Posted on 02/18/2005 4:13:55 PM PST by KidGlock
Rove- Gannon Connection?
WASHINGTON, Feb. 18, 2005
Karl Rove's hope to become a respected policymaker will be hampered if the dirty tricks from his political past are more apparent than his desire to spread liberty around the globe.
Karl Rove took a victory lap at an SRO lunch at the Conservative Political Action Committee meeting at the Ronald Reagan building in Washington on Thursday. After a glowing introduction by Wayne LaPierre of the National Rifle Association, Rove proclaimed "conservatism as the dominant political creed in America," but warned Republicans not to get complacent or grow "tired and timid." He recalled the dark days when the Democrats were dominant and cautioned that that could happen again if they let down their guard. The new White House deputy chief of staff also called on conservatives to "seize the mantle of idealism."
Tired and timid are two adjectives never applied to Rove. The architect of the Bush victories in 2000 and 2004 came through the ranks of college Republicans with the late Lee Atwater, and their admitted and alleged dirty tricks are the legends many young political operatives dream of pulling off. So when Jeff Gannon, White House "reporter" for Talon "News," was unmasked last week, the leap to a possible Rove connection was unavoidable. Gannon says that he met Rove only once, at a White House Christmas party, and Gannon is kind of small potatoes for Rove at this point in his career.
But Rove's dominance of White House and Republican politics, Gannon's aggressively partisan work and the ease with which he got day passes for the White House press room the past two years make it hard to believe that he wasn't at least implicitly sanctioned by the "boy genius." Rove, who rarely gave on-the-record interviews to the MSM (mainstream media), had time to talk to GOPUSA, which owns Talon.
GOPUSA and Talon are both owned by Bobby Eberle, a Texas Republican and business associate of conservative direct-mail guru Bruce Eberle who says that Bobby is from the "Texas branch of the Eberle clan." Bobby Eberle told The New York Times that he created Talon to build a news service with a conservative slant and "if someone were to see 'GOPUSA,' there's an instant built-in bias there." No kidding.
Some of the real reporters in the White House pressroom were apparently annoyed at Gannon's presence and his softball, partisan questions, but considered him only a minor irritant. One told me he thought of Gannon as a balance for the opinionated liberal questions of Hearst's Helen Thomas. But what Gannon was up to was not just writing opinion columns or using a different technique to get information. He was a player in Republican campaigns and his work in the South Dakota Senate race illustrates the role he played. It is also a classic example of how political operatives are using the brave new world of the Internet and the blogosphere. Gannon and Talon News appear to be mini-Drudge reports; a "news" source which partisans use to put out negative information, get the attention of the bloggers, talk radio and then the MSM in a way that mere press releases are unable to achieve.
One of Gannon's first projects was an attempt to discredit the South Dakota Argus Leader, South Dakota's major paper, and its longtime political writer, David Kranz. According to the National Journal, which reported on this last November, Gannon wrote a series of articles in the summer of 2003 alleging that Kranz, who went to college with Democratic Sen. Tom Daschle, was not only sympathetic to him but was an actual part of the Daschle campaign. These articles then got a huge amount of play on the blogs of John Lauck and Jason Van Beek, and were picked up by other conservative sites and talk radio. The paper was bombarded with messages about its bias and acknowledges that these had an impact on its coverage.
Daschle opponent John Thune's campaign manager was Dick Wadham, an old political crony of Karl Rove's; the kind of pal Rove could ask to hire his first cousin, John Wood, a few years back. Wadham put the bloggers on the campaign payroll and the symbiotic relationship between the campaign, the bloggers and "reporter" Gannon” continued. On September 29, Gannon broke the story that Daschle had claimed a special tax exemption for a house in Washington and the bloggers jumped all over it. According to a November 17 posting on South Dakota Politics – a site that Van Beek, who has become a staffer for now-Sen. Thune, has bequeathed to Lauck – "Jeff Gannon, whose reportage had a dramatic impact on the Daschle v. Thune race (his story about Sen. Daschle signing a legal document claiming to be a D.C. resident was published nearly the same day Thune began to run an ad showing Daschle saying, "I'm a D.C. resident) has written an analysis of the debacle."
Daschle aides told Roll Call, "This guy (Gannon) became the dumping ground for opposition research." The connections are so strong that there is an FEC challenge which could be a test case on the limits of the use of the Internet in federal campaigns.
Gannon also had Thune on his radio show "Jeff Gannon's Washington," and the White House correspondent for Talon became touted as the "resident D.C. expert on South Dakota politics" by the bloggers. Thune and Wadham (who has been hired by aspiring White House Republican Sen. George Allen) have become go-to guys on the use of blogs in campaigns. Thune was cited in The New York Times as introducing "Senators to the meaning of 'blogging,' explaining the basics of self-published online political commentary and arguing that it can affect public opinion."
This week Democrats, who have serious case of Rove envy, went a little nuts and started sending around information and graphic pictures of Gannon and his porn Web sites. But it is the more routine part of Gannon's life that deserves serious scrutiny. Planting or even just sanctioning a political operative in the WH press room is a dangerous precedent and Karl Rove's hope to become a respected policymaker will be hampered if the dirty tricks from his political past are more apparent than his desire to spread liberty around the globe.
I just think it is odd that CBS, the NY TIMES, CNN, and the rest of the liberal loons are jumping on something so small.
WHILE THEY WENT OUT OF THEIR WAY TO AVOID REPORTING ON EASON JORDAN TELLING LIES ABOUT OUR TROOPS AND FALSELY CLAIMING THEY TARGETED JOURNALISTS.....
Great letter!
