Fake Journalist Used By Bush Administration for Propaganda

[Doctrine1st]

For Clinton or for Bush?

You're not going back far enough. More like Reagan for taking him off the State Department list of terrorists in supporting him with arms, credits, and logistics. Bush Sr. for setting him up in Kuwait and also lying. Clinton's erroneously premise for bombing, and "W" for outright lying and deception about weapons when evidence clearly proved otherwise. There seems to be rather consistancies when it comes to our Iraq policies and Iraqi "evidencegate."

 

[arnegrim]

It wasn't a conclusion, once again for your reading pleasure:

"He got one everytime he applied while many a reporter from legit news agencies couldn't."

Ok... you do realize you're quoting yourself right?

"But not because he didn't try to get them. On Dec. 12, 2003, Guckert applied to the Standing Committee of Correspondents, a group of congressional reporters who oversee press-credential distribution on Capitol Hill. On April 7, 2004, his application was rejected when the committee could not conclude that Talon was a legitimate, independent news organization. "We didn't recognize the publication, so we asked for information about what Talon was," Julie Davis, a reporter for the Baltimore Sun who is on the committee, previously told Salon. "We did some digging, and it became clear it was owned by the owner of GOPUSA. And we had asked for some proof of Talon's editorial independence from that group ... They didn't provide anything, so we denied their credentials, which is pretty rare," she said."

Can't get more clearer than that. Never said for personal reasons.


GOPUSA, and it's offshot of Talon, neither are considered by those issuing hard passes as legit.

No again... it wasn't that Talon wasn't considered legit, it was the ties it had with GOPUSA.

 

[Vylo]

This story is like Dracula movies. It's been done to death.

 

[shoeless]

This story is like Dracula movies. It's been done to death.

I'm sure all Republican Bushists wish this story would go away. It seems that Bush appologists only defense is to claim that the story is old news. Let me remind you that we spent $70 million on an investigation into a 20 year old failed real estate deal.

This story is not over. We know almost nothing about what actually happened. The Democrats in Congress want an investigation into how White House security could be so easily breached. The Republicans have squashed any investigation. They are amazingly incurious as to how someone could sit within striking distance of the president for two years, using an assumed name, and receiving no background check.

We also need to know who exactly founded and funded GOPUSA.

I realize that Republicans desperately want to avoid learning the answers to these questions, but the story has hardly been "done to death", considering there is so much we don't know yet.

 

[arnegrim]

I'm sure all Republican Bushists wish this story would go away. It seems that Bush appologists only defense is to claim that the story is old news.

Well... Vylo is a Democrat, I'm Independant... so I don't know how you came to this conclusion.

This story is not over. We know almost nothing about what actually happened. The Democrats in Congress want an investigation into how White House security could be so easily breached.

But there is no evidence that security was breached... there is nothing to indicate that Gannon did not go through the normal background checks associated with a 'daily pass'.

The Republicans have squashed any investigation. They are amazingly incurious as to how someone could sit within striking distance of the president for two years, using an assumed name, and receiving no background check.

See above.

We also need to know who exactly founded and funded GOPUSA.

Why?

 

[Vylo]

Shoe, I am far from a Bush fan. But this IS old news. No we shouldn't just accept it, but we should realize that Bush isn't alone in doing things of this nature. We should hold ALL our presidents to a higher standard.

 

[shoeless]

Actually, Bush is alone in doing these things.

There is a good chance that Karl Rove was actually the founder of GOPUSA. If that is true, then the scandal is even that much more serious. That would make GOPUSA and Talon news an actual arm of the Bush administration, and Jeff Gannon/James Guckert a Bush administration employee.

 

[shoeless]

Jeff Gannon and Karl Rove Attended the Same "School"; Or, "The Best Theory Yet for How Gannon Got Hired By GOPUSA and Karl Rove Got In Touch With Him"

By ADVOCATE STAFF
Excerpt:
CBS has put (once again) its credibility on the line and speculated that Karl Rove is the man responsible for bringing Jeff Gannon (James Guckert) into the White House.
Now, why would they say a thing like that?

