Gannon's real purpose

[sunnystarr]

Why would someone install Gannon in the WH Press Corp? While we've pointed to propaganda I think his real purpose has been missed. So far he's been connected to the Plame outing, Rathergate, and the Daschle-Thune race. We know he posted on Free Republic, but do we know why?

I'm proposing a theory of his real purpose. Rove is in charge of the administration's message and how it gets spread. I propose that Rove realized that he couldn't totally control the MSM. He realized that the blogosphere could be very useful, but needed a "credible" source that could be quoted and thereby allow for the "message" to be spread across the blogs - which would hopefully bleed into the MSM. In order to accomplish this he put a host of operatives in place. Gannon was one of these operatives. In order to gain credibility he needed to be a reporter for a "news" organization. By appearing to be in the White House Press Corp. he was able to be recognized as Talon's "Chief White House Correspondent" and be picked up and quoted on blogs and then other online news sites which would hopefully be picked up by the MSM.

He could also use his position to contact other media organizations to influence the flow of news.

Please follow me.

I ran across this post here: http://www.rapidcityjournal.com/politicalblog/

Then I got a personal contact from Jeff Gannon himself. He offered a brief, unsolicited email critique of my work on a story about rumors of voter-registration skullduggery in Pennington County. Conservative Web runners were pushing that as a Democratic deal. I was interested in that notion, but found no evidence to make a clear connection in print.

Gannon apparently grew impatient with my work, at least that’s how I took this portion of his email: “Get off your butt and do your job.”

Now, that’s always good advice. But I couldn’t help but wonder what he thought my job was. That became pretty clear recently when I watched Jeff Gannon lob an outrageously ingratiating softball to President Bush during a news conference on C-SPAN.

Jeff Gannon was clearly doing his job, as he sees it. That’s fine, as long as people don’t confuse his job with mine.

How many others did he routinely contact??

Gannon/Guckert had to be part of the whole cycle, so he used Free Republic to focus attention on planted information. In the case of Rathergate for example, Rove had the infamous memo's planted, then had an operative who was also on Free Republic "uncover" the typeface that would be used to discredit the content of the memos. Buckhead does his job (are we really going to believe that an attorney was versed in typeface??) and works hand in hand with Gannon, who dutifully contacts Hannity on the scoop so that it will gain traction quickly.

HANNITY: Now, Jeff Gannon, who is a terrific Washington bureau chief and White House correspondent for Talon News, actually shot me an e-mail today, and he's about to break a story in an exclusive about these CBS documents.

In this case the blogosphere was directly used to plant and spread the information.

In the the Daschle-Thune race Talon was used to start the ball rolling. Gannon reports his scoop and sends the information off to right wing blogs complete with operatives. We know that Thune actually hired right blogs for this purpose. It quickly spreads to the South Dakota Politcs blog where Gannon is referred to as an "investigative reporter from Talon News":

http://southdakotapolitics.blogs.com/south_dakota_politics/tom_daschlehildebrandcampaign/

Shortly after the Club for Growth ads began running, Jeff Gannon, a conservative investigative reporter in Washington, DC, reported on August 13, 2003, that an investigation into DC property records indicated that Senator Daschle was receiving DC's "homestead tax credit" a credit given only to those whose "principal place of residence (domicile)" is in DC. Soon, Bob Novak followed up with a brief report. Then the Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call published a thorough report of the matter under the headlined "Daschle hit on tax break; wife claims 'homestead' exemption."


and

Jeff Gannon, resident DC expert on South Dakota politics, has another report on the burgeoning scandal over Senator Daschle's residency status headlined "Daschles Double Dipping Property Tax Breaks in DC, South Dakota." Meanwhile, DVT points to a new website, www.daschlemansion.com, that contains more details about the Daschle DC mansion at the epicenter of Mansiongate

Talon News first raised questions about the credit in August 2003 following a search of property tax records
http://www.sdakotagop.com/newsdetail.asp?iNewsID=361

Notice how his expertise grows with each report. Also notice how Bob Novak jumped right on the Thune bandwagon. Which begs the coordination of Gannon and Novak since they seemed to work in concert in the Plame case. Is this why Novak seems to be getting a free ride on Plame outing? He's not facing jail time for not revealing his source and the reporters who are either didn't report anything at all or only reported on Novak's outing.


