Thursday, February 10, 2005
Lefty takedown
A conservative reporter who asked President Bush a loaded question at a news conference last month resigned Wednesday after liberal bloggers uncovered his real name and raised questions about his background.
Jeff Gannon, who had been writing for the Web sites Talon News and GOPUSA, is actually James Dale Guckert, 47, and has been linked to online domain addresses with sexually provocative names. He has been under scrutiny since he asked Bush how he could work with Senate Democratic leaders "who seem to have divorced themselves from reality." The information about Gannon was posted on liberal sites including Daily Kos and Atrios.
Triumphalism here.
Blogging is a solvent that makes the world more transparent. And nobody owns its power.
7 Comments:
By 
Pile On®, at
Thu Feb 10, 01:17:00 PM:
Well I can certainly see why someone in the White House press corp asking a question like that would certainly cause enough suspicion to warrant further investigation.
By TigerHawk, at
Thu Feb 10, 01:26:00 PM:
Indeed. The swarm over Gannon on the left is a lot like the largely unpublicized rage about Eason Jordan on the right. They got their scalp -- it will be interesting to see whether Jordan, a much more influential guy, also goes down.
By Gordon Smith, at
Thu Feb 10, 01:37:00 PM:
Gannon - Conservative GOPUSA shill, worked on Thune campaign, gay prostitution websites (!), vetted by Press office and repeatedly given question time with Scottie and GWB.
Eason - said something provocative at a conference. Once.
Spotting the difference here? One is government propaganda and one is a sole voice. Hm. Which might be worse? Gannon/Guckert is yet another example of the Bush administration merging its message with the MSM - Williams, Gallagher, etc. The Bushies are pushing their agenda as face-value fact.
It's nice to see the blogosphere vetting the press when the press can't do that for itself.
By Sluggo, at
Thu Feb 10, 01:46:00 PM:
Hoolie -- Sole voice? Pass it over here 'cause whatever you're smoking is righteous. CNN may be cratering, this is still a rather influential guy.
You've got Helen Thomas, apparently we've got Mr. StudlyGI. Not sure who wins here.
By TigerHawk, at
Thu Feb 10, 02:55:00 PM:
Actually, Screwy, Eason Jordan has said any number of thing that reveal his dislike of the American military on any number of occasions, and he is in a position of enormous influence. Gannon/Guckert is a nobody. True, he's personally the bigger weasel, but the impact of his weaselnitude is far less than Jordan's.
By Gordon Smith, at
Thu Feb 10, 03:27:00 PM:
Yeah, let me backpedal a bit before making the larger point. He actually repeated his assertions several times and none have been confirmed. Eason is an influential guy in that he's on TV, but he's flying solo and will be fired when CNN can't take the faux heat anymore.
Gannon/Guckert is a government sponsored plant. He is/was spreading the government line. This is indicative of the Bushies' willingness to blur the line between fact and opinion.
Apples and Oranges. CNN may cower to the wingers assault and fire the guy...that's just one less independent voice in the news. But will McClellan/Rove/Bush ever denounce Gannon/Guckert? I'm doubting it. They like that sort of thing far too much. How many Williams, Gallaghers does the right wing blogosphere need before they acknowledge that we've got a pattern here?
Chris Bowers over at MyDD helps by delineating the pattern. Here's a wee excerpt:
"The same administration that distributed fake news releases to promote its Medicare legislation, which were cited by the GAO as illegal propaganda;
The same administration that distributed fake news reports to promote its drug policy, which were cited by the GAO as illegal propaganda;
The same administration that paid a public relations firm to promote its education law with fake news reports, and to rank newspapers on their coverage of said education law;
The same administration that paid Armstrong Williams to promote its education law (a payment he never disclosed);
The same administration that paid a National Review columnist to promote its marriage legislation (a payment she never disclosed);
The same administration that paid another columnist to promote that same marriage legislation (again, a payment he never disclosed);
The same administration that is forcing the Social Security administration to promote its own destruction;"
Thanks for the forum, Tigerhawk. All kudos and respect.
By TigerHawk, at
Sat Feb 12, 05:00:00 PM:
"Eason is an influential guy in that he's on TV, but he's flying solo and will be fired when CNN can't take the faux heat anymore."
Screwy. You nailed it. Like, by a matter of a couple of hours. You're dragging on the ground, big guy!
