wizbangblog.com/archives/005127.php
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 a ncillary allegations shows how marginal the story actually is. Allegation - Jeff Gannon received a special permanent White House press " hard pass."
I t 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.
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 the y are a legitimate reporter." A debate on the merits of Gannon's journal istic credentials is beyond the scope of this post, but he certainly wro te and published stories at an online news organization, regardless of o nes opinion of the relative quality of Talon News. Allegation - The White House should have know about Gannon's sexual histo ry and barred him from the White House.
Editor &Publisher, notes, "The last thing our nation needs is for anyone in the White House to con cern 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 l ives?" Allegation - Gannon had full access to the White House and was running ar ound 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 clai m Regardless of how you try to spin it a day pass to the White House pr ess briefings is not an all access pass. I don't know it for sure, but t hey probably hustle you right out of there when the events of the day ar e 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 Hou se press briefings. The White House hard pass requires a pass first be i ssued by the Standing Committee of Correspondents. Gannon was left to ap ply 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 indica tions does not have the same restrictions as to who may receive a pass a s the the others do.
complains that her pas s was rejected, she most certainly was writing about a hard pass or a St anding Committee pass, which Gannon too was denied. If Dowd really wante d to cover the White House she could have stood in line for day passes t oo... Allegation - Gannon attended a press briefing before Talon News was found ed. Gannon appears to have attended a press b riefing under the auspices of GOPUSA.
Ari Fleisher's interview it's not hard to imagine that Talon News was created to insulate the pre ss coverage that GOPUSA decided it wanted to do from it's organization. This likely occurred in response to questions from Fleisher about whethe r GOPUSA was a party organization. Allegation - Gannon received the Valeria Plame memo and was subpoenaed by the special prosecutor in the Plame case.
Gannon was "out ed" (not sexually) by mainstream media types with the help of David Broc k's Media Matters For America. The bloggers continuing to pursue the story only "succeed" is they can claim a scalp besides Gannon's, which is why they continue to searc h for new angles to implicated ANYONE else...
The left, not t o be left behind, is desperately trying to catch up and show their relev ance in the new medium. Unfortunately (for them) they are only marginili zing themselves more and more.
February 18, 2005 02:06 PM " While goofy Maureen Dowd complains that her pass was rejected, she most certainly was writing about a hard pass or a Standing Committee pass, w hich Gannon too was denied." "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 "Ba rberini Faun" is credentialed to cover a White House that won a second t erm by mining homophobia and preaching family values? 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 t hat would last several months."
February 18, 2005 02:08 PM "A debate on the merits of Gannon's journalistic credentials is beyond th e scope of this post, but he certainly wrote and published stories at an online news organization, regardless of ones opinion of the relative qu ality of Talon News." Guckert couldn't get a House/Senate pass because he did not work for a no n-partisan news organization. Ari Fleischer says (in E&P) that he stoppe d calling on Guckert for a week because he didn't think he was legitimat e Ari then says, with a straight face, that he spoke to Bobby Eberle, t he founder of GOPUSA, and was convinced that GOPUSA was not partisan. Bo bby Eberle is a major Republican operative from Texas and GOPUSA is esse ntially a party organ.
February 18, 2005 02:14 PM QUOTE "A debate on the merits of Gannon's journalistic credentials is bey ond the scope of this post". The whole point of the fuss is that this is a man with no journalistic cr edentials. He had no training, did not work for anything remotely resemb ling a proper news organization and cut and pasted Republican talking po ints whenever he did get anything pubished. If White House security personnel can't spot someone who not only has an assumed name, who does not work for a news organization and, on t op of all of that, is a male prostitute then we should all be very worri ed.
February 18, 2005 02:14 PM "Allegation - Gannon received the Valeria Plame memo and was subpoenaed b y the special prosecutor in the Plame case." I'm not sure who claimed that he was subpoeneed but Guckert admits in E&P to being questioned by the FBI for 90 minutes.
February 18, 2005 02:19 PM so all the moonbats worrying about Gannon running around the whitehouse u nchecked as some big scandal adn security leak are playing into the ster eotype of the homosexual traitor and betrayer!
html WASHINGTON With the mystery of "Jeff Gannon" deepening, Rep. Louise Slau ghter, D-NY, on Thursday renewed her call for the White House to expla in its relationship with a conservative ex-reporter linked to an online gay escort service. Note: Steve if you publish copyright materials (in whole) in my comment section again you will be banned permanently.
February 18, 2005 02:28 PM "Do not dismiss this as insane leftwing hysteria. If White House security personnel can't spot someone who not only has an assumed name" Oh jeez, he received security clearance based on his REAL name. Funny thing is that us guys on the right have already ACCEPTED the fact t hat Gannon probably got his day pass because he was a Bush supporter. But until leftwing partisans are AL SO removed from the press room we just don't give a fuck. I pray that the God Of Leftwing Asshats deliver you guys from this idioti c non-story so you can have your lives back.
February 18, 2005 02:36 PM "The whole point of the fuss is that this is a man with no journalistic c redentials." As opposed to,say, high school dropout Peter Jennings... " He had no training, did not work for anything remotely resembling a pro per news organization" How much training do you need to get up and ask the President what his bi ggest mistake was, like a journie did in April 04? Talon News has had fe wer scandals than CBS and New York Times lately. "and cut and pasted Republican talking points whenever he did get anythin g pubished." Which is a damn shame -- only DNC talking point allowed! Not to mention H elen Thomas, who gibbers out speeches with question marks at the end. They let a whack-job Texas partisan (gives fundraising speeches to Democrats) into the White House...
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