Top House Dems ask GAO to investigate Gannon scandal, suggest subpoena

[Goldmund]

BREAKING NEWS: Top House Judiciary and House Rules Dems ask GAO to investigate Gannon scandal, suggest Fitzgerald subpoena Gannon's daily journal!


Now both the House and Senate Dems are getting involved in the scandal.

Today, Reps. John Conyers (Ranking Member, House Judiciary Committee) and Louise Slaughter (Ranking Member, House Rules Committee) have asked the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to include Jeff Gannon/James Guckert in an investigation of "whether the Administration violated the ban on prepackaged news stories by siphoning print stories to James D. Guckert, also known as "Jeff Gannon."

You can see a pdf of the letter here.

And just as good, Conyers and Slaughter wrote to US Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, who is investigating the outing of CIA agent Valerie Plame, today letting him know that he might want to subpoena Gannon's daily diary, the existence of which became known yesterday, thanks to Editor & Publisher.

You can see that letter here.

This totally rocks.


www.americablog.org

[readmoreoften]

1. thank you to the dems who do their jobs! n/t

[rodeodance]

2. "suggest Fitzgerald subpoena Gannon's daily journal!"--what are these?

[Goldmund]

3. Read the letter, they explain inside

[KoKo]

4. Well...no one's heard from "Fitz" in ages...... It's hard to remember

there's even an investigation going on about "Who Leaked Valerie Plame's Name."

Silence of crickets chirping from "Fitz." :shrug:

[Name removed]

5. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[THUNDER HANDS]

6. well, I, for one, want to subpoena this cucumber

and yes, i want to know if the Grand Old Party is the Gay old Party because they use anti-gay attacks as a means to win over the hardworking poor people in American who can't grasp their heads around economic policy but know what anal sex is.

[forgethell]

71. That

kind of condescension is really going to win over the "hardworking poor people in American who can't grasp their heads around economic policy but know what anal sex is".

If this is an important issue to them, they will continue to support this issue while abandoning those who violate their code of morals. Unless this can be tied to *, it is only going to make us look like bigoted gay-bashers.

[Goldmund]

8. The gay thing is a small, tiny aspect of the story.

This is a really big story with all sorts of implications. Read more about it, please.

[Kilroy003]

12. I've read most of the posts about it here and elsewhere.

This thing has legs in the pissed off Dem community but none elsewhere. Seriously, what's the story?

Jeff Gannon (aka James Guckert) asked a silly softball question on the morning of January 26th, saying that Democratic Senators had divorced themselves from reality, and we all got upset. Aside from the fact that, as Americans, we've all divorced ourselves from reality, who the hell cares what this little fucker has to say. Who gives a fuck about Talon News and GOP USA? Do you really think those pseudo-news outlets changed the way any rational voter perceives US politics? Only redneck assholes and dip-shit republicans read that shit until you guys and Atrios started talking about it everyday. I know Ari and Scotty let him into the press room (probably because he's tag team anal fucked both Karl Rove and Bobby Eberly), but so what. It's their press room. The story today about his coordination with the Thune campaign is interesting and all, but wouldn't it have been more effective to talk about it back in October? Really, other than the fact that this story is kinda fun to read about, what are we trying to uncover? If people are retarded enough to think Bush and his GOP cronies are good for the country, do you really think a long, involved diatribe on the evil history of one little gigolo is going to sway them?

[Goldmund]

13. I'm not going to write the summary of the story over again

but you just don't get the jist of it. His softball questions have NOTHING to do with it. The main reason the story should be investigated is because it POSES MORE QUESTIONS THAN IT PROVIDES ANSWERS. Beyond whether Gannon was fucking Rove, and beyond how exactly he was let in there... More like, WHY was he let in there? To ask sofball questions? Any Joe Freeper would have loved to oblige. Why have this ticking timebomb in there? How did he get all of these stories? Another incredibly important aspect is that THIS GUY SEEMS TO HAVE BEEN CONNECTED WITH PEOPLE ON THE VERY TOP -- Thune, Plame, Shock & Awe all point to that. Why? Why Jeff Gannon? And if Jeff Gannon, why have him exposed in the WH press room? What's the process by which their propaganda works? HOW was he let past Secret Service? HOW COME whoever he was fucking, or not fucking, can OVER RIDE the security checks mandated by law? etc, etc, etc. HOW COME the media knew but said nothing? HOW DEEP does the WH control of the media go? HOW DEEP does the WH control over law enforcement go?

