It's not that Gannon/Guckert is gay, it's that he is a PROSTITUTE!!

[JohnnyCougar]

Attacking or emphasizing that he is gay invites the "bloggers are outing another gay and disrespecting his personal life" counter attack.

But you can't say that about Gannon being a prostitute. There is no gay bashing about that. Prostitution is seen as a conscious activity, while most see homosexuality as being part of who he was (except for a bunch of cuckoo FReepers).

If we attack him for being a prostitute, it is harder for the WH to say we are being insensitive toward gays. Nevermind the hypocricy angle for now. Save that for later when the fury dies down.

Just my humble opinion.

[donheld]

1. He may not be a prostitute but a pimp

or both.

[Eric J in MN]

26. he's a prostitute or a former prostitute.

http://www.americablog.org/

[MADem]

39. $200 an hour, $1200 a weekend

...he's a PROSTITUTE. Unless that fee is for light housekeeping...and I rather doubt that it is.

[Pirate Smile]

2. I think the fact that Scotty said today that he didn't know Gannon's real

name for 2 years is amazing. How did the guy get in there without a security check. I think this is what will lead to the real scandal in the WH.

[Riding this Donkey]

4. i heard him say he did know that his real name! I am not wrong about this

Am I??

[Pirate Smile]

7. Well, look at this - it just went up in LBN this afternoon

"McClellan Tells E&P He Didn't Know Guckert Used Fake Name For Nearly Two Years

Former Talon News reporter James D. Guckert got to ask questions at Whtie House press briefings for nearly two years but White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan did not know the controversial reporter was using an alias until the past few weeks, he told E&P Monday.

Asked if he had discussed the Guckert/Gannon episode with President Bush, McClellan said, "we've only talked about it briefly" but declined to be more specific. "He's got a lot of other priorities," he added."

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000799881

LBN thread http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1237307

Before this article, I figured the WH knew his real name (for security purposes, etc.) but now they say they didn't. If Scotty said he did know his real name earlier, we need to find that quote and if they didn't know his real name - WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?

[Riding this Donkey]

10. Earlier this week, I could have sworn Scottie fessed up that he did

know his name was Jim Guckert, in a press conference.

I will try to look for it.

I could be wrong, but I don't think so.

[Riding this Donkey]

11. here is the press conference

Jeff Gannon. How did he get a White House pass, or what kind of credentials did he have?

MR. McCLELLAN: Just like anyone else who comes to the White House.

Q Hard pass?

MR. McCLELLAN: No, he had never applied for a hard pass. He had a daily pass. I think he's been coming for --

Q Was he coming for --

MR. McCLELLAN: Hang on. I think he's been coming for more than two years now.

Q Under what name?

MR. McCLELLAN: Sorry?

Q Under what name?

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, you have to get cleared. You have to -- just like anybody else that comes to the White House, you have to have your full name, your Social Security number and your birth date. So you have to be cleared just like anybody else.

Q So he was being cleared under James Guckert, or whatever his name is?

MR. McCLELLAN: My understanding, yes.

Q Okay, and how did he get picked to get a question asked at the last news conference?

MR. McCLELLAN: He didn't. The President didn't have a list. The President didn't -- he was in the briefing room. There are assigned seats in the briefing room. We didn't do any assigning of seats, and the President worked his way through the rows, and called on people as he came to them. He doesn't know who he is.

Q Were you aware that he had another name?

MR. McCLELLAN: Was I aware? I had heard that. I had heard that, yes, recently.

Q But did you know during all this time that he really wasn't Jeff Gannon?

MR. McCLELLAN: I heard at some point, yes -- previously.

Q As Press Secretary, what do you think about this whole --

MR. McCLELLAN: Well, like I said -- what do I think about it? Well, let me explain a few things. First, as the press secretary, I don't think it's the role of the Press Secretary to get into picking or choosing who gets press credentials. Also, I don't think it's the role of the Press Secretary to get into being a media critic, and I think there are very good reasons for that. I've never inserted myself into the process. 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. The issue comes up -- it becomes, in this day and age, when you have a changing media, it's not an easy issue to decide or try to pick and choose who is a journalist. And there -- it gets into the issue of advocacy journalism. Where do you draw the line? There are a number of people who cross that line in the briefing room.

