Gannon -- Connecting the Dots

[Tyrone Slothrop]

This is a little lengthy, and it wasn't written by me; but I think that it is definitely worth reading.

A friend of mine was doing research into the Gannon matter and composed the following correspondence for our politically-minded circle of friends. It covers all of the salient non-smut related aspects and does so far more clearly than any other single piece that I've read as of yet. (Not to say that there aren't some out there.) He also makes some educated guesses and hypotheses about the situation and posits some interesting questions.

So, without further ado...

"Take a look at this page -- it's a culling of all of Jeff Gannon's posts to FreeRepublic.com. Be sure to go quickly, as it may be taken down.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/user-posts?name=Jeff+Gannon

There's something VERY interesting here. We already know Gannon was one of the Administration's point people on the Plame affair; someone gave him access to a classified CIA memo that insinuated Valerie Plame recommended her husband, Joe Wilson, to go to Niger and investigate the claim that Saddam Hussein was seeking yellowcake uranium from that country.

On FreeRepublic, he bragged that he "got the scoop" on the famous forged Dan Rather memos, as well:


---"Mary Mapes is DEFINITELY behind the story, this is who I told Sean Hannity got the documents. She also obtained the Abu Ghraib photos."

---"The in-depth article will post at Talon News on Monday morning. There is much more to this story. Mary Mapes is just the beginning."

---"I got the scoop and passed it to Hannity. Look for my detailed story on Monday at Talon News."



Note that in the first post, Gannon mentioned that Mapes was the individual "who got the Abu Ghraib photos." He repeated this in the story he filed for Talon News on September 17: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1220416/posts. “After all,” he writes, “it was Mapes who brought CBS the Abu Ghraib photos of prisoner abuse.”

At the beginning of the Abu Ghraib scandal, the right wing's first defense tactic was to blame CBS for undermining the Iraq war effort and "the troops" by publicizing the photos. They eventually switched to the "few bad apples" defense, realizing that they couldn't get the public to buy the idea that publicizing torture photos was somehow harming the war effort.

I don't know if you remember the missive written by Pat Boone (yes, that Pat Boone), in which he called CBS News "modern Benedict Arnolds" and compared them to the Rosenbergs for leaking the prison torture photos. His viewpoint at the beginning of the scandal was emblematic of the right-wing view.

http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2004/5/24/132813.shtml

The right wing was FURIOUS at CBS over the Abu Ghraib photos.

Actually, that's an exaggeration. They didn't blame Boston Rob from Survivor or the cast of CSI: Miami. They blamed 60 Minutes II, Mary Mapes, and Dan Rather.

And Gannon bragged that he "got the scoop" on Rather and Mapes.

How could a fake reporter with no journalism experience, working for a fake news agency that no one on Earth had heard of, scoop everyone else on the Plame affair, one of the biggest stories of 2003, and Rathergate, one of the biggest stories of 2004?

Why was Gannon hanging around the White House in February and March of 2003, when the "news service" he worked for didn't begin publishing until March 29, 2003? (http://salon.com/news/feature/2005/02/17/gannon/index.html)

For the answer, ask yourself: What do Rathergate and Plamegate have in common?

They were Rovian operations to discredit and smear critics of the Bush Administration.

And Gannon somehow helped break both stories.

Here is my guess as to how this happened: Gannon was not a reporter. He was a "plumber" like Nixon used to employ. Remember, Nixon's goons were called "plumbers" because they "fixed leaks.”

Gannon, apparently, had a hand in fixing two leaks: Joe Wilson, who told the public in a New York Times op-ed piece that he'd discredited the Niger/yellowcake story long before the famous "16 words" were inserted into the State of the Union; and Mary Mapes/Dan Rather, who told the public about the torture at Abu Ghraib.