Gannon is just a flashlight. He's irrevant. But he leads us to the inner workings of this gang.

On Edit: And no, it's not "their press room". It's OUR press room, which we use to find out what the government is doing with our tax dollars and in our name. This idea that the WH is "theirs" is typical proto-fascist Republican garbage.

[Kilroy003]

35. He may lead us to the inner workings of this gang...

If that fails, he might lead some of you straight into the obscure annals of conspiracy theorist nut-houses.

I get it; Gannon could be the key to uncovering the whole cabal of the Bush White House (aka Karl's Joint), the Prostrate Fourth Estate and the Fascist Shadow Government. He might also just be the whipping boy of Rove's whipping boy. Who knows?

If it turns out were just wrong about WH control over media and the media actually does everything it does or doesn't do to positively affect the bottom line (as I think most people assume already), then what? I suppose really there's nothing wrong with spending 2005 reacting to Jeff Gannon and his illicit trail of anecdotes. Hey, there will be plenty of time to pick up and dust off the mantle of proactive democracy before the midterm elections, right?

If you think the DU'ers and the bloggers can take down the criminals, I say go for it. Let me know when you have some answers to your many, many questions. In the meantime, I'll be walking my precinct knocking on doors and asking everyone, "have you ever heard of this Jeff Gannon guy that the media won't touch?".

No just kidding, I'll ask them if they've registered to vote and if they plan on voting in 2006. I'll ask them if they have heard that Mark Dayton decided not to run for the MN senate seat again. I'll find out if they know anything about Mike Erlandson or the field of other potential candidates. You know, grassroots democracy type stuff; the stuff that might actually win an election.

[Goldmund]

36. It's great that you do what you do

But equivalently to what you're telling me, I could tell you this: "yeah, you may go on and win an election. But what if you're wrong? What if the voting machines are rigged? What if the media is so controlled that there is NO WAY that the voters will ever find out the sufficient amount of truth to see this gang for who they are? What if the propaganda is too pervasive? What if before you ever get a chance to vote, this gang bypasses all lawful procedures and starts WW3?" See my point? What you're doing isn't enough. What I'm doing (and other people temproarily consumed with Gannon) isn't enough. Traditional "pro-active democracy" WORKS NO LONGER on its own, because we don't have a TRADITIONAL GOVERNMENT. We have a gang. A cabal. And we're never going to get rid of them unless we can expose at least a part of their inner workings.

[Kilroy003]

38. I see your point.

I just have little faith in our ability to expose much to anyone besides ourselves. If the media has degraded into an arm of the Bush cabal, who will ever know?

You could stand on top of the tallest building in town and scream all day about this or that scandal and the proof you've found to support what most of us here suspect already. Assuming the current, non-traditional, criminal executive doesn't have you killed or the building you're shouting from razed to the ground, you still would be unable to sway those who refuse to listen. Those people will decide who to support based on the things they actually care about; Jeff Gannon, apparently, isn't one of those things. If it were, it would be on the front page.

You're trying to convince me to take up the cause, and it's one I believe in, but I'm still fighting it because I don't think in my heart it will bear any fruit.

The voting machines are rigged, we just have to make the public will so apparent that no amount of tampering could circumvent it. (I know, a little simplified, but hey...)

BTW, what lawful procedure still exists to prevent WW3?

[Goldmund]

41. "If it were, it would be on the front page."

Well, I'll give in and repeat the tired cliche -- Watergate was a "third-rate burglary" far from front pages for a while. But more importantly, you say "Those people will decide who to support based on the things they actually care about" and then you go on to say that the front page is a reflection of what they actually care about. I think you have it backwards: most care about whatever is on the front page. Otherwise, you're asserting that the media is actually fair; it is not.

This is, right now, a battle to GET this out to the front pages.

"You're trying to convince me to take up the cause, and it's one I believe in, but I'm still fighting it because I don't think in my heart it will bear any fruit. "

I'm not trying to convince to you take up the cause. It sounds like you already have a cause, and it's a good one -- but don't knock mine, that's all. Neither you nor I will be able to do anything with our causes without the other.

