CNN - Anderson Cooper/Kurtz on Gannon - Does this mean all

[applegrove]

private lives of journalists are open to investigation by opposition?
Howard made the point that this is a slippery slope. Anderson kept mentioning the Gay escort service thing.

I guess we now know why the press was so silent on the issue of his past. They do not seem to mind covering the issue of how he got credited daily, or if he had access to privileged information. But even the illegal past of the guy, and the digging of personal stuff up - maybe that is something to be scared of.

Because how many of us have lived perfect lives. I mean when I was 24 I made a fool of myself over something.

In my worst dreams this was a set up by Karl Rove to allow him to target the personal lives and 'secrets' of any columnist or journalist he doesn't like. But that would just be in my worst dreams. The problem with this WH is that they are such opportunists.

So I understand a little better at why the press tried to stay away from the 'personal history' stuff.

[Fenris]

1. I wonder what Howard is hiding.

[applegrove]

3. Well the point is that we are all afraid of something - I mean if

you understand how evil the political operatives are - or say even a rich media baron could target reporters they didn't like. Or their kids.

I think that is what is scary. Is that there were a set of rules that said: "don't shoot the messenger".

[Carni]

32. Ask Ashley Banfield or Peter Arnette

They (the right wingers in the bush cabal) didn't have to bother to dig into their personal lives they just called their patriotism into question, created an outrage and then made sure they were fired or annexed into oblivion.

[applegrove]

42. I don't like to see journalists take it from all sides. I can sort of

understand the caution.

And perhaps it means that we the annonamous hoards get to do the risky dirty work - and then feed the stories to the press - who are protected by doing 'news' on the 'news blogs'.

And then they do not have to loose their careers. So they will still be there in 4 years when to Utopians get kicked to high hell and reality returns.

[Pepperbelly]

55. actually ... at first blush I might agree with you until I consider

exactly how far these corporate whores have gone to install as much oppression, social and economic injustice, decimation of the Bill of Rights and the environment, and their active assistance in stealing yet another election ... perhaps if they are going to fatten themselves so obscenely, perhaps it is only right that we become aware of their foibles as well.

[Nordic65]

4. His wife!

Big time GOP operator

[EST]

6. Me,too

That nut ball douche seems to be at the center of nearly every Narcissian interview those mirror talking paid pundits have published.

[Disturbed]

7. Web sites and tax violations are...

an intrusion into "personal life"?

[VegasWolf]

30. bushie distraction squad working overtime on this one. n/t

[Protagoras]

43. Well considering that *cough* Journalists

have turned themselves into ENTERTAINERS instead of newspeople, and spend as much time interviewing each other as anything else of note, I don't see at this point why they should have any more expectation of privacy or insulation from personal criticism than anyone they regularly attack.

Brit Hume isn't attempting to do anything but sale advertizing on Fox...how does that distinguish him from Oprah or Rush Limbaugh or the guy from the Vioxx ads? I fail to see any difference these days.

EAT YOUR CAKE KURTZ!

[The Backlash Cometh]

46. Something is definitely worrying him. They all should have thought

about this before they helped the right-wing destroy the Clinton Administration. They have become the news, and the gloves are off.

[d.l.Green]

57. That's true to a point but they are using this guy... Monica didn't ask

for her publicity, but I think she was a much stronger figure. Guckert's a sad figure. After looking through all that military porn stuff and watching the clips of his very confident composure in the WH press room, he certainly is a disappointment- his image as a "military stud" is certainly damaged. But one could clearly see that this guy's future, if he doesn't "come clean", will be hell and that as a human being, no matter how terrible his actions were, I feel a certain amount of regret that he's the one who'll be paying the consequences instead of the people who really should be. Watching him on CNN he looked scared and vulnerable and even somewhat manipulated. I would think that choosing a life as a prostitute is a desperate measure, so he probably has some baggage. Once the MSM press gets hold of him, he'll be shredded to bits. This is not going to be pleasant to witness...