The Windy City Lefty said it first:

There's one other thing that raises our curiosity about who or what is behind "Gannon." It seems that when he wasn't bashing Kerry, he paid a ton of attention to the Thune vs. Daschle Senate race in South Dakota. One blog that seemed to think "Gannon" was an authoritative journalist and linked to at least one of his reports was called "Daschle v. Thune."

If that name sounds familiar, it should. It later was reported that the author of the blog, Jon Lauck, was a former Thune campaign staffer and was paid $27,000 by Thune's 2004 campaign while he was producing the Web site.

The next paragraph summarizes what's really at work here and shows how stories are piped up the line, each time with a byline that gives them just enough credibility for the organization publishing the story to cover itself.

So let us get this straight: The top Democrat in the Senate loses a race where the GOP sets up a phony blog that passes along news reports from a pseudo media organization, written by a reporter given White House credentials under a fake name.

http://www.windycitylefty.com/2005/01/find-jeff-gannon-in-media-whore-family.html

In conclusion, it's evident that Rove has installed a propoganda machine that uses US to spread his message while at the same time attempting to denigrate any blogs with a Democratic view. So bloggers beware!

[LynneSin]

1. Rove is Squealer - just teaching the sheep the new message to bleat

Welcome to Animal Farm

:crazy:

BTW, turns out "Gannon" new about Shock & Awe 4 hours before it happened

[enough]

2. Nice work. (nt)

[deutsey]

3. At first read, this makes a lot of sense.

Thanks for posting it. Very interesting food for thought.

:thumbsup:

[Orangepeel]

4. well, sure. but why HIM

wouldn't there be dozens of little hannity-wannabees that could be installed in the White House Press Corps? Why someone with such a shady past? IMO, there has to be some reason that THIS operative was picked despite the possibility that it could look bad if he was "outed" as a fake.

[deutsey]

7. That's what I don't get.

Blackmailing someone, maybe? :shrug:

[sunnystarr]

11. Personally I think that it's just plain arrogance

They know they have the power and are using it. They could care less if we found out that Guckert was a piece of tail. On the other hand, they are so obviously incompetent on details this may just be another thing to bite them in the ass like post war planning in Iraq and the lack of suffient troops and armour. Maybe that comes with being arrogant.

[Orangepeel]

17. whose piece of tail?

I mean, who with White House connections?

I want that question answered.

It is a shame that the American public doesn't seem to care much about real issues, but it seems that they do care about a juicy sex scandal. If that's what it takes...

[Beetwasher]

18. They Used Him PRECISELY Because Of His Background

and his services. He's knee deep in Roves dirty tricks, from being a blogger plant, pushing Roves propoganda and slime AND probably setting up people for blackmail w/ his escort services etc. Also, he's a TOTAL TOOL and would be PERFECT for the job of phony reporter. Someone who has no problems "role playing" as it were.

They are arrogant enough to believe that they could keep a lid on it and his shady past and connections AND there are probably more like him.

He's a tool and a shill and patsy AND probably banging some WH officials too. He's a part of the deep, dark, secret underbelly of the Bush WH that includes all sorts of dirty tricks AND seedy, bizzarre, deviant sex. He's hooked into it all.

[OzarkDem]

24. Kurtz Interview

Yesterday, Kurtz made what appeared to be veiled threats when inteviewed by Anderson Cooper - references to how everyone in the news media was at risk of having their dirtly laundry aired.

[sojourner]

34. YUP

They already KNOW the MSM is going to do squat. Well they thought they knew that...and I'm frankly amazed to see them take hold of this.

