"Gannon" did NOT have a hard pass: AMERICAblog

[tuvor]

http://americablog.blogspot.com/2005/02/breaking-gannon-appears-to-have-had.html

[Kikosexy2]

1. Nor a ...

hard-on...j/k.heheheehe.

[Cooley Hurd]

2. Well, this directly contradicts what Dana Milbank said...

...doesn't it? And wouldn't Dana know what a hard pass looks like?

:shrug:

[nostamj]

3. where's HELEN THOMAS????

she would know if ANYONE does.

where's DAVID GREGORY?

where's ANY REAL WH CORRESPONDENT? aren't they PISSED OFF? :shrug:

[tuvor]

4. Well, I certainly hope you and Milbank are correct.

Just trying to nip any erroneous assumptions in the bud.

[WilliamPitt]

5. Milbank wasn't positive

and said as much.

[atre]

7. He was positive about her description of hard press passes

Milbank says hard passes have the journalist's photo with a white background and the name of his organization, while daily passes have the word "PRESS" in big white letters with a brown border. AmericaBlog says the opposite is true.

The one in the photo clearly has a white background and clearly has his photo, so the question is who is right about what these passes look like.

I would think that Milbank would know what a hard press looks like better than a blogger. But that's just me.

[WilliamPitt]

8. Milbank is a he

...and his comments that I read were filled with "It looked like" and "I think it was" and "I'm not sure but".

It was far from a positive identification of the identification, unless he has augmented his remarks.

[atre]

11. That's beside the point...

Did you even read my post, or did you just spot a typo and run on from there? Damn. Aren't you supposed to be a journalist?

Milbank's confusion was as to what Gannon was wearing, not as to what a hard pass looks like. Read Milbank's column, then read this blog, and see if you can spot the reason why they reach opposite conclusions.

[WilliamPitt]

14. OK, I'm a journalist

and here's the source. The Olberman transcript from the 9th:

OLBERMANN: Was he—it‘s been reported that he was issued daily passes rather than the proverbial hard pass, the permanent one that admitted him. Is that correct, to your knowledge?

MILBANK: Well, we don‘t know. I‘ve seen him with something that looked an awful lot like a permanent White House pass, with his face, name and organization on it. Others have seen the same thing. We don‘t know for sure. But either way, it‘s clear that Scott Mcclellan knew that it wasn‘t his real name. He had to provide his real name to get into the White House. So, here you have the press secretary to the United States, playing along addressing this guy by his pseudo name. So there was some degree of complicity, even if he was not granted, against White House rules, an actually hard pass.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6947877

And it does look like I read your post, as I've replied specifically to it three times now.

Milbank is a he, by the way.

:P

[atre]

18. No, you haven't, but that's okay. You've actually proven my point.

He is certain as to what a hard press pass looks like, but is not certain of what Gannon's pass looked like.

Now we have a photo of what very likely is a press pass, and we KNOW that it's not a daily pass because the colors are wrong. If it is a press pass, it's a hard one.

[WilliamPitt]

20. But Milbank is a he

:P :P

[Marnieworld]

24. LOL!

:D

[11cents]

6. This "hard pass" thing was beside the point

Not that it wouldn't be interesting if he did have one, but it's just as damning that the WH gamed the system to give him daily passes for years. Having a hard pass would indicate that the Secret Service had been compromised, and this may not be the case.

We shouldn't confuse what's known from what's merely conjectured, and what's vital from what's not. We didn't even know for sure that the person in the video was Gannon.

[atre]

9. People, Milbank is right; this joker is wrong! No question about it!

Read the Comments to the Blog. Someone quotes Milbank rather clearly contradicting the assertion made by the blogger as to what a hard pass looks like.

Someone above said that Milbank wasn't positive. What he wasn't positive about was what the pass he was wearing looked like. He was positive as to what a hard pass looks like, compared to a daily pass. This enlargement of a picture clears that up. And it's a hard pass.

In fact, common sense would tell you that a daily pass would be more generic (sans photo, sans news organization) and a hard pass would be more journalist-specific, doesn't it? I don't know where the blogger gets his information. Perhaps he read Milbank wrong.

[WilliamPitt]

10. Milbank is a he

[atre]

13. Actually, I DO know that Milbank is a male

I had an ex-girlfriend named Dana; there must be some psychological reason why I keep making that mistake.

[Cooley Hurd]

12. Dana's a male and AmericaBlog is one of the blogs that broke this...

...I wouldn't call him a joker.

[atre]

15. Let's see if I can make this as simple as possible

Dana Milbank: Not sure about what type of pass Gannon was wearing, but certain that a hard pass is white and includes a photo and that a daily pass is more generic, with brown and white with the words "PRESS" in large letters.

AmericaBlog: Has cropped photo of what is most like a pass, and it is white and includes a photo. AmericaBlog contends, however, that the hard pass is more generic-looking, brown one.

Someone please tell me that this makes sense!!!!

[K-W]

16. I would be surprised if the whitehouse DIDNT put pictures on day passes.

Im not sure where you get the idea that it would be weird if they did. Ive been in office buildings that gave me photo day passes.

This is the whitehouse we are talking about. They dont just give day visitors a a sticker for thier coat.

[atre]

17. Daily passes: BROWN; that pass: NOT BROWN

Is there some sort of selective memory dementia going on around here?

I'm not saying it would be weird for the daily passes to be sans photo; I'm saying it would be more generic than the hard pass. Further, I'm relying on Milbank's description of hard passes and daily passes, of which he is certain.

[K-W]

19. Im glad you are so sure of yourself.

You might be right, I dont know what the facts are yet, so I reserve judgement, I was simply replying to your argument that their wouldnt be a picture on a day pass.

[atre]

22. Please read this

Milbank: "A hard pass has your photo and news org and name on it. A daily pass is just a brown and white striped pass that says, 'Press,' on it and comes on a dog-tag style chain. Note that the one Gannon wears in the footage on TV is a blue lanyard - not the sort of thing a day pass comes on."

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/2/17/10515/0631

[aquart]

27. Right. It was NOT a day pass. We're all clear on that.

IF that person is Gannon, he was not wearing a day pass. IF that person was Gannon, he was also not wearing a White House press hard pass. So the question is now, what kind of hard pass was he wearing, and from what organization, as none has claimed him for that date.

[atre]

21. Compare that picture with this photo of a hard pass

http://tinyurl.com/7xudr

:)

[greenmutha]

26. LMAO! Thanks, I needed that! n/t

[Mojorabbit]

23. A point

that I think needs to be made. All it will take right now is a mistake to blow this whole thing up in the blogs faces. The story has legs now. There has been good work but in the past few days I have seen a lot of speculation instead of facts. Ie Powell, there are several, blurry pics that might or might not be Gannon wearing a pass. Now is the time to be careful and most important correct. No need to give the other side ammunition to divert the story.

[goodboy]

25. he had a hard-on though.... ;) (nm)