Is it because Rove controls everything in the White House down to the lifespan of houseplants in the West Wing?

Or because it's a near certainty that, beyond the two men meeting at a White House Christmas party--as Gannon has already asserted--Rove and the ex-Talon News "reporter" have likely crossed paths on other occasions, too?

Well, let's see.

Karl Rove is a graduate of Morton C. Blackwell's Leadership Institute.

So is Jeff Gannon.

Rove went to the Institute's "Youth Leadership School," graduating from that grist-mill of conservative quackery in 1979.

Gannon went to the Institute's "Broadcast Journalism School," graduating (to the extent $50 in cash enabled that "achievement") in 2003.

Both "schools" cost substantially less than a bargain-basement television set, and provide approximately the same degree of instruction in critical thinking. [See website].

The Leadership Institute Gannon (and Rove) graduated from has an Employment Placement Service/Intern Program which, according to the Institute's solicitation to prospective "students," "open doors for you which would otherwise remain shut."

And how!

The "Intern Program" boasts "weekly private dinners with Washington VIPs," including (as a sampling, from the website) Fox News commentators, Reagan Administration officials, former Republican U.S. Attorneys General, and sitting U.S. Members of Congress (e.g., Representative Tom DeLay [R-TX]; former House Majority Leader, Dick Armey [R-TX]).

And perhaps -- [gasp] -- former graduates of the Institute, like Karl Rove?

Hell, if "The Texas Hammer" can make time for old friend Morton C. Blackwell, why can't "the boy genius"? After all, doesn't Blackwell serve with Rove on the Advisory Board for the Ronald Reagan Legacy Project? Didn't Blackwell, according to the conservative Washington Times, "train" Rove to become the virulent little blackguard he is today?

Says the Institute's website, "on a weekly basis our interns meet with some of the conservative movement's top 'movers and shakers.' These dinners are prepared and served to our interns and their private guest."

The Institute also crows about the fact that, each week, "[Institute] interns correspond with, meet, and have dinner with top conservative leaders. From Congressmen to Supreme Court Justices to heads of major public policy groups, interns receive personal mentoring on how to achieve success and make a difference in government, politics, and the media....n addition to weekly speaker nights arranged by the Leadership Institute, interns are encouraged to attend issue briefings by other conservative organizations like the Cato Institute and the Heritage Foundation."

"Make a difference in the media" -- indeed!

And speaking of cushy internships, how about Jeff Gannon's "volunteer" position as a "reporter" for GOPUSA, which he acquired despite having no journalistic experience whatsoever?

[According to Daily Kos, the CEO of one of GOPUSA's sponsors, Campaign Secrets' Mark Montini, is also the Vice President for Programs at -- you guessed it -- The Leadership Institute. And if you check out the GOPUSA website, you can see that the only event on the GOPUSA "calendar" is a late September 2004 Silver Anniversary Gala for the Leadership Institute, featuring "special appearances by Leadership Institute graduates who have become star leaders over the past twenty-five years." Hmm, like Rove?].

And what if employers -- or, say, White House staffers, like Karl Rove -- want to find someone to "do a job" for them?

Easy!

According to the website's entreaty to prospective employers of Institute graduates (see here), "[the Institute's] free conservative job bank provides a pool of applicants from which to hire qualified candidates. Resumes arrive within 24 hours, so you can begin to fill open positions immediately. Our prospective candidates can fill every position from chief-of-staff to press secretary. We curb the frustration factor by supplying all the necessary information to make your selection process easier."

Wow!

Imagine that: all it would have taken Rove was a single phone call or a click of the mouse to get hooked up with (no pun intended) journalist/prostitute (or is that "prostitute/journalist"?) Jeff Gannon/James Dale Guckert.

http://nashuaadvocate.blogspot.com/2005/02/jeff-gannon-and-karl-rove-attended.html

 

[arnegrim]

Actually, Bush is alone in doing these things.

