We badly mishandled Gannon

[dsc]

and that probably contributed to it not being covered. While we were chasing sex laden conspiracy theories we ignored the obvious. Gannon was there because his questions made the White House's job easier. Maybe Gannon got some action on the side, maybe he didn't, but any side action is wholly irrelevent to the central issue. His presence in the press room made McClellen's and Bush's job easier.

The real scandal is this:

A man who has engaged in illegal activity and owes five figures to Delaware was able to get into the White House in war time. And not just once, but repeatedly for a period of months. One of the following must be true.

1) The SS checked him out exactly like they would anyone else and didn't find anything wrong, so let him in.

2) The SS checked him out exactly like they would anyone else, found this information out, and let him in (as they would anyone else).

3) The SS checked him out exactly like they would anyone else, found this information out, and let him in only after they were told to.

4) The SS either didn't check him out or did so with a much less rigourous check after they were told to do that.

The White House has implicitly stated that 1 is true, 2 could be true and the statements they have made would still be technically accurate. If 3 and 4 are true they lied.

That leaves the WH two bad options. Either the WH is as secure as a kid's tree house while we are at war, or they lied about using influence to get a softball asking lackie in to the WH to help McClellen do his job. Frankly the first scenario is worse for the WH. It lays bare the whole lie about a wartime President who is tough on security. Just how concerned can they be about security if a person who is publicly breaking the law and owes back taxes to the tune of 20k can get routine access to the WH? Can you imagine the havoc such a well placed terrorist could have wrought?

I realize the above isn't titulating nor is it terribly fun. But it is the real, relevent problem that the Gannon mess provided. We should have kept it simple, maybe the press would have covered this if we did. Maybe they wouldn't have, who knows.

[sabra]

1. Didn't you watch Pax's Lie Detector, JimmyJeff has been vindicated

of all wrong doing! End of story.... /sarcasm

BTW, I agree with you. Actually I think each smaller component of Gannon could of been it's own story. But, hey that's just me?

[Catherine Vincent]

23. I saw that too, wasn't that lame?

I was laughing my butt off.

[BlueEyedSon]

2. Get serious.... they own the media, the legislature and the executive

there was no way to "correctly handle" Jeffy Lube and achieve different results.

Just like every other lie/inconsistency/hypocrisy (WMD, torture, war profiteering, etc) it was buried.

[OzarkDem]

3. Its still a story

and a very important one for the reasons you state.

The fact the MSM is trying to spin the story only means its causing them problems and the effort to bring it to light is having the desired effect.

[Brewman_Jax]

4. Wouldn't have mattered

without control of a major news media outlet to constantly pound on the story, the truth becomes trivial. I know (stupid) people who still believe the invasion of Iraq was just, Clinton was a friend of Saddam, Bush* did everything on his own, liberals are the cause of high taxes, and electronic voting is okay.

Goebbels was right.

[bpilgrim]

5. i think you mean the M$MW

just like the downing st. MINUTES

and on and on...

our job is to turn over all the stones and pass the word if the M$MW ignores us we just need to keep bringing it up.

the security angle
the shill/insider angle
and the sex angle

all should be put out there...

peace

[radwriter0555]

6. WE did nothing wrong. CLEARLY the SS were told to stand down on the gay

trickster haunting the hallowed halls of the White House at all hours.

Clearly, he was deemed a person of privilege for sex games.

Come on, no one really believes he wanted to be a serious reporter, do they? That's just the cover the White House threw on him.

We ALL KNOW he was a GAY MALE HOOKER on the white house payroll.

Why pretend he was anything else?

[truebrit71]

29. BINGO!!!

"We" did nothing wrong...the "liberal" media handled that for us....

[WilliamPitt]

7. Yep. I was yelling about this at the time.

*sigh*

[bpilgrim]

9. *sigh*

yelling, thats definitely one of our problems...

peace

[Wilms]

24. I didn't yell.

Though you you'd think I would because suggesting that we were mishandling the story got me called a Freeper.

Besides, who needs freepers when there's a bunch of closet homophobes around.

[bpilgrim]

26. good on ya

:toast:

and the mods are good about dealing with folks calling other evil DU'ers 'freepers', too.

"Besides, who needs freepers when there's a bunch of closet homophobes around."

once they out themselves, they'll be dealt with, as well, bet.

peace

[DireStrike]

8. No... WE always said it wasn't about the sex.

It was the worthless media that picked up the sensationalist sex angle and ran it... erm... dry.

[bpilgrim]

10. the media didn't 'pick up & run' with any of it

if they had they would still be talking about it.

peace

[mopaul]

11. WE covered all the angles here

and who are we to handle it anyway, just a bunch loonies on the web?

it is staggering how it's been given a cloak of invisibility, and staggering how differently it would have been covered IF IT HAD HAPPENED UNDER BILL.

