A quiet day in Bradville. Not really. But we’re sure it appears that way to readers. Working on quite a bit behind the scenes as you may expect.
In the meantime, we’ll take the lazy bloggers way out for the moment, and point you to a story you may already know something about. Or may not.
John Aravosis of AmericaBLOG deserves the credit for cracking open the J.D. Guckert (a/k/a Jeff Gannon/Talon “News”) scandal and has been following all of its developments hard since then.
But if you’re just coming aboard this one, we’ll point you to Ennis again over at Toolz for the New School who’s put together a good primer on the fascinating matter including a stunning video round-up of Jeff Gannon’s greatest fake hits.
If you’re not by now interested in this story, we’ll offer the most general of background to say that “Gannon” has been exposed as a fake journalist, “still sexy” AOL gay swinger, and apparent gay military escort business facilitator…and oh yes, a favored White House briefing room “reporter” who received a daily permission slip to join gaggle even with his fake credentials!
One would think he would have been exposed as a fraud by the 40 or 50 White House “reporters” who sat next to him everyday in the briefing room while he was routinely chosen to ask questions (unlike, say 57-year White House veteran reporter Helen Thomas who has been demoted by the Bush White House to the back of the bus) but no, it took one of those crazy “Bloggers” to expose the White House’s latest fraud on the American people.
Be sure to check Ennis’ video to see why Scottie Mclellan and Bush himself may have preferred Gannon’s fake questions over Thomas’ real ones.
Is there anything this bunch of liars won’t do?
It’s gonna be a fun few years, folks. Except for that whole destroying democracy and shredding the constitution business. But everything has a price we guess.
I wouldn’t be too hard on Helen Thomas. I mean, I think she retired early in his first term and she had some really hard words for the Bushites.
Thinks though Brad for the great work. I see your site everyday and I tell everyone about it.
As a gay person, I know guys like these. They’re the ones that go to the gay bars at 1:45 in the morning when their wives are on vacation. You know them by the baby car seats in the back and the "baby on board" signs. Pretty sick. LOL
Those folks at Americablog are having a lot of fun with this Gannon thing. Info is flying out fast and furiously!!
DU’er "grasswire" posted the Gannon & Talon story on February 18, 2004.
WebDems
Wednesday, February 18, 2004
Netizens, start your engines.
"Let’s take a look at the bogeyman of credentialing practiced by this Bush White House. Let’s go back to the fourth-row seat designated for the news service mentioned above — Talon News Service."
"The nine volunteer "reporters" of Talon News Service are available for your inspection at Talon. The roster includes (as mentioned above) a high-school student who cites as favorite reading the fundamentalist Oswald Chambers’ My Utmost for His Highest; a "reporter" who dutifully lists his work history as "cleaning my family’s bar" and sometime camp director; a personal trainer; an aerospace engineer; and a couple of self-proclaimed freelancers."
"The Talon reporter assigned to cover the White House is Jeff Gannon, whose product from this plum position is a one-minute daily webcast on Talon’s site and a weekly broadcast over the radiofreerepublic.com network."
Here’s the current DU link on that bit of nitzen history:
BE THE BU$H OPPOSITION; 24/7
Well, there ya go. That one took a year from start to finish. But when it finished, it finished quick, didn’t it?
Those Whitehouse reporters are still not doing their jobs. At the press gaggle (Feb. 10)(is that today?) they asked everything but why Gannon, if he was cleared as Guckert used a fake name during briefings. Sheesh! Idiots! They have ALL lost any credibility they had with me. You’d think they’d be furious that he was able to get away with it, while they all had to jump the hoops.
Jeff Gannon
It certainly did, Brad.
Rather inspirational post at WebDems: "Jeff Gannon — brought low by the Marge Piercy principle as it was applied by netizens, February 8, 2005."
The reference is to Marge Piercy’s "The Low Road"
Last stanza:
"It goes on one at a time,
it starts when you care
to act, it starts when you do
it again and they said no,
it starts when you say We
and know you who you mean, and each
day you mean one more."
http://www.webdems.blogspot.com/
Peace.