There is a good chance that Karl Rove was actually the founder of GOPUSA. If that is true, then the scandal is even that much more serious. That would make GOPUSA and Talon news an actual arm of the Bush administration, and Jeff Gannon/James Guckert a Bush administration employee.

And the speculation grows by leaps and bounds...

...and you wonder why I ask for evidence?

 

[shoeless]

And the speculation grows by leaps and bounds...

...and you wonder why I ask for evidence?

And you wonder why I ask for evidence! I want to know why there is no security at the White House! I want to know who founded GOPUSA! I want to know whether Jeff Gannon/James Guckert is a paid emplyee of the Bush administration!

I want an investigation! There are so many unanswered questions! Why should these questions go unanswered?

you can poo poo these questions all you want, but the fact remains that they are unanswered, and they are very important questions.

I want $70 million and an independent prosecutor to investigate this.

Perhaps you would be more comfortable not knowing the answers, but I want to know.

This is not a failed private $45,000 real estate deal in Arkansas. This goes to the very credibility of our government, and how we are being propagandized.

Stick your head in the sand. Some people, including most Democrats in Congress, want to know what is going on here.

 

[Fineous_Reese]

I want $70 million and an independent prosecutor to investigate this.

this appears to be the crux of the issue. is the term "sour grapes"?

 

[PACKY]

here we go again....... let me go grab the popcorn and watch this saga continue

 

[Fineous_Reese]

here we go again....... let me go grab the popcorn and watch this saga continue

as an aside, Junior Mints go splendidly with popcorn

 

[PACKY]

I MIGHT AS WELL GRAB THE PEPTO-BISMOL ALSO CAUSE i KNOW THE BARBS WILL BE THROWN.

 

[12volt_man]

OK, hopefully, I have everyone's attention now. The other thread has been locked, and no problem. Let's talk about the real issue here. That is the use by the Bush administration of raw propaganda.

Once again, the letter by my great Senator from Illinois, Dick Durbin to George W. Bush. Republicans, please read this and comment.

Dear Mr. President,

At a press conference in the White House on January 26, you stated that “there needs to be a nice, independent relationship between the White House and the press.” In that same press conference, you called on a reporter then known as Jeff Gannon, who worked for an organization called Talon News.

Since that time, the public has learned that the real name of that reporter is James Dale Guckert, not Jeff Gannon, and that he had regular access to the White House press facilities for more than a year. We have also learned that the questions he posed at White House press briefings and the stories he filed for Talon News frequently mirrored Republican Party talking points, that Talon News is a news organization in name only and that it has apparently close connections to the Republican party.

Given the unprecedented level of security in Washington since 9/11, it is troubling that that a non-journalist using a false name and working for a sham news organization could have gained regular access to the White House for such an extended period of time.

Another reason the Gannon/Guckert affair is disturbing is because of what we have recently learned about apparent efforts by some in your Administration to try to “buy” favorable news coverage. These other efforts include paying news personalities Armstrong Williams and Maggie Gallagher large sums of money to promote your Administration’s education and marriage initiatives, and using tax payer dollars to produce video news releases promoting the new prescription drug benefit for Medicare beneficiaries and other policies the Administration regards as accomplishments. A recent report by the General Accountability Office called such video news releases illegal uses of public funds. More recently, we have heard troubling reports that Social Security Administration officials may be using public funds and pressuring public employees to promote your goal of privatizing Social Security.

As you know, concerns that government officials may be trying to deceive the public by manipulating the media can be extremely corrosive to public

trust. For that reason, we respectfully request that you order an immediate and thorough investigation into the Gannon/Guckert matter. How is it possible that a man using a fake name, with dubious journalism credentials, was able to clear the White House’s extensive security screening process and gain such close access to you and your staff for such an extended period of time? Have there been other, similar breaches of security and journalism standards?