Point 1 -- Who/what did they think would "out" their ringer? Not any "investigative journalists". Arrogance.

I also suspect that the_rove has a contingency plan for everything/everyone. So, we should be very alert for their next move. Notice that they got JimJeff on MSM soon enough with his "I'm a Xtian, saved, made mistakes in personal life - being destroyed for my personal life" whimpering. Make lefty bloggers out to be the evil ones. Expect more along these lines.......don't know what next level will be though.


Point 2 -- I believe there are more like him. Not clones, mind you -- but more ringers and operatives.

[bunny planet]

23. I think it has Pillsbury Roveboy written all over it too. And it's a

double whammy. I think they deliberately picked someone with Gannon/Guckert's 'past' (or deliberately invented it) just in case they got caught on the propaganda angle,they could claim plausible deniability for the preznit and they'd have another unsavory example of the homosexual 'lifestyle' to point to, declare G/G as one of those bad apples who took advantage of the nice folks in the WH, smear gay people and still manage not to get caught themselves. Only question is, which other person will be another fall guy for letting G/G in with a false name and improperly vetted?

[FreedomAngel82]

25. Makes sense

Because why would they have up those escort websites still with his face and naked photos all over it? Are those people who committed on his "services" real? You can make up anything on the web. If they were serious about this whole ordeal wouldn't they make sure to delete things off the web? "Talon News" did his articles after all this started happening... I'm still curious. I also wanted to add he still has to be paying someone back in the Bush administration. Why else would he get access to invite only parties and in the press pool without them knowing this info?

[MADem]

32. The possibility exists that he was one of many

...but I honestly believe that he was there first, because he had a PERSONAL CONNECTION to someone inside the WH, and second, he could fulfill a role as a useful idiot while also maintaining that personal connection. I think the connection is McClellan; but it could be someone higher up. I think Eberle is complicit, I think he was aware of Gannon's PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP, and he was acting on orders when he set up TALON as a front for JimmyJeff. The million dollar question is: who asked Eberle to provide cover for JimmyJeff? Why is the GOP dropping Eberle like a hot potato? He was a loyal foot soldier for so very long...?

Time to start looking closely at those pressers at the Pentagon, at State, at all of the agencies. How many other ringers are out there?

[robbedvoter]

5. And he is only the tip of the iceberg. This started years ago.

Faux is run by former GOP operatives turned 'journalists". Not really new - just got bolder now that they own all bullhorns.

[Roland99]

6. Great find!

[Catamount]

8. Wow, I think you're on to them! But how can one fight such devious

(and incredibly simple)strategies? They must be so widespread after all these years.
Good work and lots of food for thought.

[justiceischeap]

9. So I did a WhoIs on www.daschlemansion.com

And discovered it was registered by this company --> http://www.domainsbyproxy.com/

No way to tell who created it.

[ticapnews]

38. I am registering my web site using this service...

They have a legal disclaimer saying they will not do business with people who (among other things)
• Engage in morally objectionable activities, including but not limited to those which are child pornographic, defamatory, abusive, harassing, obscene, racist, or otherwise objectionable.

If you think this rises to that level legally (I'm not sure it does) email [e-mail] and tell them.

[HereSince1628]

10. You're correct but he also knew about the timing of IRW Shock and Awe

Here is my intuition...

With the inside help from Rove or Dina Powell (sp?) he was fed enough information, and in turn spread it along, to make him a "helpful idiot" for the White House Press Corps. That got the WHPC off his back; they knew he was phony but the accepted him as an embedded leaker whose leaks were often golden.


At that point he would be useful for things like exposing Plame.
And also for feeding out the dirty stories that make running a campaign, whether a senate seat in S.Dakota or a primary in Iowa, that is up against the rovererian machine so painful.

Although Guckert was plenty elastic is his approach to life, the fact that he was completely compromised by his websites was exactly the sort of thing Rovererian manipulators would have wanted and needed.

Guckert was the expendible "lizard's tail," that the GOP dirty tricks machine needed.

