mean my -- when my mother and my brother and his wife received telephone calls that -- you know, that contained threats and all kinds of terrible things being said about me, it's very disturbing. And that's way over the line. And I needed to put that to an end.
BLITZER: Because one of the things, as you know, that were said is that you had some sexually explicit Web sites that you were working on. I don't understand what that is, but maybe you could explain that.
GANNON: Well, several years ago, before I came to Washington, I had registered various domain names for a private client. I was doing Web site development. Those sites were never hosted. There's -- nothing ever went up on them. And the client went on to do something else.
There's been so much about me on the Internet that people have, you know, made assumptions about. And I just can't -- I don't even know them all and I can't address them all here.
BLITZER: I was going to say, were you there in the White House briefing room on a daily basis to try to change the subject, if you will, send softball questions to Scott McClellan, the press secretary? Or were you there as a real journalist trying to get the story?
GANNON: Well, Talon News is a legitimate conservative online news service. And my questions are things that my readers, 700,000 daily subscribed readers, want the answer to. And those are my questions.
I created the questions. Nobody fed questions to me. Scott McClellan certainly never knew what was coming. He knows -- he certainly knows...
Snip
Is he still using the fake name "Jeff Gannon"?
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0502/10/wbr.01.html
GANNON: Yes. Well, it's pronounced Guckert.
BLITZER: Guckert.
GANNON: It's a professional name. I used it because Jeff Gannon is easier to pronounce and easier to remember.
BLITZER: But you haven't legally changed it?
GANNON: No.
BLITZER: So your driver's license still has Guckert?
GANNON: Absolutely.
BLITZER: So, when you went into the White House and you showed your driver's license, it was under the name Guckert.
GANNON: Absolutely.
And that makes him a bad journalist how? All journalists borrow liberally from press releases - that's why they're called "press releases." As for him being gay, that's neither here nor there as far as his journalistic credentials go. Of course, it might embarass him more than it would a liberal colleague (if it were true).
I am not taking a hike on him because dailykos and other dem operatives are after him.David Brock? barf..
WHERE IS THE TAPE OF EASON JORDAN'S COMMENTS?
WHY IS RATHER STILL AT CBS?
BLITZER: Because one of the things, as you know, that were said is that you had some sexually explicit Web sites that you were working on. I don't understand what that is, but maybe you could explain that.
GANNON: Well, several years ago, before I came to Washington, I had registered various domain names for a private client. I was doing Web site development. Those sites were never hosted. There's -- nothing ever went up on them. And the client went on to do something else.
There's been so much about me on the Internet that people have, you know, made assumptions about. And I just can't -- I don't even know them all and I can't address them all here." snip
I have no idea about his sexual practices..but I believe he did not do those gay sites.
No problem. I've missed a lot of this story too :-)
Did I miss it?
If so, what happened?
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