Since Gannon broke the story, and Gannon was an administration mouthpiece, it seems extremely likely that the Rathergate memos were given to Bill Burkett by the Bush campaign. It was done to punish Rather and Mapes for publicizing the Abu Ghraib photos. Jeff Gannon was one of the pointmen, one of the guys Rove used to make the story known to the right-wing blogs and the right-wing talk radio network, so the story could then filter into the mainstream media.

The Rathergate memos were a perfect storm. Bill Burkett, the Texas Air National Guard Lt. Colonel, had been a thorn in the Bush Administration’s side for years. After he became known as the source of the memos, he’d never be trusted by the media again, and his career would be over. http://www.calpundit.com/archives/003280.html.

Rather, Mapes, and CBS News, who the Administration despised for the Abu Ghraib leak and other instances of “liberal bias,” would also be discredited.

And all the talk of Bush’s lackluster Air National Guard record would be drowned out by the furor over the forged memos.

They managed to kill four birds with one stone. It was a masterstroke.

Rathergate and Plamegate worked the same way. Rove gave key info (in Plamegate, the CIA memo suggesting Plame sent Wilson to Niger; in Rathergate, the name of the CBS producer who received the phony memos) to Gannon. Gannon pretended to be an investigative reporter and broke key elements of the stories to the blogosphere and right-wing media.

Gannon gave a Rathergate scoop to Hannity (http://mediamatters.org/items/200502100001); after that, it filtered out into the mainstream media. Gannon and Talon News were also used to spread smears about John Kerry, radio host Mike Webb (http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:LnkT6S8TQHQJ:www.gopusa.com/news/2004/may/0526_webb_comments_confirmed.shtml), and others.

So whither Talon News?

Perhaps Talon News was set up to give Gannon a cover of journalistic respectability.

The "Washington Bureau Chief" title was just a cover. His appearances at press conferences weren't designed to give "lifelines" to McClellan, but to establish his credentials as a real journalist to other journalists and the public.

Having Bush call on him at the January 26 press conference had the same motive: to establish Talon News as a real news source, and Gannon as a real journalist, one credible enough to be granted access to the President himself.

The more reliable and important Gannon could seem in the eyes of the right-wing community – the blogosphere and punditocracy – the more the White House could use him to "break" scandalous stories about their opponents. That way, the stories wouldn't look like White House leaks; they would look as if they had been "broken" by industrious right-wing journalists or bloggers.

Following these “scoops,” Gannon could be invited on Fox News, or CNN, or other news outlets, where he could continue smearing enemies on behalf of the Bush Administration in the guise of an independent journalist.

It’s classic Rove. In the same way the Administration created fake reporter “Karen Ryan” to advance its agenda (http://demopedia.democraticunderground.com/index.php/Karen_Ryan), it created fake reporter Jeff Gannon to do the exact same thing. And in the same way that it outsourced its ugliest smears to unrelated proxies like the Swift Boat Vets, it outsourced dirty work to Gannon, who, like the Swifties, appeared to be acting independently.

In a typically Rovian maneuver, there's no explicit connection between Talon News and the Administration. Sure, Eberle, Gannon, & co. are right-wingers, but they don't appear to be directly funded by the Administration or the RNC. There's just enough room between Talon News, GOPUSA.com, and the Administration for Bush and Rove to wriggle away from this. They've learned from Nixon's mistakes.

There’s one question left, however. Although he was privy to two pieces of information it would have been near-impossible for someone in his position to get, Gannon himself didn’t break the news that the memos were forged; that was done on LittleGreenFootballs and other blogs. Nor did Gannon break the news that Plame was a CIA agent; that was done by Robert Novak.

So how many other “journalists” are on the White House payroll? Who else have they planted in the media solely to advance their agenda?"

[redqueen]

1. "So how many other “journalists” are on the White House payroll?"

Ketchum - the org that produced the fake news segments used to pimp the bush medicare drug plan - has received $97 million of a total of $250 million slotted for PR use. The fake news was only a tiny bit of that $97 million.