We appreciate your prompt attention to this important matter. We urge you to order a full inquiry so that the American people know the facts.

Big deal. The libs have been using Dan Rather, another fake journalist, for years.

 

[Scribbler]

And you wonder why I ask for evidence! I want to know why there is no security at the White House!

"No Security at the White House?" How do you deduce that?

I want an investigation! There are so many unanswered questions! Why should these questions go unanswered?

Because the majority of people....(wait for it,...)...don't think it worth losing sleep over, shoe.

I want $70 million and an independent prosecutor to investigate this.

As soon as a felony or three is committed, I'm on board with you, amigo. Hopefully, Bush will be more compliant than his predecessor, and it won't cost as much.

This is not a failed private $45,000 real estate deal in Arkansas. This goes to the very credibility of our government, and how we are being propagandized.

Propaganda in the White House press corps?!?! I'm aghast! We'd better get Helen Thomas on the case.

Look, shoe-It gets down to this...Bush used a semi-amateur writer known for his Conservative online columns. They wanted a more conservative voice in the press corps, ostensibly to offset the prevailing Liberal viewpoint that resides there. So they planted Gannon (it's a pen name, not a secret identity), whose questions (all but a few, anyways) were pro-Bush in nature, and usually were "softball" questions. The press corps smelled a rat, and confronted him, and ultimately exposed him. Was it right? Nope. I'm a bit dicouraged by it myself, and disappointed by the president. On the "Scandal-Meter", though? Hey, I don't see it cracking a 2.5. All this Gay MacBethian Drama stuff you posit is as ridiculous as it is irrelevant,...unless you actually do believe the Admin intentionally chose the only Right-Wing Blogger who moonlights as a Gay Escort.

All you've done since you got on here is simply cut & paste wild-eyed accusatory editorials from such groundbreaking media outlets as "WorkingForChange"and sianews, probably left-wing versions of Talon News, no doubt. (Heck, your larest source, theNashuaAdvocate, is from my hometown of Nashua...and I've never even heard of them.)
You don't defend them, you don't debate them, you hardly even dicuss them. If you can't restrain yourself from bearing false witness, have the courtesy to answer those who actually respond to your posted accusations, instead of simply...posting more accusations. I see you're new here, so perhaps you you don't fully understand the nature of a Forum, but noone's mind is being opened by your posts, noone is thinking twice, and the fact that you don't debate what you paste leads me to suspect you don't even believe them yourself.
Just a friendly word.
Scribbler.

 

[shoeless]

I'm not bearing false witness against anybody, and I greatly resent your accusation. Some "friendly word"! How do you talk when aren't being "friendly"?

The Republicans have been the one's claiming that any Joe Schmoe can walk into the White house press conference room and gab with the President. I don't believe them for a second, but they are claiming it. If that's true, security is badly lacking.

I guarantee that if this were a Democratic administration, you and every other regressive Republican would be screaming bloody murder for a multi-million dollar investigation. Please don't lie, and say you wouldn't. In fact, there have been crimes committed. Putting Armstrong Williams and other journalist on the White House payroll, and producing propaganda fake "news casts" are illegal, according to the GAO. But, since the Republicans control all three branches of government, no one will prosecute.

Also, I could care less if you don't like my sources. If the so-called "liberal biased" news media would do their jobs, bloggers wouldn't be the ones having to break stories like this. Remember, it was the bloggers who discovered this scandal.

This story makes you mad doesn't it Scribbler. Too bad. Just a "friendly word". Bump.

Blogger's Struggle to Attend White House Press Gaggle Suggests Jeff Gannon Was Given Special Access to the White House Press Room By Administration

By ADVOCATE STAFF

Excerpt:
[EDITOR'S NOTE: This story was broken by Raw Story. Since the publication of The Nashua Advocate article below, The New York Times has weighed in on this story as well. So--in summary--you heard it here second].