TBO:24/7
Isn’t that funny (weird, not ha! ha!) I wrote #5 and then read this in the mainstream media.
Absolutely nothing can surprise me any more concerning these TOTAL FRAUDS in government.
Brad, FYI, just to spread some credit around where credit is due, much of the recent research and activity was largely done at the Daily Kos blog, spearheaded/organized there by Susan G and hordes of proud, determined, tin-foil hatted bloggers. That blog has a very excellent structure that lends itself to this new thing called collaborative journalism. Also Atrios (who runs the Eschaton blog) had some key inside info too.
Brad, if you get involved with this investigation, I’d just like to say we still don’t have a clear picture of the money trail involved. But there’s so many angles to this story…I just can’t get enough Gannon.
I say: ‘goddammit! I love the blogosphere and these researchers!!’
To hell with being nice and civil, you are all part of a great call to arms in the truest defense of the American Ideals. MSM has done nothing but act as an enabler for Bush’s vile regime and their betrayal of everyday Americans. Fuck them and their asinine Scott Peterson/Michael Jackson/Brad and Jennifer/Ben and Jen Updates.
ABC "news" on GMA this morning? Not one mention of the Fake Reporter from the Fake Talon News or the HUGE ramifications of this most recent White House sponsored fraud – hell, they even dredged up an Elizabeth Smart (Utah teen kidnapping) update to fill airtime rather than do any REAL reporting. Jesus, what a bunch of gutless sellouts. Charlie, Diane? YOU BLOW.
But the sad truth is, unless it’s on TV, with the same passionate devotion to truth and GENUINE reporting, it didn’t really happen. I’m new to the Blogging Thang – so far, I see a lot of resources/links for confirming/debunking the MSM, but not many (any?) to facilitate some serious, organized bitching to demand better of them.
And what about getting a roster of the rest of the ‘Press Corps’ in the White House Briefings? How many other "Gannons" have been Bush’s Backdoor Man?
I watched the video over at Toolz and was kinda amazed that while this fraud was lofting these softballs to McClellan, in such a blatantly onesided way, that none of the real, (used to be) press even flinched. Maybe they did , but I didn’t see it. Listening to Gannon/ Guckert was like watching Fox News. I feel so dirty.
Just went to Cheryl’s MSM link in # 7 and had to laugh when Donald Trumps face flashed to the right of the story about Gannon saying ,"You’re fired", as it is probably safe to assume he was. This is just too much fun!
The Brad Blog rocks!
A point in this story that I haven’t seen many people pick up on: Scott McClellan OBVIOUSLY LIED TODAY.
McClellan said about Gannon today, 2/10:
"He, like anyone else, showed that he was representing a news organization that published regularly, and so he was cleared two years ago to receive daily passes, just like many others are."
LIE!
March 29th, 2003: Talon News site created.
April 3rd, 2003: Gannon appears in his 1st WH press room. The "news" organization only existed for 5 days! WTF!
At Talon News, their reporters sure got around fast. The same reporter could write 2 articles in the same day, one from Bagdad, and one from the US. I.e. "Talon News, Bagdad" and then "Talon News, Washington" by the same reporter! They’ve probably taken down the whole site, but certainly people at Daily Kos have saved copies of everything on those sites.
Wow, guys. I’ve missed a whole day, what with a majah wintah stawm up heah, power outages, server malfeasance, and general chaos ( including a new $7000 generator that refused to function and then refused to let us get back on the grid when the power came back on.)
At all events, I did see Keith Olbermann last night with at leasta goodly part of this story; and even Wolfie Babie mentioned the name of J. Gannon ( no aliases) on CNN. We’ve got a long way to go.
(I’m just glad to be back in touch. Talk about panick attacks! Couldn’t even get e-mail.)
I’ve lost my typing abilities in this long abstinence, I see. I won’t "panic" again, I promise. 😉
Wondered where you were today.
