Jeff Gannon, Jim Guckert, and... Prostitution?

Jeff Gannon:

Since there have been so many questions concerning what the pResident was doing over 30 years ago, what is it that he did after his honorable discharge from the National Guard?

Did he make statements, alongside Jane Fonda, demouncing America's racist war in Vietnam?

No, he didn't. Neither did John Kerry. Somebody Photoshopped him standing alongside Jane Fonda:



http://media.gn.apc.org/fl/0404fake.html

Did he testify before Congress that American troops committed atrocities while in Vietnam?

No, he didn't. But John Kerry did. And it was because American troops HAD committed atrocities, and he was conveying what other troops had been telling him already.

http://www.goingupriver.com/learn_more_dewey_time.html

Did he throw somebody else's medals at the White House to protest a war America was still fighting?

No, he didn't. But John Kerry did. And there were THOUSANDS of other Americans protesting that war. And for good a pretty damned good reason.

Quote:

Obviously, you are wrong because he did. He obviously met whatever credentials they needed and was admitted into various press conferences. Why is this so hard to understand?

Lol, why is it so hard for you to understand that he was let in for other reasons than normal reporters? And that explains very nicely why he didn't have to go through the same proccesses as other reporters that are in the WH. But, you don't think that's a possibility at all.

Why is it that you wouldn't believe they'd let the guy in to be a shill? You know, for a fact, that the admin pays people to promote propaganda. What makes you think they wouldn't do something like this?

Quote:

Why do yoou insist on this charade that someone in the whitehouse must have snuck him in or that he was a plant?

Hmm, let's see, a huge body of evidence leads to this conclusion.

Fact: There is not a single reporter that is let into the WH on a regular basis that gets in on a daily pass, instead of a hard pass, like Gannon. Not one. There are many reports of websites being turned down for day passes as well, so it's not as if they just hand the damn things out to whoever.

Fact: There is not a single reporter in the WH press room that uses a fake name other than Gannon. His claim about changing his name b/c 'Guckert is hard to pronounce' is bullsh*t; why did he assume a first name as well?

Fact: There is not a single reporter let into the WH on a regular basis who isn't first cleared for a Capitol Hill press pass, other than Gannon. G/G actually applied for a press pass under his real name, was denied, and then took up a psuedonym to get into the WH.

Fact: There is not a single reporter other than Gannon in the WH press room who didn't have a single written article before working there.

Fact: There is not a single reporter other than Gannon in the WH press room that doesn't work for a news organization of some kind; and we're talking about news, not partisan websites like GOPUSA. They certainly don't let reporters from MediaMatters or Moveon.org in.

Fact: There is not a single reporter other than Gannon in the WH press room who comes on a regular basis, yet isn't given a regular pass.

Fact: There is not a single reporter other than Gannon in the WH press room who consistently asked such slanted questions towards the administration. There is a clear pattern of McLellan calling on G/G when he got into trouble with other questions.

Fact: Gannon owns, ran, and operated prostitution web sites. This isn't a supposition. It is a clear violation of US law. This should have easily been caught by the SS, and you are claiming it wasn't? It's important to note that these sites were bought by Gannon, produced for him by a web designer, filled with pictures of HIM and testimonies about his prowess, and still active and running up until a month ago. This wasn't Gannon's past we're talking about, it was his present.

Fact: Gannon has taken all of his articles offline. Why do this? Your 'saving bandwidth' excuse is laughable. It's quite obvious that he was trying to hide something. There is no other explanation for why they would remove his articles from 3 different websites...

That's a lot of facts that all point in the direction of someone on the inside letting this guy in. Now, there are a lot more leads (Plame Memo, Dan Rather case, Thune-Daschle angle) that have yet to be ran down. But they will.

Cycloptichorn

You're the last person who should ever accuse someone else of patronization, McG, seriously.

Let's see... if you had actually gone to Gannon's website, you'd see that there are NO archives of his former stories on there. None. Why is that, if he is so proud of having wrote them? You honestly think his stories were removed from the Web to save bandwidth? On text??!!?!? That's an idiotic answer.

You claim that b/c people get on-the-job training, that's a justification for letting someone who isn't a journalist into the WH. This is perhaps the worst analogy in the history of analogies, as the WH isn't a junior beat or some joe job that any idiot can do; it's a difficult assignment to land. Gannon had no experience. A better analogy would be you claiming to have been made a Sous Chef your first day on the job, which we all know doesn't happen - without help.

As for your refusal to go to Salon, don't even bother; just google 'Thune gannon' and you'll find plenty of articles. Though I'm sure you won't read them either, as if it isn't blatantly republican, it isn't a source, to you guys.

I asked the question, what is the connection between Eberle and Rove? A question, mind you. You claimed that there WAS no connection. YOU are the one who claimed to know that there was NO connection between the two: feel free to show how you knew this, rather than attack me for asking a question about a POSSIBLE connection.

Quote:

I have no issue with him being a liar.

Given your political affiliation, this is hardly surprising.

Cycloptichorn

A better analogy would be you claiming to have been made a Sous Chef your first day on the job, which we all know doesn't happen - without help.

I have no issue with him being a liar.

Well, you have called him incompetent, yet blame him for Daschle's loss.

2:37
RAWSTORY reports that Senate Minority Leader Harry 'Soup Lines" Reid will join in the investigation of me. He should be thanking me since I helped get him his promotion.

You say he does not fit the criteria to be allowed into the whitehouse press room, yet you have no evidence of what the criteria is.

You say he runs a gay webpage as a prostitute, yet no evidence of him performing any gay acts, or prostitution.