I don't watch Olberman. I can't stand him and nothing is worth watching him.
Olbermann sucked when he was on ESPN...and he sucks now.
OLBERMANN himself has had democrats like little tommy d and edwards on his show.....
-OLBERMANN WAS COORDINATING WITH THE DNC! OLBERMANN WAS COORDINATING WITH THE DNC! OLBERMANN WAS COORDINATING WITH THE DNC!-
Olbermann is just avoiding reporting on the tort reform victory that Bush signed into law today.
ROFL! And agree fully.
I wonder if his ratings are good. I won't be surprised if they are--he's the most DUmmie of the "news" casters, searching for conspiracies in every day's news. His attempt to claim that Gannon was biased while the rest of the WH press corps was not was too funny.
Anyone who (unlike me) knows something about TV ratings know how this smirking jerk is doing ratings-wise? I bet MSNBC has had a stay of execution since CNN's ratings are dropping like a rock, but I don't know if MSNBC's are actually improving.
But Rove's dominance of White House and Republican politics, Gannon's aggressively partisan work and the ease with which he got day passes for the White House press room the past two years make it hard to believe that he wasn't at least implicitly sanctioned by the "boy genius."
Nudge, nudge. Wink. Nudge. Make it hard to believe? Wow! Implicitly? Wow!
I, on the other hand, am looking forward to the day after Dan's final night, so I can read the scathing reports about it here. ;-)
Pinz
Last night Hardball spent most of the show talking about the Gannon story and then the story about the Marine that drowned in boot camp---
The very next show, Keith Olbermann's came and said that the show was gonna be about---Jeff Gannon and the story of a Marine that drowned in boot camp.
The exact same stories, same order, same night, and from the same leftie point of view---I didn't watch Olbermann because I NEVER watch him but I lingered long enough on MSNBC to see the preview---
Then MSNBC had a commercial bragging about the fact that during ONE ratings period the beat CNN!!! of course, no mention that Fox beats both of them added together-
What an idiot channel
This is a stupid non story
Soo the question now becomes .. why are they so hell bent on making up a scandal?
During the Clinton term .. they would make a big deal out of something stupid to cover up things like Chinagate
You may be on to something there... can you find a tie-in to the DaVinci code??
Pinz
Gannon just made Olbermann look bad!
On his interview with Anderson Cooper....Gannon pointed out that when he first started reporting....he was part of the news division that was set up by GOP USA.
Then they later became Talon News.
WHAT DOES THAT IDIOT OLBERMANN DO>>>
He tries to say that Gannon's articles first appeared on GOPUSA....and that it indicates something is going on.
So..it took only a matter of minutes for Olbermann to come on...and report something in a way that makes Olbermann look like he-
A) Does not know what the story really is...
or
B) is flat out lying about it.
My guess is B.
And he also just had Dana Milbank of WaPo on...who is trying to say that Limbaugh's and Matalin's, and the others going, to the mid-east next week to see the troops....is "government ordered".
A FLAT OUT LIE!
Limbaugh has already reported that he and Matalin have been trying to set this up and get permission for over a year.
The government did not order it.
Dana Milbank just lied on national tv. Who wants to post the thread?!
What it means is that the so-called mainstream media has its collective panties in a bunch over the very notion that someone not of their social strata actually got reporter's day passes to the WH press briefings. Then, once there, Gannon had (from their perspective) the gall to ask questions with a right-wing bias. Of course, there are literally thousands of examples of MSM reporters asking questions with a left-wing bias, but that doesn't count as far as they're concerned.
So the MSM, hyperventilating over the Gannon matter, is attempting to write its own rules as to who is or is not allowed to get a reporter's pass to the WH briefing room. And they're attempting to tarnish Rove with what they see as a scandal.
Of course, the vast majority of the American public hasn't got a clue this "scandalette" is even happening. Those of us who are political geeks do, and if we have our priorities straight, we'll heave a joint yawn and move on.
I taped it and was just about to go watch it .
Thanks for the summary
Limbaugh also stated that HE is paying his own way--every penny---and I think Matalin is paying for the part from Centcomm to Afghanistan---
Dana Milbank AGAIN! I heard Rush himself say today that he has been trying to set this up through the State Department for 1 1/2 years! He said he did NOT want to do it through the USO.
the best part of this is....
THEY HAVE NOTHING THAT CONNECTS THIS GUY TO THE WHITE HOUSE STAFF!
They are trying like crap to give the impression...but nobody trusts them anymore....so without proof...their story is sunk!
Olbermann is trying to make something out of the time Thune was interviewed on an internet radio show. (Never mind that it is an ACTUAL show).
Yet he has not interest in pointing out the dems that have been interviewed on liberal blogs, coordinated their campaigns with liberal blogs, AND the dems who have gone on Air America.
Well, I can't stand to watch Olbermann's Pravda show any longer.
So when you watch the tape of his show, let me know if he bothers to report the
BIG TORT REFORM VICTORY that Bush signed into law today.
Chrissy Matthews had on Kristin Breiweis (sp) of 9/11 commission fame and she was debating the lady whose pilot husband died and was at the RNC convention---
They were debating the naming of Negroponte as DNI---well, I bet you can guess how Miss Kristin felt--she hated it and said that Negroponte had no intelligence skills blah, blah blah---
But, suprise suprise, Chrissy asked her WHO would be better and when she demurred he sais it wasn't fair to come on and bad mouth him unless she knew of someone better, she still wouldn't/couldn't name anyone, so he asked her if it was better to have Negroponte than no DNI at all---
He had to ask her that 2-3 times before she said that it would be better NOT to have a DNI, than have negroponte--
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