Rove, Gannon, Keeler and History.

[snickersnee]

Lawrence of Arabia, British Beatlemania
Ole Miss, John Glenn, Liston beats Patterson

Pope Paul, Malcolm X, British Politician sex
J.F.K. blown away, what else do I have to say

---with apologies to Billy Joel; consider us even.

Hello friends. I know I'm fairly new and all, but I've been a little obsessed with a troublesome brainworm over the last few nights, and I need to share it. I anticipate that there are flaws in my comprehension and/or logic, and would appreciate constructive evaluation and feedback. I only have a general understanding of the fact pattern, and am in NO WAY an authority, but here's my 0.02.

Whoever initiated the Plame smackdown (Bolton, Cheney etc), for whatever ulterior motives, it seems likely to me that it would end up with Rove. He's the unchallenged dirty operative, an evil manipulating "genius" who's done this kind or work before. So that's not a stretch.

Here's the part that IS a stretch, but I have to ask: what ever became of Jeff Gannon? Because I really don't know (I was only lurking back then) - he seemed to just fall off the radar, and while I'm not a hardcore conspiracy buff, it was a pretty leggy story.

Now, as to why I ask. Were I Rove in this hypothetical situation, here's how I might see it: I have a nasty little narrative about Wilson and Plame, and I want it to get around. I don't want to take the blowback of doing it directly, so I look for a "middleman". Gannon is already there as a shill, is known to be loyal and accomodating, and is morally uninhibited. He's truly an "embedded" "reporter", and Karl has used those before.

I'm not sure about this, because I have no idea how sharp a legal mind Rove has, or would have confidential access to; nor do I understand the intricacies of the legalisms involved here. But remember, he's *political* not administrative, and he's done this sort of thing before, though not always undetected. Maybe he thought that he could hide behind Gannon...

And also hide behind the meaning of "knowingly disclosed classified". Luskin, Rove's lawyer, told Isikoff that Rove "never knowingly disclosed classified information" and that "he did not tell any reporter that Valerie Plame worked for the CIA." . The exact words are important. If Rove set up the story via (a) stooge(s) like Gannon, and then only confirmed certain background facts while "refusing to confirm or deny" others, he could TECHNICALLY claim that he did not actually disclose the proscribed information. This is in addition to other potential legal defenses (didn't know, not qualified etc).
*IF* it was Gannon that got the story out to the MSM press targets (Novak & Time, etc), then they would seek corroboration from something more reliable than a slimy reformed internet hooker, who apparently was recognized by at least some as a presstitute, if nothing more. If he was the one who just happened to have come upon this information, but was unable for some reason to use it directly, then they might take the bait and then call the two "senior administration officials" for a wink and a nod. Those officials (Rove?) would not technically have to divulge anything which might prove criminal, but just connect the dots and give the reporters confidence in the story.

I also don't know how extensive reporter's notes are likely to be, but if their initial tip from Gannon was off the record, he might literally not be anywhere in their records. Even beyond journalistic ethics and protecting one's sources, I doubt they'd be too eager to go public about how they were duped into betraying national intelligence assets, and libelling an innocent man, by a sleazy and transparent whore.

---I wrote everything up until *HERE* last night (July 5).---

Now today, the WaPo tells us:
"Fitzgerald may learn more details from Cooper's notes. Sources close to the investigation say there is evidence in some instances that some reporters may have told government officials -- not the other way around -- that Wilson was married to Plame, a CIA employee".
---How synchronicitous!!

So perhaps, if this goes that far, Rove or whichever "senior officials" will claim that they heard about Plame's CIA affiliation via Gannon, or from reporters who heard from him? And how do we know that Gannon, in turn, didn't happen to have been "under cover" with some Deep Throat within the CIA heirarchy? Maybe that's the reason he was there? How would such a pigeon prove that he wasn't also a "stool"? They could weave a perfectly credible "backstory" (sorry for all the cheap puns) leaving Rove et al completely out of the loop, and leave some poor gay schmuck holding the bag. As long as Jeff keeps at least one piehole shut, the real perps go free, and *that* part of the fact pattern gets chalked up to personal ambition or bureaucratic warfare or a sordid love triangle. No wonder Ari left. Their worst-case scenario is to pin Gannon on McLellan, and hope one amputation is enough. He's not that important.

And that's only if it gets really bad, which it is only starting to. Meanwhile it allows them to claim that Plame's cover was already leaking to "inside the beltway" types. We all know how the "liberal media" loves to exploit Republican scandals - maybe Rove is banking on them not poking that hornet's nest too much. Unless people start making uncomfortable rumblings about who exactly was Gannon again, who so happily arrived unannounced or accredited, just in time to access internal CIA information, and to run interference in the press room. And what's the connection between him and Karl Rove, through Eberle's old outfit? And what about those overnight stays?

There. That's my "big leap". Why am I prepared to entertain such lurid fancy? Because, I'm a sucker for an analogy (or is that "I'm LIKE a sucker..."?). Maybe, if we can tell this story right, Jeff Gannon isn't James Guckert, he's Christine Keeler. And Rove is Profumo.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Profumo_affair


And this nightmare is over.

[Last Lemming]

1. Great analysis of a confusing situation

I'm still confused but I don't think it's your fault

two questions--well three

1) why hasn't jeff gannon been asked to testify (or has he?)
2) does this have something to do with a male brothel Gannon had ties with that Andy Stevenson (activist) implied was also a front for the CIA?
3) was Christine Keeler undercover--is that what you are implying?

[snickersnee]

2. thanks!

1) he apparently has, to a grand jury, but i know nothing about what he might have said, and do not believe it's public.
2) i am in the dark here. i'm no gannon expert. i just believe, however he came to be in the press corp, he was useful and was used to spread information and deflect attention. there may be more to it than that, but i don't know about it.
3) no. i'm only noting that keeler was a hooker, profumo tried to cover her up and lied doing it, the lie was revealed and the government fell with it. that's enough for me.



i'm still confused too, but i smell bacon!

[snickersnee]

3. evening kick

:kick:
any takers?



last chance...


:nuke:

[Last Lemming]

4. not sure how to kick

n/t

[Kool Kitty]

5. You just did!!!

:thumbsup:

[Last Lemming]

6. Come on

you are teasing me to kick it again...

[WhiteTara]

9. kick

for the night crew
:kick:

[pbartch]

7. Here is how the wikipedia ties him to the plume scandal

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x1910122


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valerie_Plame#Timeline

James Guckert is under investigation in the Valerie Plame affair. Democratic Representative Louise Slaughter of New York called for an investigation of these allegations and possibly related incidents where the Bush administration paid pundits to advocate their policies.



<snip>

Connection to Plame investigation
Guckert has been questioned by the Justice Department in relation to the department's criminal investigation into the Valerie Plame affair, in which Plame's identity as an undercover CIA operative was allegedly illegally leaked to a number of journalists and commentators by one or more senior administration officials. On October 28, 2003, Talon News published an interview Guckert had conducted with Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson, Plame's husband, whom the CIA had sent to Niger in 2003 to investigate claims that Iraq was attempting to procure yellowcake uranium. In the interview, Guckert asked Wilson about an "internal government memo prepared by U.S. intelligence personnel" that said Plame had suggested Wilson for the job. In a February 2005 interview, Guckert told CNN's Wolf Blitzer that the FBI had spoken to him in an effort to learn who had leaked the classified memo and to whom, but that he had not been asked to appear before the grand jury investigating the case.

[snickersnee]

8. thanks pbartch!

so i stand corrected: guckert has been questioned by the FBI, but not (yet) a grand jury.

now how would gannon have known the contents of that internal memo?