Now the Truth Can Be ToldYes, as TBogg reveals, I singlehandled developed and broke the JimJeff story. Sure, I had a little help along the way from Media Matters, Atrios, Susan and the gang from Daily Kos, etc., (not to mention the guy who found the AOL photo), and I want to thank them for their efforts -- but I mostly want to thank me. Oh, and you, for all your kind words about my new celebrity status (which I do intend to use to get a book contract from Regnery -- thanks for the idea, D. Sidhe). I think I will title my book Confessions of a Naked Blogger: What Really Goes On at Those Liberal Orgies That You're Never Invited To Because of Your Superior Family Values, And How This Kind of Wanton Pleasure Only Leads to Emptiness, Eventually. Anyway, Crooks & Liars has the video of a Washington Post reporter saying "World O'Crap" on TV. (Personally, I've always liked Dana Milbank, and now that I know that he's really Dirk Diggler, he just gets cuter.) I would have liked Howard Kurtz better for using "World O'Crap" in a news story, except he went and ruined it all by going to Glenn Reynolds for a quote, and not asking Glenn why he would be worried if he were a member of the White House press corps -- does Glenn have a bunch of escort/pornographic sites registered in his name too (HotInstaStuds)? Also, check out the Crooks & Liars video of John from America Blog on Aaron Brown's "News Night." (As I recall, that was the same program where Annie Jacobsen made her TV debut). Anyway, John does a great job, and relays some very interesting info. The Salon guy was good too. As for Aaron, well . . . let's just say that he's no Jeff Gannon. Anyway, thanks everyone. I really appreciate all your kind words and help. When my book is published, your names will all be mentioned in the acknowledgments section. Unless you pay me not to mention you, of course. And thanks to the mega-bloggers (Atrios, Wonkette, BuzzFlash, DailyKos, MediaCitizen, etc.) for linking to my story, and thus bringing it to the attention of the Washington Post and then MSNBC. I promise to dedicate the book to them. Unless they pay me not to. 10:32:28 AM  |
Educational AND SnarkyMy American Street post is now up. It's about Sex and Obliteration. Jeff Gannon's name doesn't come up.So, check it out if you want to. 10:04:00 AM |
Scottie McClellan Explains It AllToday at the Press Gaggle they talk about Jeff Gannon, AKA Jim Guckert, AKA James Garner, AKA John Goodman, AKA Janeane Garafolo:
Coming in for more than two years on a daily pass? Then he WASN'T just like anyone else who comes to the White House. Per Salon:
Gee, and I guess nobody noticed that the same guy was coming in every day, flouting the system like this. And that seems a little odd, because like JimJeff has said, he was the only conservative reporter in the White House press corps.* I'd have thought he would have been more memorable. Back to Scottie.
So, the story is that each day when he requested his pass, he provided his real name, James Guckert. And then he was issued a pass in the name of John Gannon, just like everybody else.
Um, okay. JimJeff just forced his way into the White House where the press conference was being held, and shouted out his question -- which the President had no choice but to answer.
Let's take the WayBack machine to January 26, 2005. As you will note, the room is full of people, but that can hardly be all the reporters in Washington who would have liked to have been at the President's press conference. How did JImJeff, with just a daily pass get into that room? Oh, and Scottie says the seats were assigned (and not by him and the President). So, who did assign JimJeff his primo spot? And if the President worked his way through the rows and called upon people as he came to them, why did only twenty or so reporters get called upon? Didn't the President come upon the rest of the people in that room? And why was JimJeff among those twenty who were selected? Well, Scottie isn't saying any more about this, so let's listen to a few moments of the conference:
[We'll skip the question and the most of the answer (which boils down to "People live too long these days, dammit"), and jump to this interactive moment with Reporter Carl, the new guy on the White House beat]
So, apparently Carl had to have a background check, and the President was aware that people like Carl had to have such a check before being getting a spot in the White House press corps. But, of course, JIM, who didn't ever have such a check although he had been coming to the White House for over two years, was "just like everybody else who comes to the White House." Anyway, as the President goes through the rows, he doesn't call on every person seated on those rows -- he picks out the people he wants to hear from. Many of them are reporters he knows by name. He might not have known Jeff Gannon, International Man of Mystery (but then, who really does?), but he clearly didn't accept questions from everybody.
So, the President doesn't call on just anybody sitting in those seats, he calls on the nice, polite, people who don't yell (and perhaps look like they won't be too agressive, and won't ask difficult questions). Anyway, the person he selected instead of "Mark" asked this question (and it turned out to be just a tad aggresive):
Wow, so there needs to be an independent relationship between the White House and the press! That would mean that fake reporters from fake news sources shouldn't be favored by the White House, even if they ask only helpful questions in press conferences, directly copy Republican talking points into their "stories," and are really attractive men with purty mouths. So, guess who gets selected next? Yes, the "journalist" formerly known as Jeff Gannon.