[Cooley Hurd]

2. If they do their jobs correctly (or at all)...

...then they have nothing to fear from us. However, if they keep up the stenographer routine, then all bets are off... :evilgrin:

[shraby]

5. They are calling it his "personal life"

where I come from, if he is advertising his "escort" services on the net, that's not personal, that's his business life.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

8. How is a prostitution ring his personal life?

[Warpy]

17. DISTRACTION!!

Shoot, the REAL story is that somebody with a very sleazy past (and present, his sites are still there) was allowed into the inner circle of the White House without a background check and under an alias.

If that isn't a prescription for blackmail, I don't know what is. Just think if all this had been discovered by agents working for Iran or North Korea. Just think of the stuff he could have funneled to them.

Nah, this is the real story, and the one we need to concentrate on to hoist this bunch on their own homophobic petard.

[Carni]

35. Exactly!

If the DNC had slithered around outside of Gannon's window and snapped shots of him with a boyfriend THAT would be his personal life...his illegal biz activities are not personal.

[warrior1]

9. bush is the one

saying he wants to bring morality back to the white house, so question jimmy-jeff's past and bush people bring him into the white house 'cuz me "OUR" house is very troubling and hypocritical..let us not forget Valerie Plame outing also. This story is huge and they are afraid of doing their jobs, simple plan truth. I say shine a big bright light on all of these people.

[BrightKnight]

25. deleted - n/t

[sundog]

15. exactly...

no other way to get them to do their jobs... the press did it to themselves - fair game now

[BrklynLiberal]

10. This is exactly what Mike Malloy suggested last night..

"In my worst dreams this was a set up by Karl Rove to allow him to target the personal lives and 'secrets' of any columnist or journalist he doesn't like. But that would just be in my worst dreams. The problem with this WH is that they are such opportunists."

[BurgherHoldtheLies]

11. Three words: Blue dress stains

They dug and dug and dug on Clinton's private life until they finally got what they wanted. Sorry, the precedent has been established. If you play in politics, including bogus reporting as an arm of propaganda, then it's all fair.

[John Q. Citizen]

37. Not only Clinton's private life, which may be fair game, but Monica's

private life, which certainly isn't.

[hippiechick]

45. Exactly.

Let 'em be on the recieving end of what they've so gleefully been doing to others for the last 12 years ...

[KittyWampus]

12. The Media's Complicity Allowed "PATRIOT" Act To Happen. If Normal

citizens can have their houses searched by the government without even knowing about it...

then bloggers have every right to dig up whatever public info there is out there.

We are fighting Fascism here.

If the Mediawhores continue to enable the Fascists then they are part of the cancer.

[zann725]

13. I didn't expect anything accurate from Anderson. That he covered it at all

means the story's got legs.

Though I thought Kurtz' worried comment that others in D.C. who had affairs or questionable past might be 'fair game' for bloggers... seemed absurd. MSM did not feel any similar concern when they media-blitzed Clinton's affair continually for over a year. Yet suddenly they're concerned that bloggers might start "dialogue" over a Repug (or etnire WH) sex scandal. Unless it's fair game on Dem's, but NOT Repug's...I miss the point.

[applegrove]

18. Yeah but politicians have always run for office and at times have

had to put up with opponents digging, etc. Not every personal story gets told. But many do when it comes to politicians.

I think the point that this is something new is an appropriate one.

[98geoduck]

20. Well put, I can hardly tell the difference between E! and CNN.

[pacalo]

26. Don't forget about Ken Starr shamelessly putting all the dirt

about Clinton on the internet, making sure that everyone with access to a computer could read it (& copy it for those who didn't).

This administration is about 35 scandals overdue for a serious investigation. He should have been impeached two years ago.

[Warpy]

14. Gannon/Guckert was no journalist

He was given fake credentials from a fake news service. His only "articles" were lifted word for word from WH press releases without attibution.

