Jeff Gannon: Male Prostitute

[Guest sek69]

I'm sure most of you have heard the story by now: Talon News, a news gathering agency run by a big GOP donor (and their news seems to be entirely made up of offical White House talking points) had a reporter in the White House press pool to lob softball questions during press briefings.

 

So what, you might say. Most of the conservative media chuckled at the "elite media" getting all bent out of shape over a pro-Bush reporter in the press pool. How dare someone in the press support the President they scoff.

 

Well, turns out their ringer in the press pool was actually leading a double life as a male prostitute .

 

 

I mean we all knew the media were whores, but not LITERALLY whores.

 

 

Of course now the conservatives are trying to turn it into a "look at the lefties gay-bash a conservative" when the real story, as Tom Tomorrow said:

 

 

"The point is that a fake journalist working for a fake news website, who was apparently leading a double life--allegedly even running an illegal business--somehow gained access to one of the most secure facilities on the face of the planet, under a fake name, in order to ask fake questions the White House wanted asked during press conferences"

 

 

And I have yet to hear anything about this from the liberally biased Bush-hating media.

[The Czech Republic 0]

I thought this was about the old quarterback from the Oakland Raiders.

[Guest Vitamin X]

That'd be Rich Gannon, Czech.

[The Czech Republic 0]

I amalgamated the old Bay Area quarterbacks I guess

 

Come to think of it, Jeff Garcia: Male Prostitute, I wouldn't rule out

[Dr. Tom 0]

Well, since Garcia got his walking papers from the Browns, he might need to find a new line of work...

 

To the main story, it's definitely troubling that someone like Gannon was able to get into the White House. I doubt he could really go anywhere once inside, but still. Where I work, background checks are quite diligent, and anyone with inconsistencies in their background investigation is escorted off the premises and does not return. And while I work in a restricted area, it's certainly not the bloody White House. I don't care if the GOP wants a patsy to lob softballs at Bush and the WH Staff, but fer chrissakes, at least look into who you're hiring.

[kkktookmybabyaway 0]

What, no RIGHT WING RADIO reference?

 

I'm disappoinited...

[Big Ol' Smitty 0]

To the main story, it's definitely troubling that someone like Gannon was able to get into the White House. I doubt he could really go anywhere once inside, but still

 

He could get access to classified memos, though.

 

And the whole gay prostitute thing isn't a big deal to me (the fact that he was a right wing hack w/ no journalistic credibility is the kicker for me). It's just kinda funny given the nature of the current administration.

 

MilitaryStud.com.

[SuperJerk 0]

And they call wrestling fake.

[Big Ol' Smitty 0]

Looks like them damn libruls don't have quite as easy a time getting WH Press Corps passes as gay Republican prostitutes:

 

 

Maureen Dowd, NY Times Op-Ed:

I was rejected for a White House press pass at the start of the Bush administration, but someone with an alias, a tax evasion problem and Internet pictures where he posed like the "Barberini Faun" is credentialed...

At first when I tried to complain about not getting my pass renewed, even though I'd been covering presidents and first ladies since 1986, no one called me back. Finally, when Mr. McClellan replaced Ari Fleischer, he said he'd renew the pass - after a new Secret Service background check that would last several months.

 

MadDog (earlier thread):

On Gannon. You only have to prove you write for a publication and that said publication is being published. Gannon easily fell into that category.

 

I guess the NY Times isn't a publication and isn't being published? And it turns out that he was at the WH *before* he even started his crap Talon News website.

[Guest MikeSC]

Ganon is more of a journalist than Maureen Dowd has ever been.

 

A better, less embarassing writer, to boot.

-=Mike

[BX 0]

You are insane.

[Guest MikeSC]

You are insane.

If you're claiming that Dowd is less than an embarassment --- then your sanity is the one in question.

-=Mike

[Jingus 0]

...so you're saying that a male prostitute who got into the White House under a fake name with fake credentials with the explicit purpose of asking biased questions is better than a real journalist working for a real newspaper... just because you don't like her opinions?

[Guest MikeSC]

...so you're saying that a male prostitute who got into the White House under a fake name with fake credentials with the explicit purpose of asking biased questions is better than a real journalist working for a real newspaper... just because you don't like her opinions?