"BTW, what lawful procedure still exists to prevent WW3?"

Well, the same ones that existed to prevent the Gulf of Tonkin from happening, for example. Also, the ones that say that the Congress shall declare war, not the Executive. Obviously, both of these, and many more, have been circumvented in the past... But the stakes are much higher now. And not only do we need to be vigilant, but we need to dig, furiously, before it's too late.

[TNOE]

40. Watergate was only a bunch of bungling burglers too

or so that's what we were told initially - no story there. But that story took down Nixon. I don't know if this point has been made - but I'm posting and running to a meeting! Just had to say that.

[Bridget Burke]

16. The story is about the Bush administration manipulating the Press.

Although the Republicans have tried to use the "Democrats are homophobes" argument.

We need more pissed off Democrats.

[Selteri]

17. Wow, that's just what the repukes are saying in defense.

[bettyellen]

23. if you think it's "their pressroom" then you don't get it.

[Kilroy003]

43. Do you or I, or any other person besides

Scotty, have any say as to what goes on in that room?

Until the Dems win back the WH, the pressroom belongs to the criminals.

I know that's not the way it's supposed to be, but that's the way it is.

[saracat]

30. Well it seems to me" the evil history" of a solitary blowjob

was used to impeach a sitting president ! Why should we give this administration a pass? Whats good for the goose is good for the gander. And BTW, what makes you think that most people actually voted for the chimp, and its OUR pressroom , not "theirs"!

[uppityperson]

9. Trying to prove the hypocricy, lieing and manipulation of the WH

It's not about sex, that's just the hook. (so to speak)

[HereSince1628]

10. Crikey! This is about the WH avoiding accountability by

manipulation of the media. And Accountability is the GAO's middle name...literally.

Elected representative government fails if the electorate is always and completely misled.

Gannongate is just one of a handful of recent episodes. And on top of that we know that Bush has spent the last several years in his bubble of controlled access audiences.

You might be able to argue that security concerns justify manipulating an audience, but manipulating the press denies the press its guarantee of freedom and also denies the electorate a chance to make informed decisions.

[Bouncy Ball]

15. Hmm, you haven't been paying much attention to the Gannon story

have you? Anyone who thinks this is still about one guy who is a hypocrite stopped paying attention round about the second day of this.

[Goldmund]

19. Exactly.

[LibertyorDeath]

37. I want it on the Front page of the NYT

"If there's a picture out there of Dennis Hastert with a cucumber stuck halfway up his ass, I don't want to see it"

In full colour on the Jumbo Tron in Time Square.

These hypocritical shits need to pay.

[uppityperson]

7. wow, good job. Slowly, slowly, drip drip drip gush!

[Sleepless In NY]

11. Great job and they should support Waxman reopening the 9/11

investigation too. They should go after bush with everything they've got. Dems have been too passive & silent for way too long & it's cost them. Good to see them fighting back.

[sidwill]

26. Don't mean to be a pessimist but...

Does anybody truly believe that a congressional investigation will come out of this?

The pukes own both houses, the courts, they manipulate the media through the right wing wurlitzer AND vi the corporate monopoly.

This will be a bump in the road for the Bushies, only an election that puts us in the majority in at least one house of congress will make a difference.

[SpiralHawk]

14. As the Moon waxes full in the sign of the Virgin

The first blush of ripeness

[ClayZ]

29. I feel a change a commin' too!

bu*h protest in Europe have lifted my spirit. Welcome is a BIG word, and he is not.

[Catherine Vincent]

18. Kewl!

[Pachamama]

20. Thank Gawd for the existence of the GAO! (And Conyers & Slaughter)

and the rest of the minority of Gov't Representatives willing to investigate this outragous situation....

Thanfully there is the GAO tocall upon these days, especially in light of how the GOP being the majority in the house and Senate don't even allow things to come to the floor for debate or investigation since it is all under their control.

Its probably the last resort any of us have these days to investigate the massive fraud and wrongdoings by this administration.

