Open Thread

Just watched the Daily Show. It was hysterical. Top story on Gannon, then they did an entire other segment on it. Hopefully Crooks and Liars or someone else can get it. I have it on TIVO, but those boys are so much better at video than I am. Let me know if someone posts it up, so I can link to it. Was fabulous. And make sure you get the moment of Zen, it too was about Gannon. Read the rest of this post...

Welcome Comedy Central Viewers

Welcome Comedy Central viewers who might be finding us for the first time! John's original investigative post can be found here. Read our posts, join our discussions, and please visit again.

Consider this an OPEN THREAD. Read the rest of this post...

I'm back, was at a screening of "Gunner Palace"

Got done with Court TV and went to a pre-screen of a new movie, Gunner Palace. It's good. Kind of a documentary about daily life with the soldiers in Iraq. The director was clearly not in favor of the war, so don't worry, the movie won't tick you off. It could have used a bit of editing, feels a bit long, and very occasionally a bit hokey, but it really was quite interesting, and funny at parts too. It's worth a see.

As for Court TV. I found out 20 seconds before we started that I was apparently debating someone else. That was a bit of a surprise. Catherine Crier was amazing, as you've probably already seen. She gets it. As for that other guy. I'm not sure if he knew what side he was arguing. This case raises serious issues, he tells us, but also shows how bad the word of the liberal bloggers is. Why? He never tells us.

He does inform us, rather pedantically at that, that Gannon's day-pass security clearance was different from the security clearance he and I had to get for our top secret clearances. No shit Sherlock. That's my point. To get daily access to the White House for 2 years you HAVE to get a hard pass. To get the hard pass you have to get an FBI background check that takes 3-4 months, and involves filling out scary as shit paperwork about your life for the past 10+ years. When I got my security clearance while working on the Hill, they talked to my relatives in Greece. They grilled me about my student loans, even though I was paying them just fine. Gannon, on the other hand, didn't have to get the kind of background check we got, simply because he skirted the system. He operated under a daily pass while having a de facto hard pass. And had he gotten the FBI background check he should have had for such regular access, there is no chance in a million years a hooker $20,000 in debt to the state, and in default, would get that clearance. So anyone who tries to say these facts aren't relevant, when it's these very facts that, had they been known, would have excluded Gannon from the White House, is smoking something.

Of course, there's an easy way to resolve if everything the blogosphere has discovered is much-ado-about-nothing. Simply ask the White House if, knowing what they know now, they would extend Gannon another daily pass. Then tell me with a straight face that what we've uncovered is irrelevant. Read the rest of this post...

Gannon in White House Briefing Room Before Talon News Existed

Kudos to Intelligence Squad for finding this and Kossacks for getting the screen grab up so quickly, as well as nailing down all the verifiable points. The screen grab is from the C-SPAN Web site White House Daily Briefing from February 28, 2003 here (RealVideo clip). Fast forward to 32:05 and there he is.



Well well well. Look at that, it's "Jeff"!

So then, what an interesting question we have, huh? "Jeff Gannon" is sitting in the White House briefing room with absolutely no media organization affiliation. (But some live and active escort sites!) Just how does that happen?

Not by accident, that's how.

On the Intelligence Squad post, "Gannon" posts with a link to GOPUSA. Is that a "news" outlet? Not by my definition it's not.

So Scott McClellan, answer me this -- what was "Jeff Gannon" doing in the White House briefing room before he worked for Talon? Why was he given access in the first place? And of course, how did he get the Valerie Plame information?

Lots of questions that should be asked at tomorrow's daily briefing. Any members of the traditional media feel like asking these questions yet or shall the blogs continue to do your job?

-- Rob in Baltimore

UPDATE: Now that I've had some time to go through the video more closely, I highly encourage everyone to look at it. I have my own take on how uncomfortable "Jeff" looks. He's looking to his left and right like he's doing something and he's about to get caught. But judge for yourself. View it here. Start at 31:45.

UPDATE 2: For due diligence, I decided to look up when talonnews.com was created.

Domain Name: TALONNEWS.COM
Registrar: NETWORK SOLUTIONS, LLC.
Whois Server: whois.networksolutions.com
Referral URL: http://www.networksolutions.com
Name Server: NS1.DATAPIPE.NET
Name Server: NS2.DATAPIPE.NET
Status: REGISTRAR-LOCK
Updated Date: 07-feb-2005
Creation Date: 29-mar-2003
Expiration Date: 29-mar-2006

The C-SPAN link above is from February 28, 2003. Twenty nine days later talonnews.com was created. Read the rest of this post...

Video of John's appearance on CourtTV this afternoon

Thanks to Crooks and Liars, you can view John's appearance on CourtTV today. Click here. Read the rest of this post...

