| Author | Message | ||
     Robert Livingston Citizen Username: Rob_livingston Post Number: 884 Registered: 7-2004 |
From Salon: "President Bush called on Guckert during a Jan. 26 press conference. 'It is a huge deal for Bush to pick on you at a press conferences,' says a member of the White House press corps. 'There are people in the press room who have covered Bush for four years and haven't had a chance to ask him a question.' Olbermann: "Guckert's presence in the White House briefing room before the creation of his pseudo-news organization changes the entire dynamic of the controversy. It fully expands it from mere concern over the nature of his questions and the legitimacy of his credentials, to the process by which he got there in the first place. Somebody admitted him, to the White House, as a reporter named Jeff Gannon— even though he wasn’t Jeff Gannon, he wasn’t a reporter, and he wasn't representing any media outlet." notehead: I say good for Gannon/Guckert. He's not really the problem. If it wasn't him, it'd be someone else invited by Bush to ask easy questions to further the administration's propaganda. It's looking more and more like a deliberate act on Bush's behalf. One can only hope an enterprising blogger with Woodward/Bernstein aspirations can connect Bush with Guckert, and that a new Deep Throat will come forward... | ||
| joeltfk Citizen Username: Joeltfk Post Number: 117 Registered: 8-2001  |
Now is the time to get Republican with this: we need creative "gates": ReporterGate PressGate MediaGate PropoganDATE Any more ideas? | ||
| themp Supporter Username: Themp Post Number: 1509 Registered: 12-2001 |
Machomangate? | ||
| wharfrat Citizen Username: Wharfrat Post Number: 1590 Registered: 6-2001 |
Gotta say that having recently learned what Guckert/Gannon does in his spare time (thanks-Maureen Dowd) now gives a new dimension to notehead's choice of words. | ||
| dave23 Citizen Username: Dave23 Post Number: 176 Registered: 5-2001 |
He certainly fits the profile for Bush's particular fetish. http://rigorousintuition.blogspot.com/2005/02/smoking-scalp.html | ||
| notehead Supporter Username: Notehead Post Number: 2084 Registered: 5-2001  |
TOO FUNNY!! We need a new, improved laughing icon for that one!!! | ||
| themp Supporter Username: Themp Post Number: 1513 Registered: 12-2001 |
That's too funny. Bush thinks that's really witty. | ||
| Innisowen Citizen Username: Innisowen Post Number: 437 Registered: 3-2004 |
Dave23 Too funny, but then again you know how touchy-feely these macho Kennebunkport Texans really are... | ||
| Michael Janay Citizen Username: Childprotect Post Number: 1583 Registered: 1-2003  |
Am I the only one that doesn't care about this non-story? Gee wiz, a non-reporter got day passes. They give day passes to HIGHSCHOOL "reporters". Most of us could get day passes because we publish daily to Maplewood Online. (sure it would take a little work, but it could be done) He was friendly to the administration... ooooh, how horrible, they never let friendly reporters in to the breifings, do they? This must be the first administration to do so, right? They let a whack-job Texas partisan (gives fundraising speeches to Democrats) into the White House... his name is Dan Rather. If Dan gets in, why not him? I understand the lefts need for this to be a real story, conservative bloggers took down Dan Rather, Eason Jordan, Howell Raines, and even Bill Moyers. You can have Jeff Gannon/Guckert... whoever. | ||
| Robert Livingston Citizen Username: Rob_livingston Post Number: 886 Registered: 7-2004 |
Janay: An awful lot of words for a non-story you don't care about. | ||
| Guy Supporter Username: Vandalay Post Number: 557 Registered: 8-2004 |
Mike, it's a non story. Let the libs enjoy their echo chamber. | ||
| joeltfk Citizen Username: Joeltfk Post Number: 118 Registered: 8-2001 |
Anyone remember a certain swiftboat veterans against Kerry story? That's a nonstory. The Guckert thing is about lying and misrepresentation and abuse of power. | ||
| Robert Livingston Citizen Username: Rob_livingston Post Number: 887 Registered: 7-2004 |
 | ||
| Innisowen Citizen Username: Innisowen Post Number: 439 Registered: 3-2004 |
Remember, the neocons and the political illiterati that hang on their every word, believe that the best American institutions are the ones that you can twist and bend to your own ends. So, they ask themselves, why should anyone get hot and bothered about some phony journalist in the WH press room? | ||
| Guy Supporter Username: Vandalay Post Number: 558 Registered: 8-2004 |
Here are the facts as of right now concerning this non- story. http://wizbangblog.com/archives/005127.php So where's the Jeff Gannon/James Guckert story at these days? [Note: The pseudonym Gannon will be used for the rest of the article] Even as the blogs investigating this story have continued to play the gay sex/escort/prostitution angle for all it's worth, focusing on the the ancillary allegations shows how marginal the story actually is. Allegation - Jeff Gannon received a special permanent White House press "hard pass." Fact - The bloggers who made that allegation have now retracted it. It appears that Gannon received day passes under his real name just as he has previously indicated. Allegation - The White House should not have credentialed Gannon because he was a conservative shill not a real reporter. Fact - Ari Fleischer, in an interview with Editor &Publisher, notes, "It is a slippery slope for any press secretary in any administration to pick and choose who gets a credential based on ideology, so long as they are a legitimate reporter." A debate on the merits of Gannon's journalistic credentials is beyond the scope of this post, but he certainly wrote and published stories at an online news