[blue4barb]

42. New entry in Conyers' blog 2/23/05 at 3:30pm.

Topic is Gannon/Talon and he also mentions the Plame connection. Rep. Conyers is unmatched in his investigative work, and I give him my utmost respect for following up on crucial stories such as Gannongate and election fraud that most other officials won't touch.

http://www.johnconyers.com (Click on Conyersblog)

Thank You, Patriot: http://shadowbox.i8.com/patriot.htm

[Pachamama]

49. I agree - John Conyers is a true Patriot! n/t

:kick:

[Nothing Without Hope]

21. This diary's existence became known YESTERDAY? I smell ROVE

Certainly it needs to be investigated, but it is just too convenient for words that this magical diary full of juicy secrets not only EXISTS but became known YESTERDAY, at time when it is looking like the "Gannon" story is becoming more widely known.

I would caution that this coincidental discovery may well be a Rovian plant to distract and derail real investigations of this and other blivet** cartel scandals. It's just too pat, like the planted documents in Rathergate.

So look at the thing, but don't fall for bait to the extent of overrelying on its authenticity without thorough checks.

[Goldmund]

22. It wasn't a "discovery"

it was Gannon himself singing.

[Beetwasher]

24. Which Is Why This "Diary" Should Be EXTREMELY SUSPECT

How did I just know there would be a diary. I knew it. I totally knew it.

[Goldmund]

25. I totally agree.

Everything in this story is suspect, starting from its very base: On the one hand, you have the "evil genius" Rove who never leaves anything to chance; on the other, you have that same Rove putting a ticking timebomb for all to see in the WH press room, instead of getting some clueless Freeper, if all he wanted was a public boot-licking. Why?

That question is, to me, one of the most fascinating ones.

[Mandate My Ass]

28. IMHO Rove leaves a lot to chance

the Plame leak comes to mind. Ruthless? Hell yes, but if it's ever traced back to him he's going down. He's dodged a lot of bullets because they run a tight-lipped ship and because they have the press in their pockets. Now it looks as though the press, albeit reluctantly, is starting to report the Gannon scandal because to do otherwise would prove their irrelevance. The fact that Gannon was used in the Plame leak and then was used put front and center in a very prominent role at the WH shows a certain amount of overconfidence.

Hubris has been the downfall of many greater than him.

[Nothing Without Hope]

31. I'll tell you my theory about why "Gannon" was there

The cartel is completing the final stages of totally hijacking this country and is preparing for invasion of Iran and passage of a few more key laws -- no one apparently cares that they're unconstitutional -- to cement an unassailable fascist dictatorship. For a good essay and thread comments on this, see here:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x1617684

However, there is still a sliver of possibility that this grand scheme might be derailed at the last minute by aggressive investigations into the most important scandals and projects. The "Gannon" scandal is a good distraction to get attention away from the more important, life-and-death-of-democracy issues. Oh, I don't doubt that there are some very juicy disclosures to be made -- indeed, I believe that both Bush administrations have probably used blackmail of closted gays and pedophiles to coerce support. Indeed, that may be a deliberate fringe benefit to the demonization of gays by this administration:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=1609452

I saw a thread on the DU board yesterday to the effect that the corporate media knew about "Gannon"'s fake credentials back in 2003 but did nothing. With the corporate media in a stranglehold, "Gannon" wasn't so much a ticking time bomb as a just-in-case potential diversion.

I think the internet-based exposure of this planted shill with the outrageous sideline has pushed forward the planned diversionary expose, but there is no way that "Gannon" would have been allowed in his position for so long without it being part of a larger plan.

When Rove and his fellow monsters point gleefully in one direction, it's time to look for the knife in your back. Invading Iran, removing the last constitutional restraints on absolute unchecked power (forced acceptance of the same judges Democrats already rejected, new Patriot Act expansions and concretions), new massive looting of the environment and the treasury (the Social Security scam), and who knows what other monstrous crimes.

We're at the tipping point into total fascist corruption and Rove and the other lead neocon strategists want us to be so titllated by a sex scandal that we look the other way while it happens. Not just us -- the progressive Democrats -- but the administration's many mostly-honest supporters, who get all exercised about gay sex while missing the point on the larger issues of what is happening to this country.

THAT is what is going on. In my opinion.