McClellan said about Gannon today, 2/10:
…Bejammin075 said on 2/10/2005 @ 8:20pm PT…
"He, like anyone else, showed that he was representing a news organization that published regularly, and so he was cleared two years ago to receive daily passes, just like many others are."
LIE!
March 29th, 2003: Talon News site created.
April 3rd, 2003: Gannon appears in his 1st WH press room. The "news" organization only existed for 5 days! WTF!
No wonder terrorists managed to strike us like they did. The security procedures suck. They still suck. Why aren’t these morons being indicted?
OT but not really: Another bit of pro-military media fabrication has come crashing down recently, and I haven’t read anything about it here. So if you haven’t yet heard the story of Jonathan Kenney, I invite you to read The Hero Who Wasn’t, the newest item at please don’t read my blog.
Peg C!!!!
Bundle up, girl!!!!!
LGM writes: "March 29th, 2003: Talon News site created.
April 3rd, 2003: Gannon appears in his 1st WH press room. The ‘news’ organization only existed for 5 days! WTF!
"No wonder terrorists managed to strike us like they did. The security procedures suck. They still suck. Why aren’t these morons being indicted?"
Of course "Jeff Gannon" was planted there by the Bushist regime. What we have going on here is a lawless overthrow of the government of the United States, from within. And, yes, no wonder terrorists managed to strike us like they did, because that, too, was a part of the overthrow. What the Bushist regime is hiding is that they purposely made it easy to attack the United States, so they could carry out the PNAC "Pax Americana" plan. And you have read and heard of cutbacks in national security, because the Bushists need another attack, so they can push through an Enabling Act.
They want the attack, even if an Enabling Act isn’t what they have planned. The Bushists will accept any number of attacks on the U.S., if it helps them with their wicked plans. Your life and mine are nothing to them, less valuable to them than a speck of lint.
Bejammin075 –
Thanks for updated info (about Kos and Atrios). Just getting back into town, over an illness and finding myself deep deep again in the not-so-sunshiney state of Florida (virtually, if not literally), I came to the story late and picked up on the AmericaBLOG flurry.
Sadly, Kos and Atrios, and even to a small extent AmericaBLOG lost some favor with me after bailing on the election. So I don’t visit any of them as much as I once did.
I’ll get over it and give them all a fair chance again. Someday 😉
In any regard, thanks for setting the record straight and giving credit where it’s due.
LGM – It weren’t no sucky security procedure. It was completely by design if ask me. Based on what I’ve read of the evidence anyway. Mr. Gannon was no accident.
This Jeff Gannon guy had a "give me job" …. a reward for doing something else for someone high up in the White House and/or on staff.
He was a "boy toy".
Who owned him???????
The best part of this story hasn’t surfaced………..???????????????
G #23 – ooooh, deja vous, was wondering the same thing myself.
Could there be a cum-stained blue dress shirt waiting in the wings?
Winter Patriot # 19 – That’s the first I’ve heard of that. It’s like these stories are hitting right and left now, I’ve never seen anything like it.
What the hell has happened to journalists in this country? Collaborative journalism on the internet has all but completely replaced in depth investigative reporting by "regular" news journalists. I’ve started watching national news now not to be kept informed but to see if they’ve caught up with what I’ve read on the ‘net.
With all that’s happening recently, I think the winter of 2004-2005 will go down in history as "the season of the bloggers".
I think this is really it, folks! The beginning of the end! The incredible synergy of the blogs is going to wind this all up shortly, I believe. We can shine light into the darkest corners, and at last outright lying is not a tenable strategy. They must have us in their sights now, and I fear foul play is in the offing for the Internet, or at least the blogs. We should try to find a way, maybe set up a central information center with a solid mailing address to which we can turn in order to reestablish contact among ourselves should something untoward occur. Pay attention and work hard, but be sure to enjoy the ride – it looks like it will be more fun than Watergate (rember that euphoric feeling?)!
I think Teresa and Kes are right. We should set up a central name and address bank if (or when) the Bushites decide to cut the communication cord.
Isn’t this just the best week for us?
Sorry, I meant Supersoling not Teresa.