organization, regardless of ones opinion of the relative quality of Talon News. Allegation - The White House should have know about Gannon's sexual history and barred him from the White House. Fact - Ari Fleischer, in an interview with Editor &Publisher, notes, "The last thing our nation needs is for anyone in the White House to concern themselves with the private lives of reporters. What right does the White House have to decide who gets to be a reporter based on private lives?" Allegation - Gannon had full access to the White House and was running around unchecked in the White House for years. Fact - To make it scarier the blogs perpetrating this angle of the story need to mention the sexual angle, but on its face it's a ridiculous claim. Regardless of how you try to spin it a day pass to the White House press briefings is not an all access pass. I don't know it for sure, but they probably hustle you right out of there when the events of the day are over. Allegation - Gannon got a press pass while others were rejected. Fact - Gannon was denied the only passes that matter in this story - the Capital Hill pass issued by the Standing Committee of Correspondents and the White House hard pass, which allows ongoing access to the White House press briefings. The White House hard pass requires a pass first be issued by the Standing Committee of Correspondents. Gannon was left to apply for the only other type of pass available, the daily pass. The daily pass, like its name implies, is good for one day only and by all indications does not have the same restrictions as to who may receive a pass as the the others do. While goofy Maureen Dowd complains that her pass was rejected, she most certainly was writing about a hard pass or a Standing Committee pass, which Gannon too was denied. If Dowd really wanted to cover the White House she could have stood in line for day passes too... Allegation - Gannon attended a press briefing before Talon News was founded. Fact - This appears to be true. Gannon appears to have attended a press briefing under the auspices of GOPUSA. From Ari Fleisher's interview it's not hard to imagine that Talon News was created to insulate the press coverage that GOPUSA decided it wanted to do from it's organization. This likely occurred in response to questions from Fleisher about whether GOPUSA was a party organization. Allegation - Gannon received the Valeria Plame memo and was subpoenaed by the special prosecutor in the Plame case. Fact - Highly unlikely. Tom McGuire and The Washington Post's Dan Froomkin debunk that myth pretty convincingly. Allegation - Gannon asked softball questions. Fact - True. This is the essence of the Gannongate story. Gannon was "outed" (not sexually) by mainstream media types with the help of David Brock's Media Matters For America. The reporters got their wish when Gannon quit. The bloggers continuing to pursue the story only "succeed" is they can claim a scalp besides Gannon's, which is why they continue to search for new angles to implicated ANYONE else... | ||
| Strawberry Alarm Clock Supporter Username: Strawberry Post Number: 4552 Registered: 10-2001 |
right, Look the thing is this. Liberals no longer matter, they no longer have a voice that counts and they no longer dictate policy in this nation. So, what do you have? Well for starters you have Dean running the DNC while the rest of the libs go crazy over this Gunkert crap. Just another reason why liberal thought will in a few years be nothing but a small footnote in history.. Remember folks, if this story is important to you it's because you're just not very bright. | ||
| Bobkat Supporter Username: Bobk Post Number: 7655 Registered: 5-2001 |
Straw is correct. If the Dems controlled Congress there would be a Special Prosecutor to investigate the Gunkert mess. They don't, they don't matter and the Administration can use plants at Presidential press conferences. | ||
| joeltfk Citizen Username: Joeltfk Post Number: 119 Registered: 8-2001 |
"Look the thing is this. Liberals no longer matter, they no longer have a voice that counts and they no longer dictate policy in this nation. So, what do you have?" Oooh, I'll answer -- you have lunatics, selfish b*st*rds and idiots running the country. And here's a tip, Straw: take two guesses on whom a line like "because you're just not very bright" reflects most poorly. Your approach, and that of Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, Bill O'Reilly, etc., speaks louder than any of the words you choose to convey your flawed and sad point of view. Keep whining about Dean (who made out a lot better than Richard Perle media-wise recently, btw). It just tells us we've done something right. | ||
| Strawberry Alarm Clock Supporter Username: Strawberry Post Number: 4553 Registered: 10-2001 |
 | ||
| Innisowen Citizen Username: Innisowen Post Number: 440 Registered: 3-2004 |
I think that Strawberry's attitudes are good evidence of how deeply this country has become mired in neo-con mendacity, bombast, and shrill reactionism. My family came to this country to get away from that. When we arrived here, this was a place where you could "agree to disagree," have the right to your own opinion, on the left, the right, or in the middle. You didn't feel that your right to voice your opinion and concerns would be marginalized and belittled by a class of people whose knowledge of democracy and history were spotty and inconsistent, and whose interpretation of their own Bill of Rights was subject not only to political whims but to the loud-mouthed opinions voiced by their favorite radio talk show hosts. Imagine: a whole class of people who form their political opinions and beliefs based on the lies, innuendos, and trumped-up news topics they hear on talk radio---what a farce. |