I am expecting an attack on internet freedom, as that is pretty much the last bastion of the free press in this country:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=109x18717
But hell, if they can grab so much attention with juicier, more entertaining, less scary scandals, even the free internet isn't much of a threat to them. (But that shouldn't keep us from taking steps to protect it.)

[Goldmund]

34. Those are all great points,

and all have occured to me in one form or another. But then, WHAT other scandal or issue is this trying to mask? You have mentioned outlines of the Bush agenda -- Iran invasion, judicial appointments, PATRIOT act expansions, etc, etc. Unless there is something MAJOR and SINGULAR -- not arcane, not a general directional issue, but something that you can put a finger on -- that they're trying to hide, I don't see how they would possibly need Gannon. Judicial re-appontments happened before Gannon ever broke -- and besides, that's another issue that is, tragically, too arcane for the general populace. You speak of a "tipping point" -- where is it? Do you think that the "internet freedom" issue would really generate formidable outrage, reflected in the media? In this, post-election season, when most people aren't consumed with politics anyway?

This isn't to say that I don't find validity to your points. I totally do. And additionally, I don't have a better theory to resolve the paradox I mentioned in the post you replied to. But this still doesn't answer the questions sufficiently, for me.

[Nothing Without Hope]

39. I posted my Gannon theory, somewhat rewritten, as a new thread

in the GD-P forum here:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x1618864
It will be interesting to see what other DUers have to say. I'd welcome your comments and criticisms; it's clear you've been thinking about this for some time.

I can't think of anything else that really fits, other than that they are so stupidly arrogant in their assumption that nothing would be said without their approval that they felt exposure would never happen. I suppose that's possible, but it just doesn't feel right. Surely SOMEONE in the administration would have pointed out the danger and they could have switched to someone just as compliant but less dangerous if exposed.

If the explanation isn't simple blind arrogant stupidity, I think the internet-driven expose just moved up the timetable for a planned exposure. I think exposure was planned later on through the corporate media, some of whom already knew about Gannon and certainly could have found out at any time if they didn't.

I think Gannon wasn't a time-bomb, he was a planned diversion that was exposed too soon by an unplanned route.

[fresnobill314]

51. There are more points being missed!

First, the Christian Right have been absolutely quiet about this. As a gay man, this baffles me; especially when retards like Dosbon are screaming about how gay SpongeBob is. The only goofball making noise right now is her assholiness Jane Paul II calling gay marriage an ideology of evil. I find her comments extremely hypocritical considering the number of her pedophile priests who have been teabaging alterboys over the years.

Could this scandal be the tipping point for total support of a constitutional amendment against gay marriage? I don't know, but the silence from the Christian taliban is very suspicious.

Secondly, there's been no comment from military types. No one is objecting to Gannon pretending to be a military stud who sells his services. Is this a way to keep the closeted miltary quiet while the plans are quietly moved forward to invade Iran? I don't know, but even the VFW hasn't made a peep about militarystudforhire.com.

There is definetely something going on that has yet to be discovered. TBRnews.org claims that the Bush Administration is loaded with closeted gays, and claims that this has been going on since Bush the First.

Oh, and one more thing. Sun Myung Moon's Washington Times has kept quiet this time about the gay scandal. This paper broke the first scandal re: Boystown and Bush. They are quiet this time around. Is Moon planning something?

It's all so strange. I love it.

[Nothing Without Hope]

55. All good points. I'd like to see a thread started on "what doesn't fit"

about Gannongate. Even if there already has been one, I'm betting the points you raise aren't included; I've not previously considered them myself and they are most intriguing.

Unless this was ALL just brazen stupid hubris, thinking that they had such a stranglehold on the media that no one would find out, there is more here than meets the eye.