The sex stuff is the "twitching" of the discarded tail that attracts the predators while the lizard escapes. It's almost worked. THe story has almost been dismissed as a sex scandel. It isn't. THe story is the Bush/Republican Parties reliance on media manipulation.

The MSM White House Press Corps need to think on this over the weekend. This is maybe the best shot they will have in the next 4 years to redeem themselves. They really ought to take it.

[Eloriel]

14. Yes,a bsolutely -- totally expendable and someone who could

"self destruct," so to speak and the whole scandal (whatever it might be) would become the sex story, NOT whatever there was of more substance underneath.

All that does NOT, however, preclude that Jeff is someone in the WH's sweetie, or sweetie-for-hire.

What we must do is keep pursuing this up the line: HOW did he get in? WHO put him in, pulled the strings for him? WHO fed him inside even classified info? I frankly love the salacious details -- and the utter hypocrisy of the freepers who are going to have a pro-Gannon rally (ROTFLMAO) -- but those details are merely part of the SECURITY lapse, and should not be issues in and of themselves (again, other than the hypocrisy!).

[fob]

21. AND, if he were to get some "side work" with some of the "real" journos

in the WHPC, so much the better for his cover.

[Eloriel]

12. I think you're right, EXCEPT

I'm not so sure it was blogosphere-focused. I think he was just another shill and propaganda errand-boy. But that's a mere quibble.

Well done. Maybe you would be interested in taking rawstory DUer who posted (lala rawraw or somethign like that) who posted in my thread that s/he wanted someone to write up the details. Yours are ever so much more than mine were anyway:

GANNON / ROVE / RATHER connection
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=1603949#

[yellowcanine]

13. I think Rove was Gannon's contact but can it ever be proven???

Rove has always escaped accountability in the past - his minions always seem to be willing to protect him. If Gannon is the link on the Plame thing, though, we may just have him this time. Gannon had better stay out of small planes.

[Goldmund]

15. But a question is still begging to be asked...

WHY JEFF GANNON??? Why a male prostitute? Couldn't he have found somebody less, um, volatile?

[grace0418]

16. Unless KKKarl used his services and needed to keep him from

blabbing. You never know.

[Disturbed]

19. Another theory.

Rove set thing thing up but left it to others to work on the details. Gannon via some contact volunteered. He wasn't vetted. They didn't know about his other job and his Web Sites. He was advertising all the while that he was acting as a reporter, even before Talon was created to provide that he was an "actual reporter". Sometimes the simplest explanation is the actual one.

[sandnsea]

29. No, the gay stuff was to blackmail Gannon

If things ever got too hot and Gannon wanted to do his own "Deep Throat", Karl would have the gay prostitution to keep Gannon quiet. It backfired.

[bklyncowgirl]

30. This makes sense

Gannon was travelling in RW circles where I doubt they'd like being publicly associated with an escort who catered to closeted gay men with military fantasies.

Rove (or Rove's agent--I tend to doubt the bastard ever handled Jimmy-Jeff personally--although we can all dream)intended to use his not so secret life to control him just in case he decided to bail on them.

Of couse it could be a monumental screw up sort of like in that movie "Wag the Dog" where the soldier they set up as a hero turns out to be a convicted murderer. I mean these guys tried to get Kerik into the homeland security job despite some rather damaging evidence on him (or was that a plot to neutralize Guiliani--I haven't made up my mind about that.

[Kota]

31. If Gannon starts squealing they can say he has no credibility.

[Beetwasher]

35. It Just FIT. It Seemed Like A Good Idea

He was involved w/ these guys doing their "fixing" and dirty work and blackmail, maybe he then decided to start his own little side business and Rove et al weren't totally aware of it (the websites) or maybe that too was a part of their operations and they were a bit sloppy? He was involved in the support network that fulfilled Bushco.'s secret (possibly deviant) sexual urges. He was probably banging someone high up and they decided that he would be a good fit for the phony WH reporter role. Maybe he's GOOD at roleplaying and soomeone who would know that figured it was a match. A whore is a whore is a whore. It fits that they would use a whore to, well, whore.

