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When anything happens that embarrasses Republicans, rightwing parrots don't have to wait long to get their scripts so they'll know how to react. There's now a popular distortion, advanced by people from Andy Sullivan to David "Korn" (sic), that goes something like this:
"Sure it may bring up questions of security, media propagandizing, vetting processes and standards for White House press credentials when someone working for a partisan organization under a phony name with a questionable background and no credentials asks planted questions, BUT LEFTWING BLOGGERS ARE MAKING IT ALL ABOUT GANNON'S PERSONAL SEX LIFE!!"
What usually follows is some variation on four deductions from that:
1. Leftwing Bloggers are homophobic and hypocritical; 2. What if we subjected all reporters to scrutiny of their personal lives? Let's not set a precedent here; 3. What's wrong with a question that reflects a point of view? The Librul Media does it all the time; 4. Lots of people use pseudonyms.
No doubt now that the script has been refined, it's all we'll hear IF or when anybody talks about it on tomorrow's TV "news" shows.
Facts to be ignored are the things that follow "Sure it may bring up questions that..." Such as, Jim/Jeff is NOT a journalist, did NOT work for a real news source, did NOT have any credentials, and did NOT use his real name... Oh yes, and his so-called "personal life" involved breaking the law.
Now imagine this scenario: What if a straight guy named Bob Johnson got into the press briefings posing as a journalist and asked fishy questions; but it later turned out his real name was Bill Jones, he sold pot for a living, had no journalistic credentials, and was a shill for a GOP website that isn't even a news organization? It'd be pretty much the same thing (except his websites wouldn't be pornographic). Would they look into it then? Or would they say we leftwing bloggers are making this all about pot?
Okay, now let's change the equation in one more way: "Bob Johnson," phony journalist/pot dealer gets into the White House briefings but he asks questions like, "The preznit is talking about spreading democracy throughout the middle east by invading and creating wars; how can Europe work with people like him who are divorced from reality?" Turns out he's shilling for a Democratic website, ya see... Oh yeah -- THEN it'd be an issue.THEN they'd investigate it. THEN they'd have a problem with phony credentials, illegal activities, shilling, and press passes.
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