So there are probably a whole heck of a lot of fake journalists, and doubtless many, many actual journalists whoring themselves out.

[sandnsea]

8. Ketchum, Fleischman-Hillard,

And maybe some others under Omnicom. How did the Armstrong Williams story get broken because he was paid by Ketchum.

[cmd]

2. Dot to dot, I say,

good job!

[Tyrone Slothrop]

7. One of the reasons I asked him if I could post this for him

is because I keep reading all these little bits and blurbs of information from various blogs and DUers and others. It was really nice and informative to have everything put together neatly and logically like my friend has done.

I certainly learned a lot about the story from his article, and I've been trying to follow the story as much as I can.

Also, it was nice to read an article that focuses on the real sleaziness and criminality behind this story -- without really having anything to do with Gannon's sexual history or proclivities.

[Fuzz]

3. Good post. Much to chew on.

[Eloriel]

25. A little more to chew on

GANNON / ROVE / RATHER connection
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=1603949#

Mangate A link between Hannity/Gannon/Rather Memo story
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x1588477
Link: http://mediamatters.org/items/200502100001

[SeattleRob]

4. Very good work!

All roads lead to Rove!


:kick:

[imenja]

5. also, 60 minutes contacted the White House on the Document issue

and they--I think it was McClellan, refused to deny it. I believed then they had purposefully refused to deny it in order to encourage 60 minutes to use those documents. It makes sense they would then pass them to someone like Gannon who would spread the story around. The controversy over the documents distracted the media from the substance of the story, which was substantiated in other ways.

The sad thing is that Mapes and Rather weren't bright enough to examine the documents themselves and realize they were suspect, or even listen to their document experts. When the Right is gunning for you, you shouldn't give them ammunition.

Your last point is especially important: "So how many other “journalists” are on the White House payroll? Who else have they planted in the media solely to advance their agenda?"
That is what we must find out. You can be sure there are more.

[Old and In the Way]

19. Who else?

Howard Kurtz issued a veiled threat to other journalists today, saying their personnal life could be next.

Memo to Howie: if youre not pimping false stories for this WH, you probably have nothing to worry about. Still worried Howie?

[Dover]

6. Interesting post. I'm sure there are MANY planted/paid "journalists"

undercover in established newsrooms as well as on blogs. More and more journalists on the White House payroll seem to be coming out of the woodwork (although any of the Bushco corporate sponsors could hire/pay them without detection). And because it's not 'against the law' per se, all Bush does is say "oops...gee we need to put a stop to that".

The Plame case is a Catch 22 imo. Either way it goes, Bushco might benefit....that is if reporters are, as a result of this case, forced to reveal their sources. In fact, in the long run, perhaps that is the more troublesome outcome.

[starroute]

9. The right-wing smear machine

Here's something I found earlier today while Googling on George C. Landrith. He's the president of Frontiers of Freedom, an anti-environmental group of which GOPUSA board member Kerri Houston is a vice president. It seems to support your friend's concept of a wide-spread, orchestrated Republican/right-wing machinery for smears and personal destruction.

http://www.reachm.com/amstreet/archives/2004/08/30/tracing-a-smear-artist

Some of you know that I’ve been writing for some time about hearing planted stories — anonymous callers to talk shows, letters-to-editors, forwarded e-mail letters, etc. - saying Kerry cuts in front of lines and says “Do you know who I am?” I’ve been saying this obviously is part of a coordinated smear campaign. Well, I think the following adds some weight to what I have been suspecting. Take a look at John Kerry: Uppity Rich Guy with a Superiority Complex:

“In Boston, where the junior senator from Massachussets lives when he’s not skipping Senate votes, John Kerry stories are commonplace. Most of these stories involve Kerry pulling rank on a “little guy,” cutting to the front of the line, expecting special treatment, or demanding something for free. When confronted about his behavior, Kerry defiantly asks, “Do you know who I am?” Evidently, Kerry believes that once the “little people” understand how important he is, they will simply back down and shut up.”