And, as far as I'm concerned, I would welcome the White House Correspondents Association, if they have any concerns or issues that they want to bring to my attention, they know my door is open and I'll be glad to discuss these issues with them. I have an open dialogue with the Correspondents Association. No one's ever brought such an issue to my attention, in my -- during my time as being Press Secretary. And you all cover the briefing room on a regular basis. You know that there are a number of people in that room that express their points of view, and there are people in that room that represent traditional media, they represent talk radio, they represent -- they're columnists, and they represent online news organizations.

Q Was the White House aware at all -- was the White House aware -- was the White House aware at all about the online websites that he was linked to?

MR. McCLELLAN: No. This has only come to my attention through the news reports, just a few reporters calling in.

Q But just to make it clear, the only criteria, from the White House perspective is, someone can pass the Secret Service background check

MR. McCLELLAN: No, no, that's not -- first of all, I don't involve myself in that process, it's handled at a staff level. Like I said, if the White House Correspondents Association ever wants to talk about issues, I welcome that. But it becomes an issue -- it becomes an issue of where do you draw the line? Do you draw the line at advocacy journalism because there are a number of people that crossed that line, as I said? But there's hard -- there's hard passes and there's daily passes, as you are well aware. For a hard pass, you have to have a House and Senate credential, you have to regularly cover the White House, you have to apply for it, you have to go through a detailed FBI background check.

My understanding was, when he started coming to the White House about two years ago, the staff asked to see that it -- that he represented a news organization that published regularly. And they showed that, so he was cleared and has been cleared ever since based on that time.

And this is just now something that's come to my attention more recently because it's been an issue raised in some media reports.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/02/20050210-6.html#4

[Riding this Donkey]

12. Also, I think that if you watch the whole press conference

Where gannon asked * a question, you will hear * say

Yes, Jeff or something to that affect, when he called on him to ask a question.

[Pirate Smile]

14. He calls him Jeff over and over again. Olberman's clips of Gannon/

Guckert's questions show that.

[Riding this Donkey]

15. Bush's or Scotties

I was saying that Bush called him Jeff! I am pretty sure I heard that, but I can't dig up the link.

[Pirate Smile]

16. I believe they both did but Scott did more then once. I know Olberman's

clips have been linked to here already. I'll look.

[johnaries]

19. Will Pitt's got the video's linked to his Truthout FYI site.

n/t

[Pirate Smile]

18. Here it is - I haven't watched it again yet.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=109x18420

I counted seven references to "Jeff" from Scotty but I didn't hear Bush say his name.

[Riding this Donkey]

21. It cut to it quick, it sound like he says Yes Sir, not yes Jeff.

so sorry!

[Pirate Smile]

25. Well, I thought he said it too from when I saw the footage. I may have

seen it on a different show and it wasn't cut so quick. I don't know.

If Bush said his name it was probably because he had something on the podium that mapped out the names of who was setting in each spot. Maybe, he knows him anyway but I don't think him saying his name in the press conference would prove it.

[Blue Gardener]

17. Check Countdown's transcripts from last week

Should be there since they showed the videos.

[MadisonProgressive]

20. No, He said 'yes sir'.

[Pirate Smile]

13. Nice catch. I had thought the same thing so I was surprised at Scotty's

comments today. Very Interesting.

The problem for them is if they knew his real name they should have known all this sleazy stuff so how did he get in - so now they don't want to know his name but again - how did he get in the WH with a fake name.

The cover-up is usually what gets them.

nominated for Greatest because of this part of the discussion. I don't care about the guys personal life except in what it can show about the Bush Administration.

[sunnystarr]

34. Since bloggers could easily find out when Talon went online ...

What was wrong with the security check?? Not that I believe the lies we're being told but for those out there that take McClellan at his word, why hasn't the fact that Talon was only online for about 5 days when Gannon/Guckert was allowed in with a day pass? How long does it take for a security check? Is it instant like 'check while you wait'? Actually Talon had been online 4 days since Gannon was in a WH Press meeting on the 5th day. Seems to me that it's quite a stretch in credibility to believe that a fake journalist, with a fake name, with a fake news organization, can be that close to the POTUS. Why isn't this the big story?? If we were to believe that then anyone wanting to harm the POTUS has just been shown the way. After all they claim not to know that he was a gay prostitute with porn pictures on a porn website.

Why isn't the MSM not screaming about this? Why weren't they screaming about this for the last 2 years and exposing him (no pun intended)? What did the MSM reporters know? It just makes it appear that they're all in this together. What about reporters saying that he had a permanent pass? They know what one looks like.