Prostitution - the oldest profession

I'm not really sure why the media keeps thinking that this is about Jeff Gannon's "private life." Need I remind them that prostitution has been called "the oldest profession"? Read the rest of this post...

Welcome CourtTV Viewers

Welcome CourtTV viewers who might be visiting for the first time! John's original investigative post can be found here. Read our posts, join our discussions, and please visit again.

Consider this an OPEN THREAD. Read the rest of this post...

I'm on Court TV at 5:25PM EST or so

With Catherine Crier.

PS Rumor has it we may have raised the terror alert to threat level pink. Read the rest of this post...

Sanctimonious bullshit for the Hotline

The Hotline is a big inside-the-beltway publication read by all.

Amid the semi-hysteria over the blogosphere's growing influence, one important question has been left largely unanswered: Does anything go? -- Bloggers have claimed credit for at least helping to bring down several journos in recent months -- Dan Rather and Mary Mapes at CBS, CNN's Eason Jordan and conservative WH reporter James "Jeff Gannon" Guckert. All three episodes featured ideological bloggers either uncovering new facts about these folks or raising questions about their work. But the Guckert episode alone has included a focus on his personal life. -- The cry from bloggers and voices on the left is: How does an (apparent) gay prostitute get (alleged) access to classified gov't documents? (Wouldn't Bob Barr have already called for a special prosecutor if this were 1997?) But if Guckert's personal life is an issue, are the private lives of all reporters now fair game? Aside from issues like Guckerts, legal records, financial matters and even pure gossip could offer a wealth of targets for those web warriors with a grudge. Where does it end, and who's next? Does this mean reporters now know what life's like for a political candidate?

More blah blah blah about Jeff Gannon's private life being offlimits. Let's all say it again, loud and clear. Jeff's previous job, and apparently current job since the Web sites are still live, is not his private life any more than outing Hotline reporters as, well, Hotline reporters is their private life. Whether they like or not, whether I like it or not, running a prostitution service goes against every family value that this administration and Guckert supposedly stand for.

Where was the high-and-mighty Hotline when George Bush, with the help of buddies like Guckert, tried to write me and 20 million of my friends out of the Constitution last year? Where was Accuracy in Media, the conservative bloggers, and everyone else who is defending Guckert's "private life" when my private life was going to singled out and savaged in our nation's most sacred document simply to get a few votes?

You've got a lot of nerve, Hotline. The entire GOP and its mainstream media sympathizers have a lot of nerve. We're talking about a hooker getting special access to the White House, the president, and intelligence information, and somehow everyone has suddenly discovered a conscience about homosexuals and hookers. Oh how I wish that conscience were real. But it's not. Bash a fag, bash a whore, and the GOP eats it all up. They throw us to their hateful, bigoted religious right buddies for votes with glee, while Mary Cheney cowers in the corner and Ken Mehlman runs for the shelter of the off-the-record quote.

Well newsflash Washington. The GOP is the one that rose gay-bashing and gay-baiting and sex-baiting to an art, and JeffJimGuckertGannon willingly joined the family values parade in print and in passion. They're trying to ban condoms, pornography, AIDS education. They take children away from gays, and want to make our very lives a crime. GOP Senators compare us to kleptomaniacs, alcoholics, and man-dog sex. And they can't even handle a bronze breast on a statue.

And we're the ones picking a fight over sex.

Spare me your sanctimonious bullshit now that those of us in the gay community and on the left have finally - finally - started to fight fire with fire by simply holding you to the very standards you legislate over us. We are simply giving the GOP the sex-less utopia it's always wanted. How does it feel?

Oh, gee, the Hotline warns, this might establish a precedent. Really? You mean the GOP might respond by using our sex lives against us as a weapon to destroy us and curry votes with bigots?

I don't like this battle, I don't enjoy this battle. I hate this battle. But the battle began years ago, and until now, we sat back and watched and waited and hoped it would go away. Well it's not going away. We have a choice. We can sit back and watch the GOP sex police destroy us. Or we can fight back. And I can think of nothing more poetic, nothing more just, than fighting back by simply holding them to their own standards.

PS And don't even get me started on Valerie Plame. Read the rest of this post...

Help name Sean Hannity's puppy

No, that's not a euphemism (though that could make a fun contest too - the little soldier, the minuteman missile...).

It's for real. Hannity wants folks to help him name his little puppy. Go to ThinkProgress.org and make some suggestions (there's some kind of prize), and post some suggestions here as well, for either puppy.

PS Finally a liberal group with some snark :-) Read the rest of this post...

Thanks, Barbara

Barbara Boxer got 4500 roses on Valentines Day as thanks for her work well-done challenging the Bush appointees. From what I recall, this was an online effort spearheaded by a constituent of hers, Stacy Davies of Claremont, CA, and I'm pretty sure the flowers were sent by folks on the Net.