[bpilgrim]

14. we are a LARGE part of WHY folks come on line to get the LOW down

because we don't play the 'angles' we just put all the dirt out there and let the chips fall where they may and THAT is what makes us a force to be reckoned with ;->

peace

[radwriter0555]

17. We should have played the sex angle all the way up the hill. Come on,

we all KNOW he wasn't a "REPORTER". He was granted access for SEX.

He is a PROSTITUTE. He's NOT a reporter. He's a GAY MALE HOOKER.

WE should have played that angle and poo-pooed the whole BS story about him being a "reporter".

We all know he was played like a fiddle. I bet his client list is rather spectacular!

Think about it. HE had access to the SECRETS of the most powerful man ON THE PLANET.

Pillow talk, baby.

[bpilgrim]

18. agreed! the parallels to MONICA having ACCESS to the WHITE HOUSE

are STARTLING but no one in the M$MW wants to deal with it.

i'm sure it's all just in our heads though ;->

peace

[mopaul]

19. some have been bold enough to ask, 'who was jeff fucking'?

crazy bill maher etc. just imagine jeff fucking any number of male power figures in the white house, even the big guy.

but the sex angle isn't flying because of the white house owned media.

[earth mom]

27. You mean the small guy don't you? ;)

And I think the sex/hooker angle should have been played for all it was worth. It is a major part of the story IMO.

[KharmaTrain]

12. No One Dug Deep Enough

This dude could have led us to the entire Repugnican propaganda and funding machine...but too many took their eyes off the ball.

The frenzy about Gannon/Guckert's sexuality and his outlandish behavior became more the "story" (for those of us who thought it was at the moment) that overshadowed the political and the criminal with the scandilous and titilating. Which way do you think the corporate media was going to go? The "story" got framed as a left wing frenzy on a Gay Repugnican and so the "story" died.

The corporate media is scared shit of Gannon/Guckert and what he represents. The toadies who live in that Press Room knew there was one, if not several, GOOP plants in the press briefings and those who crossed this regime would lose access and get "Helen Thomased". That's a story that I hope one day is exposed.

I'll say it again...this dude was connected into the GOOP slime machine and could have been the gateway to out a bunch of Gannons and expose the corporate media for the complicit abeters they've become.

[mopaul]

13. for most, it's too unbelievable to accept, like 9-11

[Mizmoon]

15. The guy posted naked hooker pics of himself

the sex thing was a little hard to ignore. And the media usually LOVE sex related stories - they're practically pimps with all the sex they offer during sweeps. Whoda thunk they would suddenly decide they were too puritain to report on hookers and stuff?

quick edit for spelling

[bpilgrim]

16. and THAT is another TELL

the M$MW are usually ALL-OVER the SIZZLE and there ain't no bigger SIZZLE than SEX from the M$MW perspective but they RAN AWAY from this story, like MANY others, and clearly demonstrates to me that the game is RIGGED.

i ONLY get my news on-line anymore and my analysis from DU the rest of them are OBSOLETE and CORRUPT.

peace

[hector459]

20. We didn't mishandle. The MSM just doesn't report on RW-Repub sex scandals

And they surely don't report on RW-Republican-Christian-conservative hypocrisy and lying.

[AndreaCG]

21. And the James Dobsons and Pat Robertsons

Have been just as silent.

[bpilgrim]

22. we MUST face this FACT squarely or we will waste a LOT of time on 'angles'

now is the time for PLAIN SPOKEN truth-to-power every-chance we get.

passing the word to the M$MW in a polite and professional manner will get trough to some. they need to be educated and it is our DUTY to educate everyone around us... without YELLING, preferably ;->

peace

[merh]

25. Oh please, give me a break.

If Gannon had been a shill in Clinton's press corp, do you think they would have handled it any differently?

The media is in their pockets, the talking heads like celebrity more than they like the truth. Kerry/Edwards were not given equal press coverage during the election, nothing negative about this admin is hardly ever reported, if it is, it is downplayed or given a sound bite.

Hey, doesn't the handling of the Downing Street Memo give you a clue, it ain't "US" its them and they own the media. Stop beating up on and blaming "US" and start trying to figure out a way to get the media back.

[Bethany Rockafella]

28. Don't blame us. We're not the media.

But we should have known nothing would come out of this...at least not at this time. The Daschel folks uncovered the nude photos of Gannon and alerted reporters yet those reporters didn't say or do anything. Gannon is protected...just like Ken Lay.

[river2]

30. We sucked that well dry....

move on...let him fade away into obscurity....

[oasis]

31. He's not letting himself "fade away". He was on PAX's "Lie Detector" last

night saying that he was no WH plant. He wanted to clear his name and "My faith in God got me through it all".

He vows to keep plugging away at liberals.

We'll stay on his ass too.