For the more commonly mentioned "not fit" points:

--the huge security breach of having him there next to the president

--reporters in some of the other news media knew he was fake for a long time but said nothing (I forget where that thread was, saw it yesterday)

--If they didn't give him a "hard" pass but rather gave him daily passes over and over and over, that means that whoever issued the passes KNEW he was ineligible for the real thing

--McClelland at first claimed he didn't know about Guckert's alternate ID, but apparently he has been calling him "Jeff." I would want to check into this more carefully to get all the twists and turns straight

--and of course WHY DID THEY TAKE THIS CHANCE OF EXPOSURE??? They could have chosen someone who would be a shill but without the colorful sideline. It's why I proposed my alternative to the "simple stupid hubris" theory, the "deliberate plant for future distraction, triggered early by the internet investigators" theory in this thread:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x1618864

--his very suspicious presence somewhere in the middle of the Plame, Rathergate, and Daschle Defeat issues

--the multiple points you raise

I can't see a coherent rationale that would explain all this other than the stupidity or planned diversion ideas, but neither of these really feels right. Like you, I keep feeling we're not seeing the real point, this just isn't adding up. Even if Guckert is the blivet**'s and/or Rove's lover, it still doesn't add up. What are we missing?

UNLESS.....the fundies and the military are sitting on top of such HUGE POTENTIAL SCANDALS themselves, they are afraid to speak up for fear that the exposure of the closeted hypocrites will spread to them, too. This administration's own allies have brought gay demonization to such a pitch, it considerably raises the stakes if they themselves turn out to be the "demons" they are screaming about and using prostitutes to boot.

If you do start a thread on the "what doesn't fit" points, please let me know by replying to this message or PMing me, I'd like to see it.

By the way, a bit OT, did you see the Plaid Adder's wonderful piece, "How to Protect Your Privacy From Liberal Bloggers," a bit of wonderfully snarky pseudoadvice to JimmyJeff? If not, I recommend you check it out:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x3156922

[fresnobill314]

56. Thank God! Someone finally noticed my comments!

I'm still relatively new to posting on DU, so I'm not sure that I'll be able to post a new thread yet.

Yes, I did read Plaid Adder's piece. I also read Rigorous Intuition almost daily, as well as the Rude Pundit. Michael Moore has also been posting Gannongate news articles on his website.

Some of the most facsinating stuff is being posted at TBRnews.org. There's one guy called "The Voice of the White House," who absolutely hates what is going on in what he calls the Monkey Palace. He says that the scandal goes all the way to the top, which probably means Rove.

If DU allows me to post a "What doesn't fit" thread, I'll do it. I've been itching to get into the fray.

Thanks again.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

59. Hi there, fresnobill314,

And a very hearty welcome to DU! We can all use your clear thinking and knowledge of places to get more info on this breaking scandal. Hope you can very soon scratch that itch you've got!

[Nothing Without Hope]

60. IF you CAN'T start a new thread, then I could do it for you

I hadn't noticed that you were so new to DU --WELCOME!!! by the way--but you're right, this will probably prevent you from starting a thread yet. (It's one way they try to weed out freepers and trolls.) So let's do the following if that is indeed true:

Write your thread, exactly as you'd like to post it, and either post it as a reply to this message or PM me with is (personal message - if you can do that yet, you can click the icon in my message to do it).

I'll post it for you as a new thread and of course credit you with it, and you can then jump in and reply to the comments on it. I'm assuming you would like it in the General Discussion- Politics Forum; if you have a different preference, let me know. If I think some part of it should be discussed before posting, I'll let YOU know. How's that?

This is all predicated on my assumption that you can't start a thread yet.

[fresnobill314]

63. I got one started.

Take a look at "The Silent Ones of Gannongate" in th General Discussion - Politics section.

Thanks for all the encouragement.

Now, let's go kick those neo-con shitheads right in the ass!

[Nothing Without Hope]

65. That's excellent! Congrats on your first thread! And here's the link

to it:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=1619558#1619674
I like the title, by the way.

Tip, in case you didn't already know -- as the thread sits for a while, its position in the topic list in its forum will scroll down the page. You can't bring it back to the main page where it started again, but you can kick it (i.e., post a new message in it if none have been added by other people for a while) from time to time to make sure it stays near the top of the Forum's topic list. That way, more people will see it. Will Pitt is a master of timing of these kicks, and he uses a modest single character -- a period -- in the message title for them. Of course, you can also add addtional thoughts in a more substantial post - that will also kick the thread.

Good luck, and again, welcome! And here's to lots of kicking of neocon ass, which is both pleasure and patriotic duty!
:toast:

[geek tragedy]

69. TBR News is run by real life Nazis and holocaust deniers. What they

print is lies.

Too good to be true.

