February 8, 2005 by s.z.

 "Jeff Gannon" EXPOSED!

Remember "Jeff Gannon," the White House reporter who lobs softballs at Scottie McClellan when the other mean reporters won't let up with the real questions?

The "Jeff Gannon" who accused his colleagues of "working off the talking points provided by the Democrats" and then was found to have copied info directly from GOP documents and used it in his "news report"?

This would be the same "Jeff Gannon" who was subpoenaed in connection with the Plame investigation because he somehow obtained a copy of a purported State Dept. document which said that Ms. Plame had a hand in arranging the assignment to Niger for her husband (an allegation -- and document -- denied by the CIA). 

Yes, we're talking about "Jeff Gannon, Washington Bureau Chief, Talon News" -- Talon News being the rinkydink wingnut "news service" chaired by the same guy who runs GOP USA (the wingnut site that is less upscale than Renew American, but slightly more professional than BushCountryUSA, and apparently run by various members of the Texas GOP).

Anyway, ever since it was revealed that "Jeff Gannon" is a pseudonym (even though he apparently gets daily White House passes issued in that name), bloggers have been trying to ascertain his real identity. Susan G. at Daily Kos (with the assistance of her readers) has been very energetic and organized in this endeavor, and has uncovered a great deal of interesting and suggestive info about "Jeff" and his associates.

So, just who is Jeff?  Well, his Talon News bio has been delated, but it formerly indicated that he was a obtained a B.S. degree in Education from the Pennsylvania State University System, and attended a two-day right-wing school of journalism ("the Leadership Institute Broadcast School of Journalism").  Oh, and he "lives on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC."

His posts at his site "ConservativeGuy.com" also seem to have disappeared, but Susan and her readers found an archived copy of his "Who is Conservative Guy?" bio   -- and it seems to indicate that "Jeff" can't hold a job:

I've been a preppie, a yuppie, blue-collar, green-collar and white-collar.  I've served in the military, graduated from college, taught in the public school system, was a union truck driver, a management consultant, a fitness instructor and an entrepreneur. I'm a two-holiday Christian and I usually vote Republican because they most often support conservative positions

His gun of choice is a Beretta 9mm, and he drives a Nissan Pathfinder.

Anyway, "Jeff" has noted the efforts to identify him, and seems delighted with the attention.  He recently posted the following at JeffGanon.com:

HIDING IN PLAIN SIGHT

The hard-core Lefties are conducting an exhaustive search for me in cyberspace, which has produced an entertaining mosaic of conspiracy theories.  I appreciate all the attention, but I can do without the threats on my person, property and family.

[...]

For those out there that still have questions about me and don't think I should be able to be a journalist, here's what you need to know: 

I'm everything people on the Left seem to despise.  I'm a man who is white, politically conservative, a gun-owner, an SUV driver and I've voted for Republicans.   I'm pro-American, pro-military, pro-democracy, pro-capitalism, pro-free speech, anti-tax and anti-big government.  Most importantly, I'm a Christian.  Not only by birth, but by rebirth through the blood of Jesus Christ. [But apparently only at Christmas and Easter, if you go by his ConservativeGuy post.]
I've never been paid by a politician or given money to a politician.  I've never worked on a campaign or worked for an elected official.  I've never run for office or been appointed to any government position at any level.  Few, if any of my colleagues can make the same claim.

And few, if any, of his colleagues in the White House press corps appear to have so few qualifications for the job.

Anyway, "Jeff" seems to be your basic loser who has tried a lot of dead-end jobs and get-rich quick schemes, and then finally, despite any previous experience in journalism (or even any experience or interest in politics or government) got some wingnut group with possible ties to the GOP to pay him a salary -- and now he's a White House Reporter.  So, he's everything that Judson Cox hopes to be in 20 years (although Judson has worked on local campaigns, so is probably overqualified to be Jeff).

And yet, despite that lack of background, and the fact that Talon News isn't really a news organization, somehow the White House lets Jeff into the press conferences ever day, and regularly takes his questions. 

Don't believe it?  Well, here's part of a program note from Sean Hannity's radio show from last year:

Tuesday, February 10, 2004

Sean spends a moment with Jeff Gannon, Washington Bureau Chief for Talon News.com. Jeff talks about his daily meetings with White House Press Secretary Scott McCellan.

And now Jeff has his own weekly radio program on "RightTalk," along with such notable wingnuts as Paul Weyrich and Grover Norquist.

Well, today Atrios seems to have IDed Mr. "Gannon":

Sources allege that Jeff Gannon's real name is James D. "JD" Guckert, though I have not been able to confirm this.

But this would make perfect sense, because when the folks at Kos did some digging into the background of Jeff's various sites, they found that they were all registered to "Bedrock Corp" of Wilmington, DE, and the address provided was a Mailbox, Inc location.  However, poster dqueue did some further Googling and found another address for Bedrock Corp. of Wilmington -- this address was a single-family home, and it was associated with a "Jim Guckert" who was listed on a business directory page for court reporting and secretarial services in Wilmington.  (I found another listing for Bedrock Corp, this one describing it as a "Management Consultant business" -- so, maybe Jim provides both secretarial services AND management consulting.)

And when I did some "People Find" checks, I found an entry for "James Dale Guckert" (AKA Jim Dale Guckert), age 47, of Delaware.  He was matched with two addresses in Newark, five in Wilmington, and one in Cincinnati, OH.  (But you had to pay to get the complete report on him, so I didn't.)  Anyway, I'm guessing that James/Jeff used to live in Cincinatti (and maybe attended college there), and has bounced around Delware since then.  And he may not actually live on Capitol Hill (at least, he may not have registered his Nissan Pathfinder and his Beretta in D.C.) 

I can't seem to find out anything more about Jim/Jeff.  I guess he's just one of those people who haven't done anything that made the papers (or the internet).  That is, until 2003 when he changed his name and suddenly became a White House reporter, thus beginning his close association with Ari and Scottie and President George!  (And he was doing this on a daily basis, and for a fake news service that one wouldn't think could afford to pay much of a salary.*) And then the very next year, he was getting classified (although probably fake) memos which appeared designed to discredit Valerie Plame. 

Only in America!

* TalonNews invites YOU to be on the team:

Talon News Team

Want to join the Talon News team? Click here to find out more about being a volunteer reporter for Talon News.

Well, you'd just be a volunteer, but think of all the great cutting and pasting from GOP material you'd get to do.  Yes, since Talon News doesn't seem to be making any money, I guess they must get the fund to pay their Washington Bureau Chief from outside donations ...

3:59:56 AM