G #23. I think Rove is gay in the closet. There have been a lotta closet gays attacking the gay and lesbian realm at the behest of the white house.
I am not gay but I detest the hypocrital posturing the white house is doing just to stay in bed with the religious right. Gays should not be persecuted.
Gannon ran a gay ho thingy for the military arena. Rove et. al. may be closet gay and that may be how this happened.
Boyo, Dredd! What a fittingly sordid denouement! Hoist of their own petard, or something like that. We’re talking real down-home family values here!
HeeHee! Jeff Gannon as Rove’s Fannie Fox – I can’t stop chuckling…
Media Matters on Court TV, Brock taking some credit for the story. Good interview video, mediamatters.org
czaragorn writes:
"They must have us in their sights now, and I fear foul play is in the offing for the Internet, or at least the blogs. We should try to find a way, maybe set up a central information center with a solid mailing address to which we can turn in order to reestablish contact among ourselves should something untoward occur."
IMO a good first step is for people to use GnuPG, which, if used correctly, can verify the source of an e-mail and encrypt the message. There is only a small probability that even the NSA can decipher this stuff routinely. For a typical home user it would probably be a lot easier just to send some goons to your house.
Don’t use PGP instead of GnuPG; PGP might have backdoors in it.
Dredd writes:
" I think Rove is gay in the closet."
Of course he is. I’d be surprised to discover that he wasn’t.
An interesting question, posed recently by Mike Malloy on Air America Radio, is what sexual orientation Senator "Man on Dog" Santorum is hiding. It’s not necessarily bestiality; that would be too easy. So what is it?
Man and his sexuality. Will we ever evolve?
I think Rove might be a pedophile, Cheney is a sex addict, and I don’t think Bush knows what sex is.
Brad,
I hear you on the lack of front-and-center election anomoly coverage at Atrios and DailyKos. At least at DailyKos there was finally some major front page activity by around 1/5/05, in time to rally the blogosphere to call Congress. What is great about DailyKos though is the structure – Kos doesn’t control everything. There is the section on the side for "Recommended Diaries" where good grassroots political news and analysis rises to the top. In that section, there was major work and countless diaries done on the election irregularities, which culminated in this final and most excellent report:
The informed citizen’s guide to the 2004 election (including a link to the 57-page PDF):
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2.../5/84732/37166
Teresa #33 .
czaragorn #29 and #30.
That is quite plausible …
developing …
Dredd #23
I agree.
Karl is the 1st choice. However, this is much bigger … I think the boy toy was a specialist … S&M or some strange stuff like that … and possibly working over more bodies then Karl’s. Maybe a misses…or two was included in the "boy toy bunch"?????
This group in the White House is something else. Boy, do I dislike :angry: phoney warmongering pious hypocrites.
Say, does anyone know if the Daily KOS Blog followed up on the "Boy Toy" angle in their story?
re #37:
G: I agree with you about "phoney warmongering pious hypocrites".
Authentic warmongering pious hypocrites are bad enough.
😀
Sorry about that… the "smiling" doesn’t work.
Say Winter P- … take it easy on me …I’m not a rocket scientist … just a poor humble salesman …… who just happens to dislike both "authentic and fake" warmongering pious hypocrites.
As GW Bush said …"I am what I am" … or was that Popeye?
Check out>> http://www.globalresearch.ca Read the article — The Real Reason Why Iran is the Next Target: The Emerging Euro-dominated Oil Marker
Your thoughts please…..
G#41.
The western empire is a drug addict. The drug is oil. And it is in decline.
Certain people in power know this. They are positioning their armies to take over the areas where it exists.
Russia is the second largest exporter, after Saudi Arabia. Iraq has the 2nd largest proven reserves. Saudi oil, truth be known, is in decline.
Like addicts who see their supplier not having as much as they had yesterday, they have taken out the weight, the heat, and have marked territories.
In the name of demockracy.
The public only cares about their comfort zone. So long as they are kept comfortable they will allow the facists to take over and do nasty stuff. Like Hitler and his brown shirts.
