Was McLellan freelancing, with Gannon-Guckert? On his own?

[patcox2]

Consider the possibility that Gannon-Guckert being allowed into the press conferences was not driven from above as part of some kind of conspiracy; perhaps it was just McLellan (how do you spell his name?) freelancing, running off the reservation, acting on his own? That Would explain a lot, wouldn't it?

After all, if Rove wanted to plant a slow-pitch throwing conservative reporter in the white house pool to lob softballs, there are hundreds, thousands, of real love journalists who would be glad to take that assignment, many from real, semi-reputable news organizations (knight-ridder comes to mind).

Think about who really stands to gain the most, day to day, from having a plant in the press room. Not Bush, he only does press conferences once in a blue moon. But Scotty, he has to do one every day, day in, day out. And the press is much much tougher on Scotty than on Bush himself, they actually bully him occasionally. So he really needs a nice softball to rescue himself on occasion.

So isn't it possible this gannon guy is maybe just a "friend" of scotty's, and scotty took to letting him in to the daily briefings just so he (scotty) could have a lifeline when he needed one? And then after months and months of this, Bush himself took to calling on the guy. I won't speculate as to what kind of a "friend" of Scotty's "gannon" might be, but, it would explain a lot if he was maybe a "special friend." It would explain Scotty maybe wandering off the reservation by letting him in to the briefings all on his (scotty's) own initiative. After all, on the day to day mundane briefings, Scotty probably does have sufficient authority to do that on his own. And then, this access that scotty gave him could have allowed Jim/Jeff to fall into whatever relationship he had with Talon. And then, after being there at the routine daily gaggles for a few months or a year, Jim/Jeff would have gotten notices enough that the higher powers allowed him into the presidential press conferences.

And there is one last thing this scenario explains, and that is the reticence of both the press and the democrats about going after this story. I beleive that if the mainstream press thought that Rove actually planned this and planted JimJeff, they would go after this story, as would the democrats. But if they all basically know that this was a case of an underling (scotty) making a stupid mistake and letting his "special friend" into the press conferences and it just got out of control, they would be inclined to hold back. There is still some vestigial moral sense in the press corp, it is not considered a coup or a worthwhile thing to ruin the career of a staffer like Mclellan.

Worth consideration, I think.

[w13rd0]

1. I don't think Scottie is our nexus...

...given the new evidence (that he was there before Talon existed, asking a question of Ari).

[Lautremont]

2. When you say freelancing,

do you mean "freelancing?"

[tridim]

3. But Guckert lobbed softballs directly for Bush too

These guys are all friends. It's so damn obvious. I'm just waiting for the story to break that Guckert was a WH guest on several occasions. It's coming.

[patcox2]

5. Think harder, think about it

Gannon was there every day. Bush holds, on average, two press conferences a year. But Scotty holds one every single day. Scotty has a lot more to gain than Bush.

And then, once scotty let him in the door, he gained access to Bush. I am willing to bet he was at the daily briefings (gaggles) for 6 months or a year before Bush ever called on him at a presidential press conference.

As for Gannon being there even before his affiliation with Talon, that supports my theory as much as it argues against it. Gannon got the access first, through his "personal" relationship, and then that access led to a job with Talon. Believe me, thats how it works, the access, often through personal contacts, leads to the job, when it comes to politics.

This could just be a case of a staffer giving his friend a little perk, it happens, staffers have a lot of power, they are not supposed to weild it for their own personal reasons, but sometimes they do. I am not making excuses for anyone here, it just makes more sense than thinking that Bush and Rove and the white house staff would decide to deliberately install a gay prostitute in the press room, as I saidm, there are thousands of genuine journalists of a conservative bent that they could have chosen, if thats what they wanted.

[tridim]

8. I respect your opinion because none of us know the full story yet

But I'd still be extremely surprised if Bush never met with Guckert to discuss their fake Q&A.. There's no way Scotty had that kind of pull. He wasn't the boss, just a lowly deputy press secretary. It would be like a Broadway understudy making script changes in a play without the writer and director's knowledge.