You say there is not a single reporter in the press room with an alias, yet you have nothing to support that.

You say there is not a single reporter that uses daily press passes, yet you back that up with no evidence.

Your allegations and lack of evidence is both tiresome and boring. This is a witch hunt. Plain and simple. The left has found their witch and has already built the stake and gathered the wood. But, instead of looking at the issue objectively with the idea that there may be more to the story than what Maureen Dowd tells you, you pitch in your 2 cents for the gasoline.

Guckert claimed that his family began being harassed a week ago. Asked how this was possible, when his real name didn't even surface until late Monday, he held to the view that "it was out there a week ago, and that is when it started. My mother and my brother and his wife in Pennsylvania were being harassed with phone calls and threats."

Published: February 28, 2005 4:30 PM ET

NEW YORK The White House Correspondents Association announced Monday that it would not seek changes to the White House press-credentialing process, despite complaints from several members that controversial former reporter James Guckert had been able to gain the same access as any other reporter for two years.

Ron Hutcheson, WHCA president and a Knight Ridder White House correspondent, said the decision occurred during Monday's meeting of the WHCA board. It was the first such meeting of the board since Guckert, who uses the name Jeff Gannon, drew attention with his partisan questions and questionable past.

"The board felt like none of us were happy about Gannon being in the briefing room, but we all view it as the price we pay for a system that favors inclusion over keeping someone out," Hutcheson told E&P. "While not perfect, [the current system] is geared toward letting people in."

Ok, this takes some balls in the middle of GannonGuckertGate. But MESSAGE TO MAINSTREAM MEDIA, Jeff Gannon being a hooker and working in the West Wing, while the White House STILL hasn't condemned him or even spoken out about him, is NOT an even more interesting story in light of the fact that the Bush administration is now publicly taking on hookers. No, no hypocrisy there, nothing to see, move right along.

Or is this the White House's response to Gannon to placate the religious right? I.e., take a swipe at foreign hookers?

From the Kaiser Foundation:

Bush Administration To Require U.S. AIDS Groups Take Pledge Opposing Commercial Sex Work To Gain Funding
[Feb 28, 2005]

The Bush administration is requiring that U.S. HIV/AIDS organizations seeking funding to provide services in other countries make a pledge opposing commercial sex work, and some Republican lawmakers and administration officials are pushing for a similar policy for needle-exchange programs, the Wall Street Journal reports. Under the new policy, even groups whose HIV/AIDS work in other countries has "nothing to do" with commercial sex workers will have to make a written pledge opposing commercial sex work or risk losing federal funding, according to the Journal. In addition, the Bush administration might refuse to fund HIV/AIDS groups that do not accept Bush's "social agenda" on issues such as sexual abstinence and drug use, according to the Journal. The new policy stems from two 2003 laws, one involving HIV/AIDS funding and another regarding sex trafficking (Phillips, Wall Street Journal, 2/28). One measure was included as an amendment, sponsored by Rep. Christopher Smith (R-N.J.), in the legislation (HR 1298) that authorized the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, the five-year, $15 billion program that directs funding for HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria to 15 focus countries. The measure prohibits funds from going to any group or organization that does not have a policy "explicitly opposing prostitution and sex trafficking" (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 4/3/03). The U.S. Department of Justice initially told the administration that the requirement should be applied to overseas groups only because of constitutional free speech concerns in applying it to U.S. organizations, according to the Journal. However, DOJ in 2004 "reversed itself" and said that the administration could apply the rule to U.S. groups, according to the Journal.

So, when do we all show up for a day pass? People need to set up web news sites and start attempting to get day passes to document that it isn't all that open and easy.

On presidential press conferences

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."

On how he got access to daily White House briefings

Gannon said he began attending White House press briefings in March 2003, very shortly after he joined Talon News, which is run by a Republican activist.

"I requested clearance each day via an e-mail to the White House Press office the night before. I gave them my professional name, my legal name, my social security number, my address and phone number, and the news service where I worked," he said. "I assumed that there was some kind of cursory check that they do, but did not know what. They never asked me for more information." He said he usually went to press briefings there "at least once a week," or more.

Currently, two types of press passes are issued. The "hard pass," which allows reporters regular ongoing access to the White House, and "day passes," which must be issued each morning and are good only for one day. Hard passes are more difficult to obtain, requiring the reporter to first obtain a Capitol Hill credential, issued by a committee of congressional reporters known as the Standing Committee of Correspondents.

Day passes appear to be available to any reporter who provides his or her name, address, and social security number and the name of his or her news organization, and can pass a basic security check.

Guckert had been denied a congressional press pass last year after the Standing Committee determined that Talon News was not a legitimate news organization. But he was still able to obtain daily White House press passes by applying each day.

I've been inside the White House. I've been inside the Oval Office. I know it isn't easy to get in. The only reason my family did get in was due to some calls and some string pulling from our representative at the time. Even so, we still went through extensive checks, and all of this was pre 9/11.

Who made the calls for Guckert? What was being pulled?

Keep in mind, we weren't spreading propoganda or using faking names.

Ok, so that answers the question regarding when he started and what credentials he used. Cyc has repeatedly said he got into the WH press briefings before Talon. We now know that to be false.

Gannon said he began attending White House press briefings in March 2003, very shortly after he joined Talon News, which is run by a Republican activist.

Guckert, 47, had obtained regular access to the White House briefings since February 2003, first as a representative of GOPUSA.com, a right-wing Web site with ties to the Texas Republican Party, then as a reporter for Talon News, a GOPUSA.com offshoot.