[Vinca]

20. I think, in this instance, you're giving Rove too much credit.

IMHO, Gannon/Guckert/Bulldog/What's-his-face began life, pure and simple, as a plant. A smarmy, bald island in the stormy sea of press people where anyone needing an easy out could call on "Jeff" and be assured the moment would turn into a virtual love fest. I haven't a clue who "Jeff" might have been doing to worm his way (poor choice of words) into the press corps, but I can't believe anyone in their right mind would bring a male prostitute in as a ringer unless, of course, they were "in love." Somehow I think a blogger will find out and let us know.

[hootinholler]

22. Well, I still think that all this is gravy not meat...

Gannon was a tarbaby working his way up and into the elites of media and power. Everyone he touches in a 'meaningful' way is compromised and then has a string that is able to be pulled. That leaves the question of his reporting and tip-line. Which I view as busy work and research to get an in. It served a purpose so that work wasn't lost totally whilst they waited for some to get stuck.

-Hoot

[EFerrari]

26. My theory: Gannon got a dangerous job

in the propaganda machine because HE would become the story if he was found out.

[rumpel]

27. the fall guy, like so many...

[Dr Fate]

28. Which family-values Republicans did Gannon have sex with?

That is the real question!

[DU GrovelBot]

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[Vinnie From Indy]

36. We shouldn't discard the obvious!

It could be that somebody was getting banged by Gaggin' Jimmy Jeff Guckert Gannon Bulldog MellenCougar and let their lust override their common sense. It could be blackmail, though these guys would probably just have iced him and gone back to eating breakfast. It could be that after a rousing bout under the sheets the lovers discussed ways to implement an evil plan to manufacture and push propaganda. As they lay stroking each other's pasty skin in the afterglow, they devised a "project" for JJ. It is all so sordid and wonderful!!!

[fresnobill314]

37. Who is holding Gannon's leash?

This guy has been running lose around the West Wing for several years now before he started being noticed by the bloggers. That is a lot of time to gather information and inflict damage on a whole score of issues.

Gannon must have some pretty sizable and damaging information for so many agencies and organizations to remain absolutely quiet on this story.

The homophobic Christian Right has not uttered a peep about a gay prostitute in the White House Press Corp.

The Dept. of Defence, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Pentagon have not made one objection to a fake reporter who sell his services as a "military stud."

Right-wing journalists like Pat Buchanan are giving this Gannon a free pass on his back story.

There is way more to Gannon than just propaganda. This guy is a scandal of nuclear proportions. Someone needs to grab this guy, stick him in a well-lit room, pump him full of truth serum, and get him to talk. Now that's a story!

I would not be surprised to find out that Sun Myung Moon is behind all this.

[robbedvoter]

39. Here's Frank Rich on the system:

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/021905Z.shtml
    By my count, "Jeff Gannon" is now at least the sixth "journalist"to have been a propagandist on the payroll of either the Bush administration or a barely arms-length ally like Talon News while simultaneously appearing in print or broadcast forums that purport to be real news. Of these six, two have been syndicated newspaper columnists paid by the Department of Health and Human Services to promote the administration's "marriage" initiatives. The other four have played real newsmen on TV. Before Guckert and Armstrong Williams, the talking head paid $240,000 by the Department of Education, there were Karen Ryan and Alberto Garcia. Let us not forget these pioneers - the Woodward and Bernstein of fake news.

[nashville_brook]

40. i think you are spot-on, but

i also think that the nature of who Gannon is -- Bulldog -- gives us insight into the level of operations these people have. this is small time crime. Gannon is probably going to "suicide" himself, eventually. It's the Buggery Mafia and that is a juicy story. That is the story Rove would want to push b/c is discredits everyone and it keeps the "enemy" is defense mode.

see my post:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x1608728