We happen to be of the realm (like soldiers who fight in the fantasy world thinking they are bringing democracy, or providing it to us) that do not consider the comfort zone to be the supreme concept.
But unlike soldiers, we are awake to the game. We know the bu$hit for what it is. Fortunately we are "marginalized wackos" so they allow us to exist.
But the noose is tightening, the truth is leaking out like water that thirsts for its freedom, following gravity to where it may lead.
And when it hits the hot surface and the steam boils up in the face and takes away the comfort …
I digress …
yea … in the sixties when me and my friends went to prison fighting the oil companies and the military industrial complex, we said the same thing.
Problem is, then there was enough political will to raise hell and change the political landscape …
but we spent all that political will on some trips to the moon … and the political notions we had then were left on that far away lunar landscape … like letting balloons drift off into space … no gain … just pain. And there they sit today … no longer sexy …
I digress …
You young people need to drum up some political will and spend it on righteous energy sources … drain the addiction to oil … and the evil empire will waft away like our hopes did once upon a time.
I digress …
Nice post Dredd! 😥
I hope all have caught William Rivers Pitt’s essay on "Gannon" at TruthOut.
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/021105A.shtml
Maybe I’ll post the whole thing over at Velvet Revolution, if no one else has yet.
Farther up, someone asked:
"Say, does anyone know if the Daily KOS Blog followed up on the "Boy Toy" angle in their story?"
No – and for good reason. We need to focus on the propaganda issue. Whether a Bush propaganda tool was also a hypocritical gay-hating homosexual is interesting, but we can’t let it distract us. You know how hard it is to get real criticism of the president in the (fake) press. It would be too easy for this to become a "How did a gay porn operater get a WH press pass?" issue. When the real issue is about propaganda.
Please people, get your chuckle out of the gay porn thing, but then move on. Don’t take your eyes off the ball – PROPAGANDA.
#44 Benjammin075-
Good point.
However, my interest wasn’t to condemn Guckert/Gannon for his actions … more as to who was he involved with on/in the White House and why? Was it Karl … GWB … maybe GWB and "Mrs. GWB"??????? He advertised as a Military Escort Service which indicates to me someone may have liked "ruff stuff" and/or special outfits…. S&M.
I agree, I also think that Rove is gay. Many astrologers say this also. There is this human quality of transferring all those qualities you hate in yourself to another group, i.e. the dread, filthy homosexual. That’s what all this warmongering is about. Repubs think that it makes them "butch", but it just makes them murderers and war criminals. Real straight man don’t give a shit and aren’t threatened by homosexuals.
I’m late getting into this, but I want to say that, when the MonM revelations surfaced, my thoughts also flew to Rove. Scotty himself wouldn’t surprise me either.
#44 Benjammin075 is probably right.
The Neocon’s or Karl could …"could"…. have placed the boy toy thing as a diversionary tactic. If caught, taking the focus off the off Guckert/Gannon White House & CIA connections. So nailing them on the CIA and propaganda thing makes sense ….like money in the bank … and might get the mainline press to actually carry the story. Especially if the two Senators get the FBI or a Special Prosecutor involved because of the illegal CIA special reports access/Agent confidentiality violation..
However, what still haunts me… is why would they let one individual with such a weird backround get involved so deep …at this level. Why? Why?? Why????
Why would Guckert/Gannon invite reporters to find him and/or come get him??
A set-up and why???? Was it "hay look at me I’m on the inside and proud of it"? Was it arrogance?? OR just plain sloppy greedy "I got away with this, that I can get away with anything" stupidity??? This Guckert/Gannon guy obviously wasn’t the brightest bulb on the X-mas tree.
I’m sorry… but the more I think about it … I still bank on the last theory …. and think the "Boy Toy" is a very, very, very big story. I don’t think Karl is that smart … and can control everything all the time. He just plain screwed-up and is banking on the Democracts running scared and the media continuously covering for this President … which I personally think is going to stop.
Sooner or later the media is going to realise this group in the White House is crazy… just plain crazy… and slowly disassociate themselves from them.