No, I'm saying that a moron throwing softballs is no worse than a moron writing for the "most prestigious paper in America".

 

Sorry, but Jeff Gannon is a non-issue of the heighest calibre for me. I couldn't conceivably give less of a shit about the "story" than I do.

 

Left wing blogs took down Armstrong Williams and this Jeff Gannon fella. Right wing blogs took down Dan Rather and Eason Jordan.

 

Not quite comparable in scope.

 

If the left wants to think they did something impressive, they can always feel free.

-=Mike

[Guest MikeSC]

Sorry, but Jeff Gannon is a non-issue of the heighest calibre for me. I couldn't conceivably give less of a shit about the "story" than I do.

This is the typical republican response to an issue which they can not win.

This is a "win" for somebody? A borderline anonymous guy being "outed" is a big "win" for the left? Hell, this is an ISSUE for the left? Jesus, no wonder you guys can't win an election --- you obsess over trivial details and ignore the HUGE GLARING PROBLEMS your side has.

 

Man, times are rough for the libs.

 

Hell, you want more honesty? I wouldn't recognize Gannon if he was sitting in front of me right now.

Hannity used it on his radio show on Friday when talking to a Bush supporter who was a reformed felon who was lobbying for voting rights for reformed felons.  When he was challenged by a debate he knew he would be weak in, he simply claimed "this is not an issue for me" "I don't care about this issue". Wow, a comparison between Mike and Hannity, When is your Birthday anyways, Mike?

Can ANYBODY decipher this? I don't know what the hell you're talking about.

Also, on a serious note, can I have a link to your Blog- you are an excellent writer- I'd like to check it out.

I no longer write there --- so no.

-=Mike

[Guest sek69]

Jeff Gannon used to post on a conservative website called FreeRepublic.com, as did Sean Hannity at one time.

 

FreeRepublic was pretty old school conservative- in fact during the 2000 primaries, most of them didn't care for Bush. Funny thing, once Bush got the nod the head of FR suddenly became Bush Supporter #1 and anyone who didn't accept W as their personal savior got banned. Despite having the freepers (as they call themselves) on his show frequently, Hannity also left the board after some random message board drama bullshit.

 

Gannon remained on the board and would post from time to time he was passing news stories on to Hannity. We now know that Gannon was getting exclusive scoops that no one else seemed to get and he was passing them along to everyone's favorite LOL2005 talk show host.

 

Fast forward to a couple days ago after the truth about Gannon came to light and all of a sudden Hannity's suddenly doing a tap-dance of Fred Astaire quality on his radio show to distance himself from FreeRepublic. The drama that made him leave happened years ago. Why would he even mention the freepers after all this time? Could it be because anyone with basic Googling skills could uncover posts of the White House's hand picked patsy saying he was sending stories to him?

 

Inquiring minds want to know.

 

And you know damn well if this went down during a Dem administration it would be the topic of every TV and radio show for MONTHS at least.

[The Czech Republic 0]

Despite having the freepers (as they call themselves) on his show frequently, Hannity also left the board after some random message board drama bullshit.

Idiots. All of you. Every single one.

....yeah, all of you. Here's where you get to look like fools.

 

My posting on the Free Republic board = A FUCKING JOKE.

 

You HONESTLY thought someone would post a neo-conservative link, agree with Bush, and then claim that SEWER RATS ARE MORE IMPORTANT THAN FETUSES, in the same WEEK?!?

 

It began as a dumb attempt at getting a reaction with the neo-con link when I realized just how fucking stupid that FR board was (holy crap guys- it's one big partisan war. You just all run circles around each other endlessly until all of you are wrong and none of you are right), and to my shock, people ACTUALLY THOUGHT I WAS SERIOUS, so I continued on with it. Stupid post after stupid post, and once again, people actually becamed shocked, offended, and one even said he "respected" my opinions (AHAHAHAHA!). Hell, I make a post that is INHERENTLY flawed (the "what type" post) and people call it "good topic" until Andrew finally figures it out. Good job, took you long enough! Jesus fucking Christ.