If you don't think Rove isn't already targeting journalists, you may be naive. That's one reason they've all been so very accomodating of this administration. Everybody's got something to hide, including dull grey men in newspaper offices who haven't done a single wild and crazy thing since their sophomore years in college.

I'd strongly suspect Rove knows it all and is willing to use it if anybody steps out of line.

[applegrove]

19. I agree. Which is why the journalists are so worried about precidents

being made at this juncture.

[rogue_bandit]

16. Public Solicitation is not a Private Life

This guy was publicly soliciting sex activities on the web. He may have used a different name but it was he who make it a public issue.

[applegrove]

23. Yes. But now the journalists feel they can speak about it

because being an escort is a crime of sorts. Before that, the websites & sexual orientation et al, that was all just digging in someone's personal life.

Now if he turns out to be an actual puppet who didn't even write his own stories... then the MSM will really pick up on it and run.

[suegeo]

40. I have a stupid legal question...

When does prostitution become an illegal act?

When the sex act is performed?
When the hooker advertises the price of sex?
When the hooker advertises he is for sale?
When the money changes hands?

[Walt Starr]

53. When the web site went up, Gannon committed solicitation

and that was a local crime in the jurisdiction where the server resides.

The first time anybody answered the ad from outside the state where the server resides, the solicitation crossed state lines and became a federal charge.

Every act from that point foward where money changed hands became a further federal charge.

[still_one]

21. hey kurtz

maybe it was because FRAUD WAS COMMITTED
maybe because he was involved in outing a CIA agent
MAYB BECUASE KURTZ IS AN ASSHOLE WHO DOESN'T DO HIS JOB, ALONG WITH THE REST OF THE MSM

[Carni]

22. They certainly had no problem when it was Clinton, or Gary Condit

Or McGreevey, or Martha Stewart or any of these other high profile people that didn't happen to be Republicans.

If these so called *reporters* like Kurtz and Blitzer are also charging 200 dollars per hour for sexual services and advertising their wares on the net, then I would say that, they too, are morons and if someone finds out--well then tough darts!

I love how they get all philosophical about the "slippery slope" only when a bush admin whore's butt is on the line because if it's anyone else they could care less!

HYPOCRITES!

[madmark]

24. This Personal Life Stuff is a Canard

The real issue is did the White House create its own reporter. Thats it. Work on that story Howard. I suspect that a WH creating its own reporter is not a statutory crime (I'm not an expert in that area of the law), but rather yet another administration misrepresentation/distortion served up for public consumption. This misrepresentaiton will, if the last election results hold true, outrage 58,000,000, while 60,000,000 either won't give a shit, or think its kinda cool, like they reacted to Iran/Contra.

[ElaineinIN]

27. I thought that the piece was pretty good for us

Its clear Howie et al are scared shitless that the "liberal bloggers" will start looking all kinds of stuff up, but note what made the main stream media tonight:

-he mentioned that JJGG had no journalistic background
-he noted the possibility that JJGG was there to shill for the WH
-they mentioned the possible connect to Plame

These are all good things, and far better than we had earlier in the week!

[applegrove]

36. I agree. I think they just are afraid of diggin in private lives for no

good reasons.

So bloggers will just do that and good stories will not be missed. Oh and anyone who is anyone is now taking down all their web sites. That is the bad news. It will never be so 'easy' to find out information on the next person. All the evil fixers will be building firewalls between their shills and themselves.

[Raster]

28. first off, "gannon" isn't a journalist. No creds whatsoever.

And no Anderson, you shouldn't have to worry unless your selling your ass on the 'Net.

[bear425]

29. Is this LBN? n/t

[applegrove]

31. Personally - I do see some beauty in a 7th Estate (blogs) now in

existence. It makes it harder for any one person or entity to control the whole messed up soup. I think that simply the existence of a 'blog' estate (don't ask me what any of the other estates are cause I do not know) means that a wrench has been thrown big time into the machinations of the KR's in the world.

