Milbank, Dowd, and Others Weigh In on Gannon/Guckert

[Rhiannon12866]

Published: February 17, 2005 11:05 AM ET

NEW YORK Washington Post staff writer Dana Milbank, a former White House correspondent, tells a leading blog there remains reason to believe that, contrary to statements from the White House, ex-reporter James “Jeff Gannon” Guckert, may had a "hard" (long-term) press pass rather than a daily pass.

Milbank said on Keith Olbermann’s MSNBC show last week that he thought he had seen Guckert/Gannon with a hard pass. Both the disgraced ex-reporter for Talon News and White House press Secretary Scott McClellan have denied this.

But Milbank affirmed, in an interview posted today at the popular blog Daily Kos, “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.”

Meanwhile, in her New York Times column today, Maureen Dowd reveals, “I was rejected for a White House press pass at the start of the Bush administration, but someone with an alias, a tax evasion problem and Internet pictures where he posed like the ‘Barberini Faun’ is credentialed....”

And more today: Eric Boehlert in the online magazine Salon picks up another revelation from the blogosphere. It seems that Gannon/Guckert, as revealed in a television clip, had access to the White House briefing room as early as February 28, 2003. This may be significant, Boehlert argues, because the organization Gannon/Guckert worked for, Talon News, did not exist until March and did not begin publishing news stories until then.

http://199.249.170.220/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000807442

[chicagojoe]

1. Has the Bush Whore House made any public comments on this

matter yet?

[Rhiannon12866]

2. If they have, I'm not aware of this.

And why should they? This would only reflect really badly on them.:-(

All I've heard is that they say that they have no say who is chosen to attend the White House daily briefings, which is totally untrue. If anything, they micromanage these meetings. And, if not them, then who?!:shrug:

[chicagojoe]

3. I'm sure they're hoping for two things:

1) This will not pick up a lot of media momentum.

2) This will all "just go away".

[Rhiannon12866]

5. I'm hoping this, as well

This should not ever "go away." It is just too serious.:-(

And it seems to be picking up media momentum. Jon Stewart doesn't seem prepared to let it go, which is to be expected. But I am waiting for major coverage on the major networks, CBS and NBC. This is what needs to happen, to bring this story to national attention.:-(

[Senior citizen]

6. CBS? Doesn't Gannon run CBS?

There were rumors that he was the one who broke the story that forced Dan Rather to resign.

Please don't expect CBS to say anything negative about their boss.

Gannon decides what is news and what isn't, and who can report on CBS and who can't. And he isn't going to approve them running a story on him, so don't get your hopes up.

[Rhiannon12866]

8. No, Les Moonves runs CBS

The only "day job," other than attending White House daily briefings, that I'm, aware of, that Gannon-Geckert has had, was as a paid gay male escort, who preferred to operate out of town, from what I heard on the news.:shrug:

As for what happened to Dan Rather, he prophesied his own demise, several years ago, in an interview with investigative journalist Greg Palast, author of "The Best Democracy Money Can Buy," which broke the story of the shenanigans, in Florida, during the 2000 presidential election. He told Greg Palast, on his BBC show, "Newsnight," that any American journalist who reported the wrong story in the American media, in the current atmosphere, would be "necklaced," an apartheid term, in which a burning tire was placed around someone's neck. You notice that Dan only dared to speak of this in England. And this is what happened to him. He was, effectively, "necklaced."
:scared:

[Senior citizen]

9. What I meant was that if Gannon broke the story that

the Bush documents Rather had were "false," and CBS forced Rather out on that basis, Gannon is the real power behind CBS. Imagine the glee in puke circles as they laughed over the power a prostitute had to get a revered newman ousted.

As I recall, the outcome of the investigations was that the papers weren't the originals, but that they weren't proven to be false or forged, and the information in them was correct. Rather and his producers were reprimanded for being "overly zealous" in pursuit of a story that reflected poorly on the President. Now I remember that CBS devoted a lot of airtime to Whitewater, and nobody was ever forced out just for being overly zealous in reporting information which actually WAS false about a Democratic President.

[Rhiannon12866]

12. I completely understand

What I believe happened, in the Dan Rather case, was that the 80-something year-old secretary to Bush*s now-deceased superior, in the National Guard, was interviewed and she said that the actual documents were forged, but what they said was exactly what happened. This has not been emphasized enough. What Dan, and CBS, reported, was the truth.:shrug:

I don't think that "Gannon" has that kind of power, but he sure has kicked up a hell of a fuss. He may well have been a "plant," which has yet to be definitively determined. But things don't look good for "Gannon" and his dubious handlers. And, if so, his ties to gay porn websites, will most certainly come back to bite them. What did they expect?!:-(

As for "Whitewater," and "Travelgate," how does this administration compare? Nobody died, and thousands have died in Iraq and Afghanistan.;(

[Pithy Cherub]

10. That is brilliant:

Bush Whore House... ;)

[Borgnine]

4. Most of the photos I've seen of Gannon...

...has had him sporting a "hard pass".

[autorank]

7. ? to Milbank: What did you know and when did you know it?

Telling

[kodi]

11. with so much fake news why is a fake news reporter so surprising?

What surprises me is that Mr. Gannon was not identified earlier as a part of the Kabuki play on the Potomac instead of his alleged place as a member of the audience.

It is time for the public, viz., the denizens of internet access investigate and vet both major and minor news reporters for conflicts of interest.

We lost mediawhoresonline in 2002, so we need more than bob sommerby's daily howler to check up on these folks. Increasingly they are public figures and should be treated as the Kabuki players they are, not simply a part of the genernal audience.