[JAbuchan08]

4. Real journalists have too much to lose

even the most die-hard Bush supporting journalist is going to have a mind of their own on occasion, but if you can hold something over their head, like, say gay prostitution then they'll follow the white-house script no matter what.

[patcox2]

7. Sorry, thats not true.

There are plenty of conservative journalists who would whore themselves, its ridiculous to think that the white house would have to resort to blackmailing a gay prostitute in order to ensure he asks softball questions. It really is ridiculous. Ever been near power? The white house is the most powerful thing on earth, you'd be amazed what people will do just to be near power, you don't have to blackmail gay prostitutes just to find someone who will reliably kiss your ass when you are president of the US. trust me.

[tridim]

9. Okay, I'll bite.

Do you work in the White House or something? :shrug:

[patcox2]

13. No, but I did some press for a dem politician, so its from experience.

I was not the press guy, actually deputy campaign manager, but my primary duty was opposition research (which is mostly a very dull job involving much dry researching of thousands of votes on bills ands amendments and thousands of interviews your opponent gave with the press). But I did get a feel for a few things, such as how a staffer could sometimes maybe, say, impress a girlfriend by getting her into an event she shouldn't be at. And I got a strong appreciation for the impact of power on people, the way people would crawl on the floor for my boss, when I was looking for someone to give a fawning quote about my boss, I never had to blackmail a gay prostitute, and my boss wasn't even president or even close. People would bow and scrape for me, because I could give them that thing they wanted, access, and I was just campaign staff, which is nothing to regular staff. And I also saw how politicians must and do trust their staff on lots of things, so sometimes a staffer who strays will embarrass the boss pretty badly. And one final thing I saw, I am not a homophobe and mean nothing negative whatsoever by it, but I have walked down the halls and eaten in the cafeterias of the congressional office buildings, and 90 percent of the people around you are staffers, and I have never seen a higher percentage of homosexuals in any profession in my life, among liberals and conservatives alike. Nothing negative about it,it just is. So it just wouldn't be surprising to me if its something like what I postulated.

[JAbuchan08]

10. Sure you can get a lot of people to sell out to you,

but I still think that even the most conservative journalist is looking out for themselves first, if they sense the wind shifting directions they will cover their own butts - not the president's

[enigmatic]

6. Now that we know "Gannon" was there when Fliesher was PS...

I very much doubt it. This goes much higher, in Rove-land..

[deacon]

11. Yes, you betcha n/t

[Doctor_J]

12. NOTHING in this admin happens

w/o Rove signing off on it. THe MSM won't go after it because anyone who does will be punished severly, just like all the other high crimes and misdemeanors that they've committed.

Fer chrissakes, within the last week we found that they were warned 52 times that we were going to be attacked w/ hijacked airliners and didn't do anything about it. if the media whores won't run with that one, why would they run with this one?

[patcox2]

14. Rove is not omnisicient, letting someone into a press conference is easy.

Rove can't check every detail, and as I tried to explain, this is the kind of thing that snowballs. Mclellan lets him in (he could do this, for the daily gaggle, even as assisant PS). Now that he is in, he gets hired by Talon simply because he can get in. After getting into the daily gaggles for a year, noone would really notice that he also got into the presidential press conference, the mere fact that he has been there establishes his credentials to be there. Trust me, the higher ups like Rove have to trust their aides on these things.

And now that the truth is basically known, they are forced to cover for Mclellan, don't you see? Sometimes in politics an underling can screw up so bad that they actually have no choice but to cover up for him, they cannot afford to fire him or admit he screwed up. (of course they will fire him in 3 months or so after the public has forgotten, and to assure his silence he will get a cushy job with a right-wing think tank, a lobbying firm, or haliburton.)

[ignu]

15. How I expect Rove to handle this...

Gannon comes "clean" and presents a list of his clients, mostly Democrats, with a token Republican fall guy or two. It doesn't matter if he can't prove his claims, the suggestion itself echoed by the right-wing media will do a lot of damage to those on his list.

That's basically what I expect Rove to pull at this point, he can always take his biggest weakness or the enemy's strength and reverse it. Maybe why the Democrats are backing off.