 

So, in conclusion, all of you are massive idiots. I made that board exciting enough and made all of you look stupid in the end anyway, so consider this my official retirement from the Free Republic board. You can all have fun debating each other endlessly from those same partisan lines.

 

Meanwhile, I'll still be around on the Fox News board, and that's about it, because as fun as it was working each and every one of you, it's seriously cutting into my game-and-anime-time.

 

Ja ne, bakas!

[Jobber of the Week 0]

So if a guy with a background in porn can get into press conferences with a false identity and directly ask questions to the President, shouldn't we be a little bit more concerned about what this implies for the big picture, what with terrorism on the rise and all that?

[Jobber of the Week 0]

Left wing blogs took down Armstrong Williams and this Jeff Gannon fella. Right wing blogs took down Dan Rather and Eason Jordan.

 

Not quite comparable in scope.

Yup, that's true. Dan Rather wasn't very involved in the story and he was one of several fall guys for Mary Mapes, and Eason Jordan made the critical mistake of expressing an extreme conspiracy viewpoint that had no bearing whatsoever on the quality of news being reported by his employer.

 

Yeah, you're right, can't compare. You got some catching up to do.

[Guest MikeSC]

Jeff Gannon used to post on a conservative website called FreeRepublic.com, as did Sean Hannity at one time.

Wow. I guess that makes this "issue" important to somebody.

Gannon remained on the board and would post from time to time he was passing news stories on to Hannity. We now know that Gannon was getting exclusive scoops that no one else seemed to get and he was passing them along to everyone's favorite LOL2005 talk show host.

Actually, we don't "know" squat about that. You seem to mistake assumptions for fact, but oh well.

 

It's sad that the left thinks that this is an "issue".

Fast forward to a couple days ago after the truth about Gannon came to light and all of a sudden Hannity's suddenly doing a tap-dance of Fred Astaire quality on his radio show to distance himself from FreeRepublic.

Shockingly, you confuse me with somebody who likes Hannity.

The drama that made him leave happened years ago. Why would he even mention the freepers after all this time?

Well, they initiated the investigation that made Rather resign and showed CBS News to be a hack partisan organization.

Could it be because anyone with basic Googling skills could uncover posts of the White House's hand picked patsy saying he was sending stories to him?

A guy who met Bush once and Rove twice is their "hand-picked patsy"?

 

OK.

 

Cheney met Edwards more often than the WH met this Gannon fella.

Inquiring minds want to know.

 

And you know damn well if this went down during a Dem administration it would be the topic of every TV and radio show for MONTHS at least.

Hardly.

 

The press fellating a Dem isn't news --- it's the norm.

So if a guy with a background in porn can get into press conferences with a false identity and directly ask questions to the President, shouldn't we be a little bit more concerned about what this implies for the big picture, what with terrorism on the rise and all that?

Nobody cared when Clinton's biggest defender was Larry Flynt. Why would that change now?

Yup, that's true. Dan Rather wasn't very involved in the story and he was one of several fall guys for Mary Mapes, and Eason Jordan made the critical mistake of expressing an extreme conspiracy viewpoint that had no bearing whatsoever on the quality of news being reported by his employer.

 

Yeah, you're right, can't compare. You got some catching up to do.

SO, according to you, Rather's reputation as a journalist is a joke. He was just a news-reader, huh?

 

Got it.

 

Rather supported and defended a story that was OBVIOUSLY false and Eason made anti-American comments to a group and then quit, even though it appeared unlikely that the tape of the event would ever come out.

 

Funny that Eason never asked for the tape to be released, isn't it?

-=Mike

...Apparently, Rather was not a major force behind this one story in his career. Funny how that works...

[SuperJerk 0]

I wish there was a way to keep people from defending one guy by attacking another. What Rather did doesn't make what these other idiots are guilty of any less wrong.

[Guest sek69]

I wish there was a way to keep people from defending one guy by attacking another. What Rather did doesn't make what these other idiots are guilty of any less wrong.

Bill O'Reilly of all people is fond of saying you can't justify bad behavior by pointing out someone else's bad behavior. This may be the only time, but I agree with him about that.