Very cool.


(Photo courtesy of DailyKos.com) Read the rest of this post...

Could Gannon be turned?

Steve Clemons asks a fascinating question. Could Gannon be turned, a la David Brock, to work for the forces of Good? Redeem his name by coming clean about what he knows about Valerie Plame? Prove that he's not anti-gay by coming to the aid of the gay community and exposing the Bush cartel?

It's a bit far-fetched, but maybe not. Gannon says he's a Christian and a rather devout one at that. Perhaps his faith will lead him to do the right thing and come clean. Read the rest of this post...

Republicans Make Up Sex Scandals

The hand-wringing over the Gannon/Guckert scandal has been interesting to watch. Because there is a sex aspect, people are backing off.

Yet, just down the road from D.C., Republican officials in Maryland manufactured a sex scandal about a Democratic official. Made it up. A staffer to Maryland Governor Bob Ehrlich resigned because of the rumors that were being spread about Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley.

There is an op-ed in yesterday's Baltimore Sun that does a good job of explaining the mess the Maryland GOP created:

Now we're waiting for Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. to say he's sorry because a member of his administration aggressively nurtured and spread repulsive lies about Mayor Martin O'Malley and a phony-baloney affair Mr. O'Malley did not have.

Relatively, that's not such a big deal. The casualties of Mr. Bush's war in Iraq are enormous. The casualties from the contemptible campaign of Joseph F. Steffen Jr., the Ehrlich aide who gleefully put the dirty talk on the Web, are not that many. But they are some of the most decent people in Maryland.

Mayor O'Malley, for one, has had to live with these rumors. He's a tough guy, and he probably can take it. But what about his wife, Judge Katie Curran O'Malley? I've met her only a couple of times, but from those encounters and from what I've read, I know her to be a sweet, decent lady. The woman has been abused by the behavior of Mr. Ehrlich's aide. And what about the four O'Malley children? They've been abused, too.

So, on the one hand, we have a story about an apparent male prostitute, with close ties to the GOP, who had access to the Valerie Plame affair, working out of the White House press briefing room. But that's too much.

On the other hand, GOP operatives in Maryland are spreading false sexually oriented rumors about a Democratic Mayor. They create a story based on lies and the press savors it. The Gannon/Guckert scandal, which has implications for national security, scares people off.

Huh??? Read the rest of this post...

Morning open thread

I was reading the comments about the Post article over at Democratic Underground and they seem to think the article was terrible. I so don't agree. This article broached the topic that must not be named for the mainstream media. Now they can name it. He put in some good quotes from me. He put Wonkette as my opposition - and I love Wonkette, but her getting naked quote pretty much helps me in terms of showing her criticism as more in line with her usual fun style. He put my blog address in the article, so now people can come here and see for themselves. He quoted me saying the Gannon qua Gannon story is over, which shows we aren't out to destroy this guy, it quotes me saying this is about a bigger story, the White House. Then he closes the story with the White House, again leaving that in the reader's mind.

I'm telling you, this is a good story. Read the rest of this post...

Welcome Washington Post readers!

The story you're looking for is here. Then afterwards, come back to this home page if you want further updates. And if you're good Democrats with lots of cash and a desire to finally fight back, hire me :-) Read the rest of this post...

New charges coming soon against UK troops in Iraq

The Brits are digging up graves in Iraq to be evaluated for charges of murder of civilians after complaints by Iraqis. This comes as we wait to hear the results of a court martial under way for abuse of Iraqi prisoners by British troops. Read the rest of this post...

Sex sells for the Bush administration

Despite cuts just about everywhere else, the ridiculous "abstinence only" programs are receiving a windfall of cash to promote what has proven to be a waste of money. Hmm, then again this administration seems to love those types of programs. As the horse trading goes on with this budget, it's only a matter of time before the clowns in the White House start bragging again about how well abstinence only programs work in Uganda, a country known for democratic purity, lack of corruption and precise scientific studies. Naturally the US and Uganda also have so many similar cultural and historical traits so any study in Uganda (assuming the results are actually what they say they are) would easily transfer to the US. Maybe we can just outsource the entire FDA to Uganda as well since they're just a rubber stamp for Big Pharmaceutical. Read the rest of this post...

GREAT Washington Post story on Gannon hustler sites

An amazing story by Howard Kurtz. It's totally fair, presents both sides, and spells the entire story out. Only one mistake - the escort site was live until May 2003, not March. I.e., AFTER he started covering the White House. And other profiles remain live to this day.

A really great story. And this totally breaks the story open. Once the Washington Post covers it, it's difficult for others to say it's off-limits.

And you were all saying about how journalists never do the right thing... :-) Read the rest of this post...

Great Joe Conason piece too

When it rains, it pours. Read the rest of this post...