http://hartfordadvocate.com/gbase/News/content?oid=oid:101115The Dean of Dirt
Gannon/Guckert is the new Monica Lewinsky
by Alan Bisbort - February 24, 2005
Originally I'd wanted to write about the ascendancy of Howard Dean as the leader, driving force and public face of the Democratic Party. I had wanted to explain why this is a good thing -- good, that is, if you believe a two-party system can still be rescued from this corporate war-state of America. In the parlance of the alcoholic, the Democratic Party bottomed out over the past four years. It woke up on the morning of March 20, 2003, hungover and unable to remember what it had done the night before ... until family members explained how it let George W. Bush get his illegal Iraqi war on. Rather than standing up to the most corrupt, mendacious and malicious regime in American history, Democrats chose to keep drinking on the taxpayers' tab.
Beyond simply disappearing or becoming Republican, as per our own Joe Lieberman, the party couldn't go any lower. Once it hit bottom, the Democratic rank-and-file sought help, turning to Harry Reid -- who, though no flaming progressive, has shown more backbone in the past five weeks since being picked Senate minority leader than Tom Daschle did in five years -- and to Howard Dean. A lot of ground has to be made up, and quickly. The race is on for the midterm Congressional races in 2006 (isn't there a real Democrat who can take on Lieberman in the primary?). Judging from his enemies, Howard Dean may be the only one left, of any political stature, who can pull this off. If you can judge a man by those who attack him, Howard Dean has all the right enemies. Just in the past week, he's been slimed by the likes of Rush Limbaugh, Cokie Roberts and Ken Mehlman.
With that said -- and a wish to pursue this positive development in a later column -- something else has reared its ugly head that demands to be addressed. It, or he, goes by the alias "Jeff Gannon," though his real name is Jim Guckert. Jeff/Jim is the new Monica Lewinsky. That is, he possesses no discernible talent, no professional experience, and no legitimate venue (a Republican Party-funded website called Talon News) and yet he's intimate with the president.
much more.......