 

There's something seriously wrong here and it needs to be dealt with.

[Guest MikeSC]

I wish there was a way to keep people from defending one guy by attacking another. What Rather did doesn't make what these other idiots are guilty of any less wrong.

But what did Gannon do that was so bad?

 

He waited in line for day passes as a WH reporter --- which anybody can get from a news agency (even Maureen Dowd --- she is upset that she didn't get one of the long-term press badges).

 

The WH is not in the business of exploring the morality of the members of the WH press corps --- which is what we, as Americans, should support. His past as whatever the heck he was is irrelevant.

 

He even asked some tough questions of Bush, if the WH press corps is to be believed.

 

Was he supportive of the administration? Of course. Just as quite a few of the corps members are openly hostile.

 

I don't get why this is a story. The WH SHOULDN'T have known about Gannon's past because THAT would be an unbelievably chilling precedent.

-=Mike

[SuperJerk 0]

He waited in line for day passes as a WH reporter --- which anybody can get from a news agency

Please elaborate on this.

[Styles 0]

I wish there was a way to keep people from defending one guy by attacking another. What Rather did doesn't make what these other idiots are guilty of any less wrong.

This is all Clinton's fault...

[Guest sek69]

The problem is he was getting press passes before Talon News started publishing stories.

 

And that he was getting press passes (which require Secret Service checks) with a fake name.

 

And that he was asking "questions" like taking things Rush Limbaugh said on his show the day before and turning them into softballs to lob.

[Guest MikeSC]

He waited in line for day passes as a WH reporter --- which anybody can get from a news agency

Please elaborate on this.

Gannon got into the press pool with day passes to WH briefings, which are available to anybody associated with a news outlet. All one has to do to get one of those is pass a quick security check, which he did.

 

He couldn't get a long-term pass (handed out by the Senate press gallery) because they didn't feel Talon News was a legitimate news outlet, but the WH has significantly lower expectations (which is why Village Voice ALSO has guys in the WH a lot).

 

As Ari Fleischer said, it's a REAL slippery slope for a press secretary to decide who does and who does not deserve a pass. It's not a call you WANT any WH to make, to be honest.

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/ne...t_id=1000807754

 

And from the WaPo

Guckert, Gannon and the Facts

 

Joe Strupp, writing in Editor & Publisher, and blogger Tom Maguire, in his "Just One Minute" blog go a long way toward clearing up some of the misinformation out there about Jim Guckert, AKA Jeff Gannon.

 

Did Guckert actually ever get access to an internal CIA memo related to the Plame case? It seems unlikely.

 

Maguire, for instance, points out that Guckert's first mention of the memo apparently came several days after the Wall Street Journal had already written about it -- and that his mention of it, in an interview with Plame's husband, Joe Wilson, was almost word for word from the Journal.

 

In an interview with Strupp, Guckert said: "I never said I had it or had seen it."

 

And was Guckert subpoenaed by Patrick J. Fitzgerald, the special prosecutor in the Plame case?

 

"Guckert said that contrary to many press reports, he was never subpoenaed by the special prosecutor and has never testified before a grand jury in the case. But he said he was interviewed by two FBI agents in his home for about 90 minutes last year," Strupp writes.

 

So, in fact, the only thing we know for certain is that Fitzgerald subpoenaed the White House for records about Guckert/Gannon -- like I said in my March 10 column, almost a year ago.

 

Gannon's Other Question

 

Strupp also reports: "Guckert first attended a presidential press conference in April 2003, he said, just weeks after starting with Talon News. He also attended another, for which he cannot recall the date, prior to the late-January conference that brought him to public attention. 'I was also once at a Rose Garden briefing after the announcement of the interim government in Iraq,' he said. 'It was impromptu. I thought [bush] had pointed at me, but he was really pointing at someone else. But I shouted out a question, and he answered it.' "

 

Looking at the transcript and video of that June 1, 2004, news conference, it's pretty clear that this is Guckert's question:

 

"Q Mr. President, could you speak about Sudan, the peace agreement in Sudan and how that nation has turned away from terrorism?