My understanding was, when he started coming to the White House about two years ago, the staff asked to see that it -- that he represented a news organization that published regularly. And they showed that, so he was cleared and has been cleared ever since based on that time. (McClellan 2-20-05)

edited to add a left out word

[stanwyck]

3. I'm guessing by the resounding

silence from the American Taliban fundamentalists that gay fake journalists who are former prostitutes do not violate any of their rigid moral codes. It's only LIBERAL gay fake journalists who are former postitutes who will be railed against incessantly on hate-radio.
Remember the rules: you can do whatever you want with whoever you want and break as many laws as you want. As long as you voted for Dubya.
It seems our highly ethical religious folks are purely partisan.
So much for their values. Hollow men.
Why anyone listens to them is a mystery.

[uberotto]

5. It's that he's a male prostitute who had access to classified info...

Which means that there is a good probability that someone high up in the Bush administration is a) a closeted homosexual, b) actively participating in illegal prostitution and c) has access to information which would require a security clearance.

My guess is Rove. We've had other reports from people within the Bush administration that Rove knew about Valerie Plame, and that Rove was the most likely to want to "share" the information with the press.

You can be gay and get a security clearance, but you can't be "in the closet". Also, you can't get a security clearance if you are involved in illegal acts. Both of these are considered to be major security risks.

If this is true, and there is someone who is high up in the Bush administration, a closeted homosexual and is actively involved with prostitution, this constitutes a MAJOR SECURITY RISK. If Bush had any knowledge of this persons "hobby" and didn't report it, that would be an IMPEACHABLE OFFENSE.

[progressivebydesign]

9. Bush is obviously gay, as well. No doubt in my mind.

Not that there's anything wrong with that.. BUT.. it's the hypocrisy, and the corruption, that are the problems.

[Clark2008]

32. And the reason it's a major security risk is an easy juxtaposition

Imagine that if someone is willing to sell themselves for money, they would also be willing to sell national security secrets. The movies are full of prostitutes with big hearts, but, in the real world, baby, that just doesn't happen that often.
On the street level, it's about drugs and survival. But, in Gannon's high-priced call-guy world, it's about the money.

[MADem]

40. Scott McClellan

...very recently, rather hurriedly married, a patron of Austin gay bars. Who always called on "JEFF" when the hammering from the press got too hard. And "JEFF" ALWAYS bailed him out with a lovingly pitched softball.

Pull the string, and the whole thing comes undone! I'm guessing the new Mrs. McClellan, unless she was in on the deal from the get-go, is probably one unhappy camper. Who can blame her?

[Walt Starr]

6. He;s a FRED GARVIN!!!!

Male Prostitute.

[hangemhigh]

36. OMFG! I've been laughing about that all day-

We need to find Josh Ramsey, VD Caseworker. :toast: :toast:

[progressivebydesign]

8. It'd absolutely the Prostitution and pornography thing that is the issue..

AND.. the fact that he was obviously working in concert with the White House. If you watch the montage of his questions, you'll see that they were handed to him BY the Bush people.. It's the fact that the White House sounds like a cesspool of male prostitution right now, when it's being SOLD to red state, Christian, voters as the moral equivelancy of Jesus, himself!! that's the issue. It's the hypocrisy, AND the use of this pimp or prostitute as a tool for the White House. Bush needs to be impeached, ultimately, over this... as it represents just the tip of the corruption in OUR house.

That fake reporter can be gay.. I have no issue with that. I DO have an issue with a pornographer/pimp having access to the White House, and being used by the WHite House to get Bush re-elected on a MORALITY campaign. THat's just amazing.. isn't it?

[BigBearJohn]

24. TOTALLY SPOT ON! WE *MUST* WRITE TO OUR SENATORS!

We need strong follow-up action on this

[Nimrod]

22. Pass it on - CRIMINAL is the watchword

Seriously, we need to call it what it is. I think it's hilarious that the hypocrisy is being exposed, don't get me wrong - but what's going to make or break this story is how we approach it.

Use the word CRIMINAL. Don't let that fact get swept under the rug, because that's what the Right is going to try to do. Say it over and over again: CRIMINAL. When you talk about Guckert, call him Guckert the CRIMINAL if you have to. If you write a LTTE or call in to a radio show, use the word CRIMINAL over and over again.

