Blumenthal: A hireling, a fraud and a prostitute

[kskiska]

Bush's agent in the press corps has given spin a new level of meaning

The White House press room has often been a cockpit of intrigue, duplicity and truckling. But nothing challenges the most recent scandal there.

(snip)

His real name, it turned out, is James Dale Guckert. He has no journalistic background whatsoever. His application for a press credential to cover the Congress was rejected. But at the White House the press office arranged for him to be given a new pass every single day, a deliberate evasion of the regular credentialing that requires an FBI security check. It was soon revealed. "Gannon" owned and advertised his services as a gay escort on more than half a dozen websites with names like Militarystud.com, MaleCorps.com, WorkingBoys.net and MeetLocalMen.com, which featured dozens of photographs of "Gannon" in dramatic naked poses. One of the sites was still active this week.

Thus a phony journalist, planted by a Republican organisation, used by the White House press secretary to interrupt questions from the press corps, protected from FBI vetting by the press office, disseminating smears about its critics and opponents, some of them gay-baiting, was unmasked not only as a hireling and fraud but as a gay prostitute, with enormous potential for blackmail.

(snip)

Inserting an agent directly into the White House press corps was a daring operation. Until his exposure, he proved useful for the White House. But the longer-term implication is the Republican effort to sideline an independent press and undermine its legitimacy. "Spin" seems quaint. "In this day and age," said press secretary McClellan, waxing philosophical about the Gannon affair, "when you have a changing media, it's not an easy issue to decide or try to pick and choose who is a journalist." It is not that the White House press secretary cannot distinguish who is or is not a journalist; it is that there are no journalists, just the gaming of the system for the concentration of power.

more…
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1416370,00.html

[Gloria]

1. Right to the point....wonder if we'll see this in any US media?

Yeah, right...

[MsMagnificent]

4. Court TV/Catherine Crier covered it today

It's legs are growing longer...

[DURHAM D]

2. Good article - I love Sidney.

[peacetalksforall]

3. Wow...a measure of words with a grand punch.

[KoKo]

5. Great News! Sid speaks out...and European Press will get onto this...

hopefully...there were just some blurbs over the weekend. I would love to see the London Tabloids get into this. We can't seem to do it ourselves with out the Mellon-Scaife/Roger Ailes/Murdoch Machine behind us like the way they drove MonicaGate...so let's hope the Euro's who do not like the Chimp can do some "digging" for us...and give us some push back power. I remember the old British Spy and Sex Scandals...let them go at us here for a change.

Our "Tabloids" have the fear of Anthrax fresh in their minds, so they will be very quiet...

On Edit: And Sid knows how to do it...:D

[necso]

6. An aside.

You know that we hurt them when you see them throwing back the "reality-based" thing at us.

And it is worth noting that it was a press-titute and slander-pimp that served as the vehicle for this particular lob-back in the "reality-based" line (the question to * about Dems in the link). -- They brought their very best forward for this one.

There must be others that we can identify. Their actions should give them away. They will be lobing softballs, "disguising" slander or talking-points as questions, and generally spamming, disrupting or diverting any real thread of journalism -- etc.

And we should take a broader look at "journalists" in general. -- Some of these other whores must also have something to hide.

The time to act is when the blood is still fresh in the water. -- That makes for a frenzy.

...

And it's a nice piece.

[indepat]

7. By hiring a fraud, has not the entire process been prostituted?

[Inland]

8. Walk into a bar, and Bush says, "Hey, we get your types all the time"