<snip>

I just wanted to show how the Right’s smear machine, funded by a small core group of funders, employs people like this, (so many), setting them up in think tanks or other jobs, paying them (very well) to crank this stuff out, citing their stuff at their OTHER think tanks and organizations to give them an aura of credibility, and then spreading this awful, smelly stuff around through every channel through which people receive information, poisoning the national debate, always pushing, pushing, pushing the public further and further to the right. There are billions of dollars at work behind this stuff.

<snip>

Just for fun, from a Moonie thing, a story with another form of the same smear, “The talk about Hillary Rodham Clinton <. . .> There was that business about her primping while the troops stood waiting in the chow line for a half-hour and then cutting in front of them to scoop up her Thanksgiving dinner. Then she smeared and attacked their commander in chief and told them no one at home supported the war.” All those damn rich liberal elitists, cutting in front of regular people like us… That line must have focus-group tested as well as “only served four months in Vietnam.”

As it happens, the "Moonie thing" referred to in the last paragraph is Insight Magazine -- a Moon front for which Bobby Eberle also writes.

[CTyankee]

10. The worrisome thing

is "what is Rove up to?" Is he masterminding this story, too? Is he just sitting back and waiting for his opportunity to smear all of us? I hope not; and the fact that Blitzer is getting his tail fried by Frank Rich in the NY Times suggests to me that the Repubs are getting beaten on this one. However, Rove has done it before and could have something up his sleeve we never would have dreamed of.

[Blue_Roses]

13. No this time I don't think so

in fact, I think this is the closest that Rove has been to having the noose tightened...he's squirming. Too many people are following this and he's just about run out of room to hide and the scarey thing is he probably knows. That makes him very unstable. Look for another terror alert or something big to happen soon:eyes:

[DulceDecorum]

16. Cooking the goose

Rove may be sneaky and all that
but I do not see how he is going to get Dubya out of this one.

He is not just dealing with high school kids.
This is the BIG LEAGUE
and I do not think that he has EVER properly understood that.
Rove appears to see the world in terms of a competition.
He looks for ways in which to destroy his opponent.
This may work on the Democrats
but it does NOT play well on the international scene.

The US is a parasite and needs to borrow HUGE amounts every day
to finance it's voracious spending habits.
Would you lend money to Dubya, knowing what you know now?

Dubya is blowing MILLIONS of dollars on public relations firms
and what is worse,
he also appears to believe in the actual existence
of the fantasy he has created.

These guys are like people who are paying off one credit card with another
and rejoicing in the fact that their credit rating
is so high that they keep being offered additional credit cards.
But we are barely one month into the second term,
with the best part of four long years ahead.

The Repo Man cometh.
And he cometh soon.
And they will pay for the Killing of America.

[julialnyc]

31. but why is no one reporting

They pounced on Rather, but are letting a whore off the hook scott free......something is up!

[HR_Pufnstuf]

11. good read.

the question becomes, will Dan Rather do a 60 minutes on the whole Gannon affair, before he leaves?

what comes round goes round.

[KharmaTrain]

12. Kick Plus!

Please keep me posted what your group comes up with...you're onto a very interesting piece of the puzzle...one I've been snooping around with as well...

"Gannon" -> Hannity and Gannon using Mary Mapes, or knowing about the plan of "Buckethead" (another Freeper who was tied up in this slime) to set up Mapes, Rather and CBS. Oh, if this were to be the case...whooooo boy!

A good thing is this suit by the fired CBS producers that could be a way to learn about what really happened. Were these people set up as another RNC/GOOP dirty trick? Yes, dots are starting to form into lines.

Thanks for sharing your email and keep posting and searching....and I'd suggest you pass along what you've come up with the group over at Daily Kos...they're doing a lot of the tracing of "Gannon's" journalistic "connections".

Cheers!