[Laurab]

57. The thing that makes me think it's not a distraction/diversion

is the corporate media's silence. I think if this were meant to take attention off something else, it would be all over the media. It's not. Aside from an op-ed or a paragraph here or there, there's really been nothing. The Christian fundies and the military just may not know all that much about it yet. The people I know, who rely on the corporate media for their news, seem to know that there was a guy in the pressroom lobbing softball questions. That's IT. The story is growing despite Rove, not because of him. If it were a distraction, in my opinion, it would be being spoon fed to the media.

I've always thought that this administration's arrogance was going to trip them up sooner or later. I'm hopeful that's what is beginning to happen - not just on this one thing, but on a number of things. They've taken arrogance to a new level, certainly think they're above the law, and they have reason to believe that. They've gotten a pass on every single thing they've done.

If I'd heard this was a hot story on Drudge or something like that, maybe I'd think it was a diversion, but as far as I can tell, it's been pretty much ignored by the white house shills - at least until it couldn't be ignored any longer. I did see Man Coulter has come out swinging over it, but aside from that, it's just a little too silent over on the right. If it were meant as a distraction/diversion, it wouldn't be so silent.

[Nothing Without Hope]

61. I think the silence is because they didn't INTEND for it to be now

If the "planted future diversion" theory has any truth, then there would be a trigger time chosen for the corporate media, the RW fundie wingnuts, and all the other Rethug creatures to start their carefully orchestrated, prolonged screaming.

Either the internet-driven investigation triggered the exposure too soon, so the corporate media are trying to keep it suppressed, or the "prolonged orchestration" is just beginning. The sudden "discovery" of the "Gannon" diary is highly suspicious in this context, I think.

After all, they wouldn't want the whole scandal to blow up and be over too fast, and they'd want it at its loudest when they were pulling whatever manuever(s) were intended to be hidden from overview. Whatever the truth is, I think we'd better take home the message that we need to keep an eye on what they are doing behind the scenes while this scandal has grabbed so much of our attention. (By the way, for a REAL tinfoilhatter - what if grabbing internet activists' attention IS one of the aims? Now that one definitely rates a :tinfoilhat:)

I go more into the "wrong timing" idea in this thread:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=1618864

The only other theory I can imagine so far is the "arrogant blind hubris" one in which they were so sure they would never be exposed by the compliant media that they put their stooge -- maybe the lover of Rove or the blivet** himself--in a convenient place and felt safe about it. That just doesn't ring true to me, which is why I'm trying to come up with alternatives.

[Laurab]

64. Ok, I put nothing past this administration

so anything is possible. But you're saying they knew about him since '03, and maybe they knew about him, but they didn't KNOW. They maybe thought of him as a kind of "teacher's pet" type guy, but it's doubtful the other reporters knew of his background. So, ok, in 03, they know there's a favored "journalist" in the press room - but who's gonna do anything about a complaint like that? It seems he may have been a bit more "favored" than it was thought. As for the GOPUSA part, I'm not positive, but it seems only the top guys knew about that.

At any rate, I'm following this, but I'm not distracted. At any given time, Bushcon has so many irons in the fire that you can't afford to concentrate on a single one. I'm hopeful this will lead somewhere, only because I want so badly to see this administration fall on their asses. Nothing else has done it - one of these days they are going to hang themselves - that thought helps to keep me going...

[chomskysright]

73. KEEP AN EYE ON SOCIAL SECURITY

[stepnw1f]

47. Right Around the Revelation of a Planned "IRANIAN ATTACK"

This is big, but the revelation that these fuckers have been planning an attack on Iran, could bring back a draft and cause WWIII is verrrrry important too.

[Blue Belle]

50. I would have to agree...

This all seems rather (no pun intended) convenient to have Gannon's Diary suddenly surface now that the blogosphere is ramping up the story and the MSM is finally (albeit BARELY) reporting on it.

Now that I've read (and then re-read because it was just too spooky) Thom Hartman's Essay "When Democracy Failed - 2005 (http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0222-22.htm), it just seems to me that history is indeed repeating itself. Every Headline in the news... All the cover-ups and media blackouts... it just shows how fascist the Republican Reich really is. Its scary.

[NEOBuckeye]

53. Rove is far from invincible.

If anything, he's only become more arrogant and cocky since "winning" in November. Slip-ups might not be inevitable, but they are increasingly likely as time goes on.