 

"THE PRESIDENT: Yes, I appreciate that. The question is on Sudan. Recently, there was a signature on a document that took us a step closer toward achieving our objective. However, it is very important for the Sudanese government to understand we're watching very carefully, the hunger, the brutal human conditions in the western part of their country, and that we expect there to be an accommodation to the relief agencies as well as the American government to get aid to those people. We're closer to an agreement in Sudan, it's a very important agreement. And we will continue to work the issue really hard."

 

And, much like the other inaccurate, loaded question Guckert more famously asked Bush last month (see Thursday's column for more), this one, too, was bizarre -- apparently an invitation for Bush to take a victory lap regarding the Sudan peace deal. That deal was between the government and southern-based rebels -- while the much bigger story in Sudan was (and remains) the crisis in Darfur, where government-backed Arab militias have murdered tens of thousands of African civilians.

 

It was such an odd softball, in fact, that Bush didn't swing -- at least not completely.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/artic...b14.html?sub=AR

-=Mike

[Guest MikeSC]

The problem is he was getting press passes before Talon News started publishing stories.

When he was with GOPUSA. And GOPUSA swore up and down, when asked, that they were not actually affiliated with the GOP.

 

Again, the WH has to err on the side of letting more reporters in than keeping more reporters out in these situations.

And that he was getting press passes (which require Secret Service checks) with a fake name.

He used his real name and his real Social Security number.

And that he was asking "questions" like taking things Rush Limbaugh said on his show the day before and turning them into softballs to lob.

He did twice, definitely.

-=Mike

[Jobber of the Week 0]

SO, according to you, Rather's reputation as a journalist is a joke. He was just a news-reader, huh?

Rather's got more to lose than the people behind the scenes.

 

My own personal beliefs, which I don't bring into the issue because it's worthless debating, is that if Rather was given the yes or no on the running the story he would have said no. He's a journalist of the old school, not this new scoop-jumping "doesn't matter if we have no proof run it anyway" news mentality.

 

I realize arguing the issue is pointless, though, which is why I rarely talk about Rather when I discuss the CBS thing. A lot of people have it set in their minds that he's some kind of foaming-at-the-mouth lib whose willing to dispose of the decades he's built his career in a desperate attempt to do PR damage to a man whose going to be relevant for only four to eight years.

 

Lastly, I don't care if the Senior Editor of CNN thinks that the government is hiding aliens at Area 51. As long as they're not implying that as any kind of fact on CNN, it doesn't matter.

[Guest PlatinumBoy]

Jeff Gannon used to post on a conservative website called FreeRepublic.com, as did Sean Hannity at one time.

 

FreeRepublic was pretty old school conservative- in fact during the 2000 primaries, most of them didn't care for Bush. Funny thing, once Bush got the nod the head of FR suddenly became Bush Supporter #1 and anyone who didn't accept W as their personal savior got banned. Despite having the freepers (as they call themselves) on his show frequently, Hannity also left the board after some random message board drama bullshit.

 

Gannon remained on the board and would post from time to time he was passing news stories on to Hannity. We now know that Gannon was getting exclusive scoops that no one else seemed to get and he was passing them along to everyone's favorite LOL2005 talk show host.

 

Fast forward to a couple days ago after the truth about Gannon came to light and all of a sudden Hannity's suddenly doing a tap-dance of Fred Astaire quality on his radio show to distance himself from FreeRepublic. The drama that made him leave happened years ago. Why would he even mention the freepers after all this time? Could it be because anyone with basic Googling skills could uncover posts of the White House's hand picked patsy saying he was sending stories to him?

 

Inquiring minds want to know.

 

And you know damn well if this went down during a Dem administration it would be the topic of every TV and radio show for MONTHS at least.

Reminds me of DemocraticUnderground over the past year or so. Everyone HATED Kerry--then he gets the nomination and everyone acted all pro-Kerry, because he was the only option for them, then he loses and it's anti-Kerry again.

 

BTW, in the Summer of 03 they banned me for saying Cynthia McKinney is dumb and an embarrassment to Georgia and African Americans . I'd figure no matter how left you are, you can realize that Cynthia McKinney is one of the most worthless people on the face of the planet.