[grasswire]

14. I believe we must redefine VRWC

Remember when Hillary Clinton commissioned a study of the demonstrable paths the Right Wing used to hunt her husband? It was nicknamed "Vast Right Wing Conspiracy" when she uttered those words on TV.

We have a tangential racket going on now. The Half-Vast Rove shadow media. Some new players. Mapes, Gannon, Hannity. They're running a MOB MEDIA operation. No boundaries, no rules.

There are scads of trails the MSM could be following right now. Money trails. Phone records. Feds ought to be looking for various signs of corruption.

It's time to recognize this stunning fact. The Mob Media running out of the WH press office.

[DulceDecorum]

17. Anyone who has been keeping tabs

on the Boston FBI
can only shake their head
-- in agreement.

[hvn_nbr_2]

26. I give up

I haven't been keeping tabs on the Boston FBI. What are you talking about?

[JackRiddler]

18. RoveCo's plumbing op is pretty sickening

But it's ultimately small potatoes. A distasteful upstart capo with a glued-together set of toy lieutenants, which is why we can see many of the strings hanging in an obvious way.

Now, Mockingbird is a 50-year op to run the MSM and truly vast. You think the deeper pits of the CIA have no strings they can pull on Rather (who cut his teeth on selling Oswald as lone shooter), or Turner?

Should the time come, the RoveCo plumbers will prove as disposable to the larger beast as Nixon's famous originals. If you think about it, this Gannon escapade is tres amateur.

The pedigrees are amazing, though, eh? I say that because I just recalled that Rove started out as one of Tricky's campaign trail pranksters, alongside Lucianne and Jeb Magruder. (Probably slipped the acid into Muskie's porridge on the morning of the NH primary...)

These guys really are small in a way. Worthy of a Chaplinesque send-up. Too bad it's all about murder, just like all the other tyrant petties.

[Old and In the Way]

20. A sacrificial cog.

Gannon was a cheap part of the smear machine which is designed to be thrown away when worn or broken. It protects the other, more expensive components.

So who will be the new cog to keep the machine running?

[hnsez]

15. DU THIS POLL ON GANNON

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6862172/#survey

[BrightKnight]

24. There is as Dailykos Jeff Gannon link on MSNBC.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6862172/#survey

[Generator]

21. Spot on!

Tangled web they weave. They all are nesting together, of that anyone can see.

We need one missing link, one SOMEBODY to tie it all up and sink them.

Please come on down. History will thank you.

[wabeewoman]

22. Kick

[BrightKnight]

23. deleted -n\t

[skids]

27. Paying attention, you "Higher Ups?"

"That way, the stories wouldn't look like White House leaks; they would look as if they had been "broken" by industrious right-wing journalists or bloggers."

How about some of the people "in the know" on our side throw a few intel bones to our bloggers?

[Tyrone Slothrop]

28. Morning kick!

Kick!

[Hugin]

29. Oh good... Glad this one came up again.

Kick.

[julialnyc]

30. I found this at Randi Rhodes message board

http://www.therandirhodesshow.com/randirhodes/messageboards/index.php?s=c0e0af6f1eaccdc04148b071ad20130d&showtopic=39198
Ok stay with me here Truthseekers of the Randi world... I'm not even sure I got all these dots connected yet, but I have a feeling there is a story here, maybe we can gang up on it. Everybody remember that Talon news is/was owned by GOPUSA. That's the first given here.



DU has done a bit of research on this but I've done some more digging this morning and I found an odd connection to the Whitehouse and GOPUSA besides the obvious neocon crap.


http://web.archive.org/web/20040316202356/http://www.go...