All that Hitler/Goebbles loving/research that Strauss/Rove types have done to be experts on propaganda doesn't amount to a whole hill of bean eh? Not when the number of types of information gathering and processing entities begin to expand & morph.

Now we Liberals remember who we were: change is good! :think:

[DU GrovelBot]

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[John Q. Citizen]

38. Hey Grovel, I already gave.

[Placebo]

34. This isn't LBN.

Mods, where are you?

[riverwalker]

39. maybe, but more likely

they ran from it from pure embarrassment. The whitehouse set a real whore out among them for months....and no one noticed.
No one noticed the real whore from all the other whores, because he was just like them, only more so. They know it, we know it, and they are embarrassed as hell.

[dave29]

41. GANNON WAS NOT A JOURNALIST.

that is all

[Beam Me Up]

48. Thank You! But he WAS a PROSTITUTE! n/t

[suegeo]

44. Note to CNN: He's not a journalist

He went to a two day school run by a republican hitman.

It'S NOT his private life, he put it all out there for the public to see.

If Anderson Cooper wants to have gay sex, go for it, in the privacy of your own bedroom. THAT'S private. What Guckert did was not private. It was business.

[applegrove]

47. So the intelligencia now faces competition from the internet!

So finally it is not just the worker whose job is replaced or who faces competition. Like I said in anther post:

HMO will face competition from international medicin like India

Pharmaceuticals do not want to face competition from Canada on the internet

Decorators hate all those decorating shows on T.V.

Psychologists hate the Dr.Phil's and the Internet

Journalists now have to compete with the Internet

Retail giants face competition online from mail-order houses


What other competition is changing things?

[Mr Rabble]

49. Ive certainly led a "colorful" life

but Ive also never tried to get a press pass into the WH.

In fact, Ive been turned down for a loan due to a BK. I cant imagine how if Wells Fargo refuses to offer me a loan, the WH will offer a male prostitute a press cred...

[applegrove]

50. Anderson Cooper also did a good summation of Bush and

his 'scripted talking points'. He showed how no matter what the questions was from the reporter one of three responces came out:

1)he wants to see progress
2)Democratic change
and something else i cannot remember.

Was great to see Anderson make the story "how Bush communicates".

That was great.

[spanone]

51. Naw, ain't buying that. If he was a Democratic Plant they would crucify.

And they would have the Moral Police OUTRAGED ON EVERY POSSIBLE MEDIA.

[RadiDem]

52. Did you post nude pics showing off your erect schlong ?

And ADS as a male prostitute PUBLICALLY on the WWW for anyone to see ?

What PRIVACY ?

what PERSONAL history ?

he was SELLING his ass on the www !

[Fridays Child]

54. Here is why the bought off, whipped dog media should be worried.

This is not about the private lives of genuine journalists. It's about propaganda, hypocrisy, and, possibly, knowingly participating in the crime of exposing an undercover intelligence operative. But as long as the mainstream media cower in the corner while allowing WH spin doctors to frame all arguments and manufacture reality, they should worry, mightily, about how GanGuck's behavior might reflect upon them.

As for that behavior, while it doesn't matter that GanGuck is a gay hooker or that he was reporting for a partisan web site, under the current circumstances, two points have to be considered. First, the Moral Values™ party's "do as we say, not as we do" hypocrisy is now spectacularly on display. And, second, GanGuck's chosen profession and the contacts he's made in the course of his work may place high-ranking government and military officials at risk of coercion by blackmail. And this latter point--which is probably the more important one--is predicated on the security risk argument made by the right wing in reference to Monica Lewinsky and others who had access to the White House during the Clinton administration.

[d.l.Green]

56. Yes, but the security risk angle is also use to keep gays out of the

military. Even though the backlash would cement this issue in the general public's mind, I'd LOVE to see some blackmailing going on and exposed on some of these NEOCON freakazoids! And details, I demand details, juicy, juicy details...