February 25, 2005

Fear and Loathing in the Press Room
It's only fitting that Gannon should borrow a Hunter S. Thompson title for his post;
Gannon is being exorciated by the Left right now because he used an alias or pen name ("phony I.D.") to get into the White House press room and he "concealed" the fact that he was a "gay Republican" and a "homosexual prostitute" in his private life at that (The jury's still out on that one!).
So what gives him the right to ask President Bush a VRWC-biased question casting aspersion on the fine Dimocrat Senators, a question which attracted the on-air attention of Conservative talk radio über-host Rush Limbaugh?
If one's personal vices or excesses were a bar to "real" journalists, Hunter S. Thompson would have been toast from day one.
And yet the Left lauds every bad thing Thompson committed as a virtue in their obits to him this week.
Vice, human failings and bad behavior would appear to be a boon to any would-be pundit.
This is not to mention the fact that the Dems are supposed to the party that champions "gay" "rights" and yet they've behaved as if Gannon isn't "allowed" to be gay and a Republican and a participating member of the White House press corps.
What kind of "tolerance" is this?
I haven't blogged about this "story" (non-story) until now because I could tell it's another one of those Leftist temper tantrums that isn't important and is based on innuendo, whining and fabrications, if not outright lies!
But it's gotten to such a point of ridiculous-ness that the feces-flinging monkeys on the Left (both in the MSM and the blogosphere) are trying to link Gannon with another of their non-issues, the Joe Wilson/Valerie Plame "affair."
Un-frigging-believable.
Even the beyond-pitiful David Corn has been reduced to telling his faithful that maybe they made something out of nothing regarding "Gannongate:"

Here's a piece that might irritate our fellow bloggers--especially the folks who uncovered (so to speak) Jeff Gannon's secrets. I just posted it in my "Capital Games column at www.thenation.com. (If you've already seen it, scroll down to other original items on this blog, including a posting on Howard Dean's latest dumb remark.) In brief, I'm being a worrywart about the journalistic implications of the Gannon affair, and I note that two key aspects of the story--that Gannon is a gay GOP hypocrite and that Gannon was handed classified information regarding the Wilson leak investigation--are not fully supported by the known facts. In other words, this old-media guy (The Nation was founded in 1865!) is again sounding a cautionary note about investigation-via-blogs. Feel free to throw your keyboards at me.

I'd like to throw a lot more than that at Korn!
What's he really saying is that the Left side of the blogosphere tried to scare up some payback for Easongate (and also Rathergate) and failed miserably.
I love it! I love it! I love it!
Korn weasels out of Gannongate a little more in that Nation post:

The emails keep pouring in with this plea: Investigate Gannongate! These messages are obviously part of a campaign among liberal Internet activists who believe the controversy concerning Jeff Gannon (aka James Guckert) has not received sufficient media attention. Gannon/Guckert was a conservative reporter for a marginal news outfit who obtained a daily pass to the White House press office and who also apparently was seeking customers as a gay, military-oriented prostitute. Serious questions do remain as to why and how the Bush White House's press operation granted access to Gannon/Guckert, a correspondent for the Talon News.
[Serious questions about what, David? Reporters' private lives? Their political affiliations?
Should journos be given a "morality/vice test" before being granted a White House press pass?
If so, would you qualify?--Jen]
Should a fellow with a fake identity--and a questionable background--be allowed into presidential press conferences?
[I dunno...Has Helen Thomas be thoroughly vetted? How about David Gregory?
How about Campbell Brown? Of course, Larry Flynt would "pass" for a pass with flying colors!--J.T.]
Talon News was connected to GOPUSA,
[Was it really?--Jen]
an organization run by Texas-based Republican activist Bobby Eberle, and Gannon/Guckert routinely asked softball questions of Bush's press secretaries during their daily White House briefings.
[There should be a federal law against that, certainly!--Jen]
But throughout this scandal, I have wondered if the Gannon affair may be smaller than it seems. I expressed several concerns in an earlier column. Still, in response to the emails, I decided to heed the call and look further. What I found leads me to ask--gasp!--if Gannon/Guckert, on a few but not all fronts, has received a quasi-bum rap.

It makes me physically ill to link to Korn once, much less twice, but I think this had to be seen to be believed.
I've heard Gannon may sue his Leftist "exposers" like Korn and closet case, ex-GOP operative turned DNC operative David Brock and I hope he does!
What the "Progressive" pundits are really objecting to here is that the White House press corps isn't a monolithic, Bush-hating, go for the "Gotcha!" questioning rabble of Leftist lousers!
Somehow, an enemy got into their camp and he must be purged!
Go, Gannon, go!
And for an even funnier summation of the whole "affair," don't miss the last word on this whole "kerfuffle" (new MSM fave word) by the Divine Miss Ann:
Republicans, bloggers and gays, oh my!