Richard M. Powell
Member, Board of Directors, GOPUSA

"Richard Powell brings a wealth of political and business experience to GOPUSA.com. He is the founder and president of JPX Interactive Technologies, Inc., a comprehensive technology integration firm offering consulting, deployment and integration services in the business, government and education market segments. The firm has a specialty practice area focusing on the development and implementation of web portals that channel best practice content to educators and students. Richard also consults privately for political candidates and policymakers, helping them develop their education message and K-16 education reform policy initiatives. He is a former policy advisor to Texas Governor Rick Perry, and is active in national, state and local political and civic causes. Richard is a graduate of St. Edward's University. He resides in Austin, Texas where he likes to spend his free time running competitively, traveling and working with at-risk youth.



Ok... Richard M. Powells wife's name is Dina Powell

referenced in this article by the Washington Post:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/artic...-2005Jan10.html

QUOTE
Dina Powell is the president's headhunter, charged with filling hundreds of jobs in the next several weeks -- ambassadors, Cabinet heads, undersecretaries, commissioners. She is the soul of discretion. What's in the safe? Forget it.

Those new people tramping the corridors of federal power will have left some part of themselves with Powell, who at 31 is the youngest person ever to direct the presidential personnel office and its roughly 35 employees.

These appointees, if they are high enough in the hierarchy, will have perched on the edge of her upholstered "interview chair" -- she prefers the gold couch, beneath the large photographs of President Bush. At the very least, some paper part of them will have passed through her hands. Right now, there are about 100,000 résumés in the office's database. During Christmas, guests to the White House parties could stroll by and have a little schmooze with her.


According to http://www.americanpresident.org/action/or...l/orgchart.xxml
She was hired in 2003 as the Chief of the office of Presidential Personnel.

Ok here's what I'm trying to prove. Does Dina Powell have any influence over the Press, could she be the link to how Gannon/Guckert got into the Whitehouse?


--------------------

Buy Blue, Buy Union, Buy Exisiting, Buy Local or BUY NOTHING!

For cool hippie stuff visit: KyndCulture.com
Liberal Patriots Blog

(much more through the link)

[julialnyc]

32. more from that link

Little more on Dina. She appears to be one of the West Wing big wigs. She's a Bush cheerleader from way back.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/results/leadership/bio_524.html
Dina Powell -- White House
Assistant to the President for Presidential Personnel

Most recently, Dina Powell was Special Assistant to the President for Presidential Personnel. From 1999 to 2001, she was Director of Congressional Affairs, Senior Advisor to the Chairman at the Republican National Committee. Previously, she was the Member Relations Coordinator for U.S. House Majority Leader Dick Armey. Dina graduated from the University of Texas at Austin.



http://www.nationalreview.com/frum/diary011705.asp#050379
More on Dina and some stuff about how she is very careless in her decisions.

Ok I have no idea if this is going anywhere, but sometimes, I just get ill over how many people are in that bed at the Whitehouse...

[julialnyc]

34. a little more on Dina

A Domestic Policy in Sharp Focus
Bush Approach to Be More Disciplined and Aggressive
By Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen
Washington Post, 10 December 2004
A former White House official said: "On all levels, the administration in Term 2 is promoting people who owe their careers to this president -- people are forced to be loyal." Bush is also not retaining some officials, such as HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson, who are not close personally to the president and are distrusted by some inside the White House. Bush also chose to let Attorney General John D. Ashcroft, a lightning rod from criticism this term, resign without a fight. Bush is left with a team largely devoid of politicians with higher aspirations or independent power bases. The transition is evidence of Bush's strategic approach. The president has confined most deliberations over staffing to Card, Rove and Dina Powell, head of presidential personnel. In staff meetings, Card has made it clear that all staff decisions run through Powell's office and are not to be leaked. Few did, which is highly unusual for such high-profile decisions. For Cabinet picks, the first loyalty test was keeping their selection a secret. Everyone passed. Once his team is set, Bush plans to move fast on the domestic front. Republican sources said the first major issue the White House wants the congressional leadership to bring up in the new year is Bush's plan to restrict medical malpractice claims by limiting to $250,000 noneconomic damages, which compensate a victim for pain and suffering. Yet the president's plan to create private Social Security accounts for younger workers will put the new team to its toughest test early on.
http://www.bushwhackedusa.com/archive/archive12a_2004.html

[Tyrone Slothrop]

35. I think that you're on to something with this Dina Powell info

We need to keep digging. I feel like we are just scratching the surface of some of this stuff.

