Posted on 02/15/2005 11:19:19 PM PST by woofie
The Jeff Gannon story is still bouncing around the Internet, and now there are pictures.
The kind you shouldn't open up in the office.
The X-rated twist has made for a lot of clandestine clicking in a town where Deep Throat conjures images not of a porn star but of a man in a parking garage. But it has also deepened the debate over blogging and the tactics used to drive a conservative reporter from his job as White House correspondent for two Web sites owned by a Republican activist.
In most Beltway melodramas, the resignation ends the story. The problem for Gannon, whose real name is James Dale Guckert, is that he told The Washington Post and CNN's Wolf Blitzer last week that he never launched the Web sites whose provocative names he had registered, such as hotmilitarystud.com. But a Web designer in California said yesterday that he had designed a gay escort site for Gannon and had posted naked pictures of Gannon at the client's request.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
I am keeping an open mind. Lots of smoke and mirrors in this situation, that's for sure.
On what do you base that? Do you know of "willing enlisted men"?
How bizarre to just make a leaps and bounds deduction like that.
They're saying he was a gay prostitute planted in the WH by McClellan and having sex with McClellan and even the President. Oh, and he "outed" Plame.
The pics aren't just "hello see me naked" shots....they're advertising his "for hire" services. I think the prostitution angle is what's most disturbing....oh sorry..escort services.
It is disturbing. However, it has nothing to do with this administration since evidently finding these sites took more digging than a regular check on reporters applying for passes to briefings would reveal.
Since "the press" is McClellan's bailiwick as "press secretary," he should have been more protective of his superior, i.e., the President, than allow Guckert/Gannon free reign. (I am agnostic as to whether Guckert/Gannon and McClellan had any contact outside of the press room, so that is not a factor for me.)
McClellan should lose his job on the basis of incompetence and this Guckert/Gannon instance should be the straw that broke the camel's back.
If you think McClellan should keep his job, than I dare say you are the only Freeper who believes he is doing a creditworthy job!
Yep .. they do have a history of doing this
Are you kidding? The left wants the Plame story to go away and in a damn hurry, in fact they never wanted it to go this far. The reason it will keep above the surface is the recent judicial ruling that says Miller and Cooper must reveal the source of the leak or go to prison.
What???? ... Are you telling me Howie got his facts wrong???
I'm shocked .. SHOCKED I tell you
That's all very interesting, however your displeasure with McClellan's performance has nothing to do with Gannon's status as a legitimate journalist (from all evidence he was as much or more qualified than other attendees at these briefings).
You seem under the impression that McClellan is the keeper of the gate as to who is granted a pass. That is not the case so your argument is silly in addition to non-sensical.
Actually ... that photo made Helen look good
Could you imagine a REAL picture of her like that?
shudder ... please excuse me as I need to wash out my brain of that thought
I have nude photos of Buckhead I am trying to sell to the tabloids....so far the only one interested is Mary Mapes.
I'm shocked about all the posters with screen names I've never seen before posting like steam engines on this thread. Simply Shocked.
Actually, the ruling was issued just yesterday upholding the finding that Miller and Cooper must testify. However, I must correct the impression that they are being asked to simply say who "leaked Plame's name".
I was on record as stating flatly just last week to some troll hyping the idiotic Gannon/Plame story that the Appeals court was going to rule any day that those reporters who the grand jury really wanted to talk to had to do so.
I am further on record as stating that I am pretty sure Plame was not covert so no crime was committed in revealing her role in sending her husband off to Niger. I have speculated that the grand jury is really looking at the big picture of the story. So, I was very gratified to see in yesterday's ruling that the grand jury wants Miller to testify not only what, if anything, was said to her about Plame, but what was said about *Iraq and uranium*.
All so very very interesting, I think.
As I understand it, the qualification for getting a daily pass (and one that has been in effect for some time) is that the reporter work for a bonafide publication or media outlet.
How in the heck would McClellan know about Gannon's background, other than the checks that the Secret Service does for criminal history, etc. That is how the press is screened, not in a detailed, national security type screening.
I will agree that we need someone more effective than McClellan, but I am not going to fault him for Gannon being there.
Oh, and before you go off half-cocked (ahem) thinking that my dry recitation of fact is some kind of "defense" of Gannon, think again.
Yes, you do.
Call me paranoid, but half the time I walk around waiting for the other shoe to drop on a lot of things. I hope to God my fears are baseless.
No, you don't. And, yes, you are paranoid.
You told ME to lighten up?
God forbid I should be as optimistic as you are!
I didn't say that Kurtz didn't report on Jordan
What I said was ... and I quote
"And Howie Kurtz is fixated on this story"
It is interesting and I hope the broad picture is being evaluated. And thanks for fleshing out on what will be required info from the reporters, I've been a bit out of pocket on the news the past few days, mostly catching headlines and skimming articles so the uranium piece, I'd missed.
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