Compare these two men, and try to figure out which one is more deserving of Secret Service security clearance and a White House press pass.

Man A: Gay hooker. Uses Alias. Denied credentials by U.S. Senate and U.S. House. Has worked for a G.O.P. activist site for six days at the time of his application for a White House press pass. Received his journalism "degree" during a two-day "course" which set him back $50. Has a website on which he talks about guns. Fondly. Does not claim to be unbiased or non-partisan. Has never done any professional writing at the time of his application. A radical conservative.

Man B: 2002 graduate of Harvard University, where he was Executive Editor of The Harvard Crimson. Previously cleared by the Secret Service for access to the West Wing of the White House as well as the Oval Office itself. Father was a Correspondent for The Associated Press, mother wrote for The New York Herald-Tribune. Former intern for ABC News and The Atlantic Monthly. Worked on the presidential campaign of former Vermont Governor Howard Dean. Now a blogger who meets all three of the criteria for admission to the White House press room, as articulated by White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan. To wit, his blog publishes regularly, is independent and non-partisan, and is supported by subscribers and/or advertising.

Can you guess (no hints, now!) which of these two men got immediate access to the Bush White House, and which man only got access after a highly-publicized internet campaign, coverage of the story by USA Today and CNN, and a personal intervention from Ron Hutchinson, President of the White House Correspondents Association?

 

[arnegrim]

I'm not bearing false witness against anybody, and I greatly resent your accusation. Some "friendly word"! How do you talk when aren't being "friendly"?

The Republicans have been the one's claiming that any Joe Schmoe can walk into the White house press conference room and gab with the President. I don't believe them for a second, but they are claiming it. If that's true, security is badly lacking.

I don't see anyone claiming that any Joe Schmoe can walk in...

 

[shoeless]

I don't see anyone claiming that any Joe Schmoe can walk in...

Then you haven't been paying attention. That is exactly why I brought this up in the first place. No one was paying attention. This guy was using an alias, and had absolutely no journalism credentials. He was Joe Schmoe off the street.

[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Bush's press office gave Jim Guckert access, even knowing his only credentials were from the blatantly partisan group GOPUSA.
[/font]
[font=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]by Eric Boehlert[/font]​

Excerpt:

White House press secretary Scott McClellan originally told reporters that Guckert was properly allowed into press briefings because he worked for an outlet that "published regularly." But that's when the questions were about Talon. More recently McClellan offered up a new rationale. Asked by Editor and Publisher magazine how the decision was made to allow a GOPUSA correspondent in, McClellan said, "The staff assistant went to verify that the news organization existed." (Emphasis added.) That, apparently, was the lone criterion the press office used when Guckert (aka Jeff Gannon) approached it in February 2003 seeking a pass for White House briefings. Not yet working for Republican-friendly Talon News, which came into existence in April 2003, Guckert, using an alias and with no journalism experience whatsoever, was writing on a voluntary basis for a Web site dedicated to promoting Republican issues. To determine whether Guckert would gain entrance to the press room, normally reserved for professional journalists working for legitimate, recognized and independent news organizations, the press office simply logged on to the Internet and confirmed that GOPUSA "existed," and then quickly approved Guckert's access. In a White House obsessed, at least publicly, with security and where journalists cannot even move between the White House and the nearby Old Executive Building without a personal escort, Guckert's lenient treatment was likely unprecedented.

 

[arnegrim]

Then you haven't been paying attention. That is exactly why I brought this up in the first place. No one was paying attention. This guy was using an alias, and had absolutely no journalism credentials. He was Joe Schmoe off the street.

No... I understand that... but that means nothing.

1. Many in the media use 'aliass'.
2. When did you get to decide what constitutes 'enough' journalism experience?
3. There is nothing to suggest he did not undergo a security check.

Curious... what website did you cut your excerpt from?