One of the larger questions for me is: Why Gannon?

If they were indeed using him for the purposes that my friend speculated on, why would they use someone with such a checkered past? It would seem that they should have two sets of "plumbers". Ones who have "clean" backgrounds for doing ops in overtly (ie breaking stories, WH correspondents) and a set with darker, dirtier pasts for doing the covert ops (ie sexual blackmail, forging docs, etc.).

Gannon seems to have been involved in both types of ops.

If I were orchestrating this sort of thing, I would do everything in my power to keep the two sets of operatives secret and in the dark even from one another - and yet, Gannon seems to have been working on both types of projects.

Why?

[noamnety]

36. Why Gannon?

My gut says you'd find the answer in Mrs. Powell's famous safe in her office. Why does someone doing hiring need a secure safe that has something so secret she won't even discuss the contents?

If you valued loyalty above all else, you'd look for people that wouldn't betray you. And you'd want to ensure they wouldn't betray you. In other words, they would need a good reason why they wouldn't talk. The classic reason is because you have the goods on them.

I would guess that BushCo doesn't want anything to do with squeaky clean hirees, they're better off with people they've already got dirt on. Gannon obviously was in a good position to compromise them. And once he got fake journalist credentials, he had a cover to be alone with members of the administration.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

40. But - I guess my point here is:

If you're being blackmailed by someone, you should pay them off with some money or some sort of cushy job somewhere so they don't spill the beans. It seems counter-intuitve to let a blackmailer in on more secrets and use him to deliver them to the public.

Especially when said blackmailer is a male prostitute.

It seems as though you would then funnel your "leaks" through a "cleaner" source like a Novak or some similar younger bloggish-person.

Or are you insinuating that someone in the admin was blackmailing Gannon and making him do this?

(I'm still trying to get the possible mechanics all sorted out in my head...)

[noamnety]

41. I'm thinking the administration

likes holding info on their employees. And Gannon was a tool for them to get the info.

I'm sure he had good info on his clients. And I would guess he was happy to pass that info up the chain once or twice in return for some other favors.

[julialnyc]

52. because Gannon

could be blackmailing with information that a conservative wouldn't want out there.

Conservative with skeleton's in closets might give a vote to something they otherwise wouldn't, if they could be exposed.

[susu369]

39. Dina didn't do a capable, thorough job with Kerik

but hey....

http://64.233.187.104/search?q=cache:NkBxQy6vZZIJ:www.21stcentury.com.cn/print.php%3Fsid%3D17259+%22dina+powell%22&hl=en

Story:
She’s so indispensable

THE new US president is putting the finishing touches on his second-term team. One of the most powerful and least known White House figures is a 31-year-old, Egyptian-born woman. She is the administration’s chief head hunter and recruiter.

Dina Powell is assistant to the president for presidential personnel. She may be the most important White House aide who is rarely photographed, and that’s just how she likes it.

She just may be the most important White House aide.

-snip-

After the campaign, she came to work in the presidential personnel office. Six months after she started working at the White House, her parents came for a visit and watched a presidential arrival ceremony at the White House. After the helicopter landed, Bush shook hands along the rope line. When she introduced her parents, the president told them how delighted he was to have Dina on his staff. Then he was gone. She turned to look at her parents. They were both crying.

“You have to understand,” she said. “It was overwhelming. It affirmed for them the tough decision to leave everything behind.”

===
Question:
Was that Dina Powell walking with bu$h* and Negroponte yesterday?

[julialnyc]

42. Also was it her idea

To hire Negropnte to flood the news yesterday?