G #48…
"Sooner or later the media is going to realise this group in the White House is crazy… just plain crazy… and slowly disassociate themselves from them."
I’ve been thinking this for some time. The Neos are getting sloppy. Decadence is taking over. They are so drunk with power that I think they might be slipping up. I bet the media would jump like wildmen at the chance to get out of this vise grip.
These people have a history of being sexual fuck-ups. They are perverted murderers who love torture. The prostitution rings are just a mild part of it.
Throughout history, a lust for political power has been associated with sexual malfunction.
And the search for a replacement pseudo-reporter is on (well, not really the way indicated by this satire, but it’s probably on anyway).
Brad,
I have been searching your archives to find a photo that I think you posted once during this year’s post-election fray which depicted the unruly crowd that disrupted vote-counting in Florida in 2000. I may be mistaken that I saw it on your site, but if you or anyone can find the photo please direct me to it. It shows the hired mob pressed up against glass doors of a room where election officials are trying to recount votes, and one of the persons in the foreground is a bald man who — if memory serves me right — looks like Gannon/Gukert. It is eating at me and I want to check it out. Anyone?
This is all totally bogus – the indignation thing -and I agree with …Bejammin075 that we should move on from scandal to scamdal and outrage. This boy-toy thing is diversionary. The real scandal is the WH willingness to take A-licking where it can get it – and pay for it, I might add.
CD –
If your flash is correct, this is a HUGE discovery. Brad, try to find that photo. CD, email Brad.
CD is talking about the Brooks Brothers gang, I believe – who made life hell for recounters in FL in 2000 and rendered the "recount" a sick joke.
Would someone please tell me how a comment to another comment can be posted two hours earlier than its antecedent? Are we on Pacific Time or Relative Time? See above…
I’m a +5 poster, being on the east coast. We have been informed that all times are recorded +8 (Pacific coast). How can the above anomaly happen?
I refer to #51 and #52, etc.
Sorry, I don’t buy the "Karl Rove is getting sloppy" bit for a second. He may be many things, but stoopid isn’t one of them.
I reckon that this guy was taken on in the full knowledge of his background, used to serve a specific purpose (pushing the Neocon agenda in the MSM and that little CIA outing mayhap?) and then strategically outed himself – probably to draw attention away from something else.
If there was every a master of smoke ‘n’ mirrors, it’s dubya’s resident puppet master.
The WH press corp won’t have said anything for the simple reason that their bosses wouldn’t have transimitted it and would most likely have fired them for submitting it. As we all know by now, the American media are definitely operating on the "hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil" principle with the current administration and so don’t have an awful lot to say. Why risk a good salary, when all you have to do is remain silent?
Let us not be distracted, gossiping about the sexuality of various members of the regime only serves their purpose and detracts from ours. Instead, let us make sure that we watch VERY CAREFULLY what is going on NOW – I would not be in the least bit surprised to see some clandestine maneuvers being executed in the shadows of this (relatively) minor incident.
Vive le revolution de velours.
A new Raw Story article indicates Scott McClellan is gay and possible buddy of Gannons. Bet there’s more boy toy’s in this story. Karl where are youuuuuuuuuuuu………….??????
Also, Karl Rove isn’t a Mr. Perfect as he worked for Bush’s old man …. and he "Fired him" for screwing up.
Yeah, this is just what I was about to post. Earlier in this thread I opined that "Scotty" would not be a surprise if he turned out to be the (or one of them) link to "Gannon." Am I psychic or what?
Raw Story article
I hate to admit it, but I think Da Wookie has a point, though. Sleight-of-hand and all that. While you’re watching the expressive hand, the other is doing who-knows-what with the really dirty stuff. Oh, WHY must we be so cynical?!
Peg C says:
Oh, WHY must we be so cynical?!
Answer: Because our survival depends on it!
Again, Teresa, right on! Trouble is, it *shouldn’t* have to.
Maybe it won’t by the time we get through.
That’s ok. We’ll get ’em eventually. Can’t have this many people on your case 24/7 and not get caught at some point. Have faith!