Posted on 02/18/2005 10:24:23 AM PST by areafiftyone
The story of the phony White House reporter who called himself Jeff Gannon just gets curiouser and curiouser every day -- and shows no sign of abating.
Quite the contrary, in fact. After only occasionally burbling out of the realm of bloggers and media watchers over the past few weeks, the story exploded onto network television last night.
And after a few days in which the chatter was fixated on the salacious associations that bloggers uncovered between James D. Guckert (Gannon's real name) and gay escort Web sites, the focus is back on a serious public policy question: Why was a non-journalist asking slanted non-questions welcomed into the White House Briefing room?
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Exploded???? Hmmmm I must have been sleeping thru the bombing raid!
They are writing about it for the second day? Talk about a made up scandal.
They defended a president when he had sex with a subordinate (which was against the very law that Clinton pushed and signed) and the leftists all agreed that sex should be private.
Only when you're a liberal, that is.
That answer is easy -- because he followed the proper procedures, and despite a sordid personal life, apparently has no criminal record that would show up on a background check.
Why is Helen Thomas allowed in the briefing room to ask her "slanted non-questions"?
I wondered this myself for many years, and then I realized it was because the Clintons were threatening the media.
Oh wait, this article isn't about that is it?
translation: sh*t man, if this is all we got, we're screwed
sordid personal life?...I heard some crap, and heard "photoshopped" somewhere, but just like the "Swiftvet accusations completely refuted" angle, I haven't seen anything that supports the notion
While they're at it, why was a White House intern allowed to give the president a BJ while he is on the phone with leaders of other countries and members of congress?
The latest thing the left is making a deal of is the timing of when JG started in the WhiteHouse.
Yeah, it must be all fake. But it could make one wonder why you've never heard "Jeff Gannon" say it is fake. Or even "I am not / was not a male prostitute."
Tell you what, WashPost - why don't you expend this much energy on all the bias and skeletons of the clubby White House Press Corps. I imagine it would be a much, much, MUCH more interesting story than Jeff Gannon.
But, then again, you're not doing this to uncover anything. You're doing this just to try and embarass the Bush Administration - and are just like a dog rolling in a fresh turd while a burglar breaks into his master's house.
At least one (reliable) long-time FReeper who claims to know Gannon/Guckert personally has said that the photos appear to be genuine. Unless someone can prove otherwise, I'm going to assume that he is correct.
You beat me to it!
We all know that if the shoe was on the other foot, the media would be screaming bloody murder and decrying "censorship" all over the place. Now they bring up the guy's personal life. Am I the only person that finds it a wee bit curious that the same people who routinely stick up for perverts and perjurers are now hounding this guy for similar behavior?
I don't approve of what Gannon/Guckert did in terms of personal life, but by the same token we all know full well that his shady background is not what got him punted out of there.
OMG!!! A reporter with an aledgedly "sordid personal life" got into the White House briefing room!
What has the world come to.
Jeff who?
Gannon reportedly knew about Iraq attack four hours before it happened
A news producer for a major network just told me that Gannon told the producer the US was going to attack Iraq four hours before President Bush announced it to the nation.
According to the producer, Gannon specifically told them that in four hours the president was going to be making a speech to the nation announcing that the US was bombing Iraq. The producer told me they were surprised that Gannon, working with such a small news outfit, could have access to such information, but "what did you know, he was right," the producer said today. The producer went on to say that Gannon often had correct scoops on major stories, including information about Mary Mapes and the Dan Rather BUSH/AWOL scandal that this news outlet got from Gannon before any had the information publicly. 1. Assuming this news producer is telling the truth, and I have no reason to believe they are not, how did Gannon get access to such highly classified information as to when the US was going to bomb Iraq?
2. Even if Gannon were part of a press gaggle that was told embargoed information about the war by the White House, this producer alleges that Gannon would have broken any such embargo, which is a security risk to the operation, and more generally shows that concerns about Gannon's White House access posing a risk to national security might now be warranted.
3. How would someone on a day pass, who hadn't gotten the requisite 3-4 month FBI background check that other full-time White House employees get, get access to such highly classified information? Certainly the White House didn't include someone with simply a day pass in the highly-classified pre-briefing about details of the war (assuming such a briefing even occurred)? If the White House did a briefing and Gannon were included, this would mean ANYONE could walk in off the street, say they're a reporter, and provided by they don't have a criminal record, the White House will simply tell them at what hour we're launching a major attack? And if there was no briefing for reporters, then how did Gannon allegedly find out?
4. Even if the White House had simply told the press pool that Bush was speaking to the nation in a few hours, and the press had figured out that this meant were were attacking Iraq, was the information about the upcoming speech embargoed? Was the information about the upcoming speech also announced to the public four hours before? Or did Gannon get access to inside information concerning the war simply because of his presence in the White House - a presence that should have required an FBI background check considering how often he was there?
5. How would Gannon get inside information on the Dan Rather scandal BEFORE the rest of the major media? Assuming the producer is correct, did it come from a White House source, and if so, what does this say about possible White House involvement in creating this scandal in the first place?
According to my source, Gannon's insider tidbits were always on the mark. "Gannon's stuff was always golden," the producer says. My source says they kept asking themself, "how does this small news outfit get this info?"
How indeed.
How hypocritical of the Leftists to point out Gannon's supposedly sordid personal life when they are supposed for Gay Rights etc.
Part of me wants this to stop for Mr. Gannon's sake, so his life won't be further destroyed.
The other part of me thinks it great. We should encourage the left to spend as much time, energy and money on this as possible. Go for it, please!
jw
Who wrote that drivel? Let them fret over Gannon. Clueless clowns. i haven't seen anything about him on network TV.
Heard that Keith Olberman pointed out that the pictures of the supposed White House hard pass that was all over the Leftists sites and Blogs was actually Gannon's Talon Newspass!
Click on the link in the title and you will be directed to the blog site.
Why are they saying he was a phony journalist? (she asks rhetorically)
He asked questions and wrote articles. Why, he even snagged an interview with the pompous yet debonair Joseph C. Wilson, IV.
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