Okay, the President didn't really say that. But he sure seemed to like the question posed by JimJeff, and gave a 3-paragraph response to it (which we'll skip, because frankly, my dear, we don't give a damn). Anyway, I think our little trip in the WayBack machine showed that Scottie wasn't telling the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth about how JimJeff got to ask the President a question in one of Mr. Bush's rare press conferences. So, back to Scottie's press gaggle, for more disinformation about what he knows about JimJeff, and when he knew it:
And apparently it was a-okay with Scottie if some guy going by a fake name was at all the conferences, and was even allowed to ask the President questions. I would encourage everybody in the WH press corps to come up with new names that are "easier to pronounce and remember" than their real names for all of Scottie's gaggles. Scottie will be just fine with it. And then Scottie explains that hey, it's not HIS job to be a media critic (or to have anything to with with the media). And even though JimJeff had been denied credentials to cover the Hill (because he wasn't found to be a journalist, and Talon News wasn't found to be a news organization), and so somebody in the WH was bending (or breaking) the rules to give JimJeff a daily pass on a regular basis, Scottie has no responsibility or oversight about what happens in the White House press briefings.
No, many others are NOT cleared to receive daily passes for over TWO YEARS. Only JimJeff was. And, once again, JimJeff is the only conservative reporter in the press corps (per JimJeff). Kind of a wild coincidence, huh? But back to Scottie's "I'm a doctor, not a White House Press Secretary, dammit!" answer about what he thinks about the JimJeff affair:
Where do you draw the line? Well, on Capitol Hill they draw the line by only accrediting people who work for legitimate, independent news organizations (ones that get some of their revenue from advertising, and aren't just a wing of GOPUSA). Oh, and the journalists being accredited need to get most of their income from journalisting. Here's an interesting bit from the NY Times article about Democratic representatives John Conyers Jr. and Louise M. Slaughter requesting an investigation into JimJeffGate:
Hmm, if JimJeff wasn't making his living from being the Washington Bureau Chief for Talon News, what WAS his main source of income? He said previously that he didn't do any work for GOPUSA, so that wasn't it. Bedrock Corp. never seemed to go any where. Being the Conservative Guy wouldn't have paid anything. So, where did his funding come from? And what did he do to earn it? (And we assure you, we only want to know because we think it might be relevant to what he was doing at the White House, not because we think it was sleazy and embarrassing, necessarily.) Did he get his money from the same source that gave him the allegedly classified document regarding Valerie Plame? Could it have been a foreign power? Could it have been a consortium of rich Texas Republicans who were doing favors for the President in the hopes of getting some favors in return? Isn't this the kind of thing the reason that background checks are required for members of the White House press corps? Shouldn't the FBI or the Secret Service or somebody be checking into this breech of procedure?
Fine. Then don't try to pick and choose. Let in anybody who says they are a journalist. Hey, I represent something that I can call a "news organization," and it publishes regularly -- let me ask George Bush some questions at his next press conference. (I will even volunteer to undergo an FBI background check, and will swear that I have no porn or escort sites registered to me.)
If they work for outfits who get all of their funding from an "advocacy" website, that's where you draw the line. But none of the other people in that room did so, I would imagine. Anyway, it's obvious that SOMEBODY at the White House bent the rules for JimJeff to give him a daily pass for years at a time. Somebody broke the rules by giving him his pass not under his real name. Somebody got him into the President's press conference, and got him a great assigned seat. Was it Scott McClellan? Probably not. But he damn well should know who it was (and does, IMHO). This story isn't about liberals picking on Jim because he's a conservative in a world of leftists, it's about something that's gone wrong at the White House, something inimical to that nice, independent relationship between the White House and the press that the President talked about. And me and the President happen to think that this is a big deal, despite what some people might say. * My Favorite Bits from JimJeff's NPR Interview (transcription by AmericaBlog): What JimJeff makes of all the attention paid to him in recent days:
Yup, he's the only one. JimJeff's thoughts about critics who hold that a journalist shouldn't use a press conference to ask questions which are actually statements in support of the President:
Softballs? You're soaking in them! About why he may or may not have used a pseudonym:
So, he had to call himself Jeff Gannon so that the President could call on him without being embarrassed by the porn site link? Anyway, I guess questioning how JimJeff got into the President's press conference is the same as deciding that he doesn't have the right to his free speech. Help, help, he's being oppressed! How JimJeff got admitted to the White House briefings:
The personal information he submitted consisted of his name, social security number, and birth date. That's per Scottie. And the only vetting that could be done with this info is, at most, some National Agency Checks (meaning that his name would have been run through the FBI criminal data base, the CIA "known spies" data base, and the Homeland security "probable terrorists" data base). That isn't considered a background check -- a background check would have included an investigation into his employment history, his sources of income, and his known associates -- not that we're implying that JimJeff has anything to hide along those lines, of course. And yes, he got special treatment. He admitted as much in the next part of the interview when he alludes in to how he didn't qualify for a hard pass because he worked for the "new media," but was still allowed to attend WH briefings for over two years. When the interviewer asks him if real his name is "Guckert":
As JimJeff said earlier in the interview, using a fake name doesn't necessarily mean you're with the CIA or something. However, giving up your true name this easily is pretty good evidence that you're not. Oh, and I bet the Senate press gallery is really scared now. And why some people, theoretically, might use a pseudonym:
Yeah, he's Batman. 2:59:50 AM |
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