The anti-war, anti-Bush, left-wing blogosphere is all atwitter over some guy named Jeff Gannon (or maybe not) who used to cover the White House for the Talon News web site. The objection goes something like this (from Daily Kos):
Gannon/Guckert’s problem wasn’t that he was a conservative, it’s that he used an alias to obtain a press pass for a fake news organization that served as a surrogate for a Republican political operation.
Wow, that sounds pretty horrible, doesn’t it? I’d have to say that any partisan hack who misrepresents himself in order to get a press pass has no credibility and no honor. Who would do such a thing? Daily Kos’s founder, Markos Zuniga for one.
Down with all who do this, of course. And for some reason, the lefties think it’s really important that this guy is gay. Why, I can’t fathom, but they make a point of it most every time he’s mentioned. OK, he’s gay, he’s conservative, and he acts like Kos. So what?
UPDATE: Here’s some more of Kos’ hypocritical droolings about his right-wing mirror image:
So, um, our guy was a treasonous fake reporter who helped expose an undercover CIA agent while getting White House press credentials with a fake name to lob softballs at Bush and McClellan, registered website names dealing with gay prostitution while writing stories advancing the Right’s anti-gay agenda, and when he cowardly quit, purged all his stories from the sites in which they lived.
So the charges are:
1. Exposed undercover agent (false, Plame wasn’t undercover and we don’t know who exposed her).
2. Got press credentials to play partisan politics (true, same as Kos).
3. Gay (true, so what?)
4. Quit when exposed (true, so what?)
So I make that 2 “so what’s”, one “same as Kos”, and one “false charge”. And why was this supposed to be a story again?
No, it’s the classified material leaks.
No confirmation on that allegation yet, big guy, and that’s why Kos is saying what I quoted.
No, Kos is saying what you quoted because he already said what I said here.
That’s a false charge; see update.
C’mon Richard, you’re usually more honest than this. Kos didn’t misrepresent who or what he was. The whole point of the Gannon/Guckert story isn’t that he misrepresented himself to the White House Press office…it’s that, given the security screening required for admission to Presidential press conferences, there is at least the appearance that the White House Press office knew who this guy was and got him in. Coupled with the fact that Scott McClellan then apparently used him as a lifeline, there is certainly the appearance of a story here.
I got a day pass to the press section of US Senate to the Watergate hearings without any screening, and I don’t imagine the White House is all that different when it comes to day passes. If he had a permanent pass that would be a different story.
But if the charge is he was a friendly journalist, my-oh-my what a scandal that is!
There’s probably a bit of a difference between access to the press section of a Senate hearing 30 years ago and a press conference with the President today.
But what the heck, you’re right. So what if the guy was a plant. McClellan never gives straight answers anyway, so what difference does it make.
Exactly, at least he was animate, which is more than you can say for Helen Thomas.
Hey, I like Helen Thomas!
There’s no accounting for taste.
So if it turned out Helen Thomas had been using a nom-de-plume (I say Mark Twain should be investigated!) and attended church (“hypocrisy” by Kos standards as she has spoken to atheist/agnostic groups), she should be drummed out too right?
Not as long as she remains a libbie.
1. Kos got a press pass to the GOP convention, not a pass to the white house press corps for 2 years, where he was asking questions of the Press Secretary and President. Not equivalent at all.
2. Even women who write under their maiden name are issued press passes under their married legal name. What name were Guckerts passes issued under?
3. Guckert wrote anti-gay pieces, so if he is a gay prostitute, that speaks to his hypocrisy. It also speaks to the poor vetting process in a time of war. For a single day pass, maybe, but for 2 years worth? Come on.
4. Guckert himself bragged about having seen the classified document identifying Plame as a NOC. That means she was a No Official Cover, or covert, agent. How is that different than being undercover? She wasn’t in the field at the time, but that doesn’t change the fact that she was a NOC. It prevented her from being able to continue to do her job, which was tracking WMD, and also got at least one of her informants killed.
If any of this sounds unfamiliar to you, you should do a little research.
One of the jobs of the press is to keep the government honest. That is why the rest of the real reporters ask tough questions, not because of some phony liberal bias.
Oddly, mrboma, you assume Gannon is completely credible when the assumption makes him guilty of a crime, but not credible otherwise.
That’s some double standard.
It’a the access, stupid. The question looms largely as to how a patently unqualified man can gain access to the WH press room every day for three years, while totally qualified reporters from The New York Times took years to gain access. If you don’t see the obvious irony in that, then I suggest you remove your rosy Bush colored glasses.
The gay thing in this ,is how a virulently homophobic WH supports the access and legitimacy of a gay prostitute imprematuer.With all undue respect,Ilene Proctor
The New York Times had people in the WH press room the whole time, Ilene. Trust me.
And Bush is hardly anti-gay, virulently or bacteriologically: some of his favorite reporters are gay prostitutes, and you can’t get any gayer than that.