[Tyrone Slothrop]

46. Had to be

Or if it wasn't, it was Rove's idea or Cheney's, etc.

I am expecting some interesting "big news" this weekend concerning Iran or N. Korea to try and bury the story.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

49. Dina Powell is not married to Richard M. Powell, but Richard Cruze

Powell, Jr. of Quinn, Gillepsie.

I had posted what you had on another thread a couple of days ago, and the researchers here got to it. They came up with the marriage license and same address.

[DU GrovelBot]

33. ## PLEASE DONATE TO DEMOCRATIC UNDERGROUND! ##

==================
GROVELBOT.EXE v3.0
==================



This week is our first quarter 2005 fund drive. Democratic
Underground is a completely independent website. We depend almost entirely
on donations from our members to cover our costs. Thank you so much for
your support.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

37. RawStory appears to be looking at the "plumber" aspect of the story now

Per their "Developing" headline...


http://rawstory.com/

[Hissyspit]

50. Plumber or Ratf**ker? Or both combined? n/t

[SmokingJacket]

38. Wonderfully clear write-up -- this needs to get around. nt

[julialnyc]

43. more from that link

BREAKING NEWS: Gannon reportedly knew about "Shock and Awe" four hours before it happened
by John in DC - 2/18/2005 09:57:00 AM

A news producer for a major network just told me that Gannon told the producer the "shock and awe" campaign launching the Iraq war was about to happen four hours before President Bush announced it to the nation.

According to the producer, Gannon specifically told them that in four hours the president was going to be making a speech to the nation announcing the "shock and awe" campaign had begun. The producer told me they were surprised that Gannon, working with such a small news outfit, could have access to such information, but "what did you know, he was right," the producer said today. The producer went on to say that Gannon often had correct scoops on major stories, including information about Mary Mapes and the Dan Rather BUSH/AWOL scandal that this news outlet got from Gannon before any had the information publicly.

This more than a few questions and points:

1. Assuming this news producer is telling the truth, and I have no reason to believe they are not, how did Gannon get access to such highly classified information as to when the Iraq war going to begin?

2. Even if Gannon were part of a press gaggle that was told embargoed information about the upcoming war by the White House, this producer alleges that Gannon broke the embargo, which is a security risk to the operation, and more generally shows that concerns about Gannon's White House access posing a risk to national security are now warranted.

3. How would someone on a day pass, who hadn't gotten the requisite 3-4 month FBI background check that other full-time White House employees get, get access to such highly classified information? Certainly the White House didn't include someone with simply a day pass in the highly-classified pre-briefing about when the war was happening (assuming such a briefing even occurred)? If the White House did a briefing and Gannon were included, this would mean ANYONE could walk in off the street, say they're a reporter, and provided by they don't have a criminal record, the White House will simply tell them at what hour we're launching a major war? And if there was no briefing for reporters, then how did Gannon allegedly find out?

4. How would Gannon get inside information on the Dan Rather scandal BEFORE the rest of the major media? Assuming the producer is correct, did it come from a White House source, and if so, what does this say about possible White House involvement in creating this scandal in the first place?

According to my source, Gannon's insider tidbits were always on the mark. "Gannon's stuff was always golden," the producer says. My source says they kept asking themself, "how does this small news outfit get this info?"

How indeed.


http://www.americablog.blogspot.com/

[julialnyc]

44. more here

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/2/18/115932/852

[Karenina]

45. Kick!

:kick:

[julialnyc]

51. kick again

[Tyrone Slothrop]

47. My friend who composed the original wanted me to add this

"http://rawstory.com/news/2005/index.php?p=98

Mentions the same three quotes I wrote about yesterday -- and goes even further. In the same string of posts, Gannon brags about smearing Jamie Gorelick of the 9/11 Commission and also Tom Daschle."

[bloom]

48. Fake news and manipulating the news

Those crazy Republicans.

:crazy:

[julialnyc]

53. kick again