The KEY, however, in all of this is to have people watching, waiting and ready to pounce on one of his slip-ups, and turn it into a full-blown investigation. It's not enough to simply find these things. People have to take action on them.

But hopefully, this will be the one that rolls...

[McCamy Taylor]

27. People should stop calling Gannon "gay" and call him a "pimp/whore"

We dont really know the gender of his clients, nor is it material. It is the fact that he was selling his own body and those of others fully nude (and erect) on the internet at the same time that he was visiting the WH Press Room that makes his presence there so suspect.

I cant see the Democratic base getting real upset by anyone objecting to an active duty "pimp/whore" in the Press Corp.

[Damien]

33. i agree

if we keep dogging on the "gay" prostitute, dems will look anti-gay, the same way this administration tries to make us look anti-minority by opposing nominations.

[IndianaGreen]

32. We need a Democratic Ken Starr

to haunt these characters until they confess that they were running an escort service from the White House. Let's see Jeff in shackles, like Susan McDougall.

[usregimechange]

44. Where is the national corporate media?

[Massachusetts]

48. Being stomped on by the BLOGS!

[Maestro]

45. Excellent

Take the bozos down. They lie, cheat and swindle. What comes around goes around. They pay people to support their cause. They make gay prostitues who play with White House insiders (Rove) privy to information and give them free reign to ask asinine questions supportive of the cause. They kick out or severely censor seasoned professional journalists, etc... I can't stand this government.

[tanyev]

46. If they want to subpoena him,

they may have to track him down on a speaking tour.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x3166620
Guckert, who contends he still has a future in journalism, also added that entering the paid-speaker circuit is another goal. "It is likely that I will start making some appearances and speaking," he said, declinig to name specific efforts he has taken in that regard. "There are people who are definitely interested in some of my behind-the-scenes work in the press room." That is certainly an understatement.

So now we know he's also a publicity whore.

[riverwalker]

52. Contact the GAO tonight

Address it to:

The Honorable David M. Walker
Comptroller General
U.S. Government Accountability Office
441 G Street, NW
Washington, DC 20548

Contact GAO

CONGRESSIONAL RELATIONS
Contact: Gloria Jarmon
[email protected]

Room Number: 7125

Phone Number: [phone]

AGENCY-WIDE
By mail: Government Accountability Office
441 G St., NW
Washington, DC 20548

By phone: [phone] (Locator)

By email: [email protected]

Organizational Phone Book
The GAO Organizational Telephone Directory provides contact information for Agency personnel. This document is updated frequently.

GAO PUBLICATIONS
By phone: [phone]

PUBLIC AFFAIRS
Contact: Paul Anderson
[email protected]

Room Number: 7149

Phone Number: [phone]

[Salviati]

54. In the words of Jon Stewart...

SNAP!

[Liberty Belle]

58. Why not ask the DC cops to subpoena the journal, too?

If it contains names of johns, that's their jurisdiction.

[DuaneBidoux]

62. It ain't gonna' happen -- sorry to rain on your parade.

Have you seen one scandal unearthed and totally investigated since Bush came to power? We have the most corrupt administration in American history and nothing so far. Why? That's what happens when the Repukes control Congress, the Executive, the Judiciary, and unfortunately it seems now, the Press.

Sad days are here.

[demgrrrll]

66. Remember it was the GAO that embarrassed the WH by releasing

information showing that they lied about the Clinton staff damaging the WH property before they left. There may be more to this than meets the eye.

[DuaneBidoux]

75. We can hope!

[Not_Giving_Up]

67. Has anyone heard anything on the MSM about this?

Just wondering if they're bothering to talk about it at all.

[NVMojo]

68. they need to subpeona his cell phone, email and long distance records, too

[fleabert]

70. fantastic!

It's about time we starting fighting the good fight! GRRRRRRRRRR!

When is Ms. Boxer going to jump on this? :-)

[Claire Beth]

72. There won't be an investigation....

since the republicans are in control of all the committees and would have to initiate an investigation, it won't happen. If it ever happens, it would certainly surprise me.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

74. They should subpoena Wead's tapes, too...

before key segments get erased.