DON'T let that get second billing in favor of the "immoral" side of his activity. Doing that will give the Right a toehold. They're going to be pounding the point home over and over again that we're "invading his privacy". Every time someone says that, fire back with "Right to privacy doesn't include right to CRIMINAL activity".

I'm totally with you, the hypocrisy angle is something to be savored. For years. Right now the CRIMINAL aspect is what's going to serve us best, because that's the word that the Right will try to make sure you never hear.

[Old Mouse]

23. NO! Its that he was a paid agent

whose job it was to obstruct the ability of the press to investigate the president, and who ended a CIA investigation in the illegal trade of nuclear weapons by revealing the deep cover operative controlling the investigation in the field. We have him on video blocking questions at the DIRECTION of the press secretary. We have him leaking Plame's name before anyone else. We have the fact he could not pass a background check without intervention - especially a background check of the most paranoid White House in history.

Without uncovering anything but who paid Gannon's Washington rent we have him and probably Bush or Rove for treason! We have it all, now... right now in our hands!

But we are being distracted by his god-damned penis.

[Riding this Donkey]

27. Do you have a link that has him writing or talking about

Plame?

[Old Mouse]

30. Its a major part of the story

he outed Plame in an interview with Wilson before Novak ever published it. He quotes an internal White House top secret memo.

http://www.google.com/search?q=gannon+plame&btnG=Google+Search

[Riding this Donkey]

31. I understand that it's part of the story, but I didn't know if he had

actually written a piece on it for Talon or something.

Thanks for the link though, I did get stuff from it.

:toast:

[understandinglife]

33. You may find this "Plame Leak Timeline" from dKos of use:

http://www.dkosopedia.com/index.php/Plame_Leak_timeline

Peace.


TBO;24/7

[geniph]

35. That part is far more damning, I agree

but sometimes you need the flashy shit to sell something like this to people. If we can't get outrage over the obvious violation of ethics in him being nothing but a paid stooge, then by all means, let's use their own Puritanical hypocrisy against them.

[Warren Stupidity]

37. exactly: Gay Sex For Hire Scandal Rocks Bush Administration! NT

[donheld]

28. If this had come to light during the Clinton days

Clinton would have been impeached and crucified fast.

[Clark2008]

29. Well, I'm bettin' it's not the first time a prostitute has been in the WH

But, it's the fact that:
A.) Prostitution is illegal in the vast majority of states (Nevada being the only state I know of where it's legal); and
B.) HYPOCRACY!! Holier-than-thou Bushies let prostitute in the WH to ask question of the god-president. :eyes: Where's the outrage?

[Nothing Without Hope]

38. Actually, in 1989 a gay prostitution ring with strong WH ties was exposed

This was during the time of Bush I, interestingly enough. There was plenty of evidence with leads going in all sorts of interesting directions, but the administration stifled the investigation. Read about it -- really a must-read, you won't believe it -- here:
http://sf.indymedia.org/news/2003/02/1570946.php

[rman]

41. the more important issue is that Guckert is a payed propagandist

next to that there's the issue of exposing the RW's hypocrisy ragarding their anti-gay (and presumably anti-prostitution) stance.

and then there's the MSM's complicity in covering all this up.

don't forget this is like the 3rd or 4th instance where a 'journalist' has been exposed as a GOP payed partisan hack.

[marcologico]

42. ...giving new meaning to the term "presstitute."

Weird story all around.

[Senior citizen]

43. And all this time we've been saying that anyone who worked

for the BFEE or the MSM was a prostitute, without ever realizing that we weren't speaking metaphorically, but literally. What a hoot!

[UTUSN]

44. It's Not that He's a Prostitute - It's that He's a Wingnut-hypocrite OPERA

OPERATIVE.

[Senior citizen]

45. Nah -- he's an example of Bush* restoring morality to the WH.

The religious right is full of wing-nut hypocrites and the GOP is full of operatives. This is a question of morality and family values. This is the Clenis payback, pure and simple. Well, not so pure, but definitely simple.

The White House credentialed a male hooker. Forget national security, since they, being the primary perps, use it only to frighten the rest of us. This is a morality play, people, and we need to try to keep a straight face while acting our parts. We are OUTRAGED at this shocking lack of decency. Clinton wasn't gay and he didn't use escort services, so WE need to restore morality to the WH. And we need to put pressure on every puke in Congress who talks morality but won't act on this issue. What are they hiding?

IMPEACH!