More to the story?

February 11, 2005 9:58 AM

More to the story? So what are the chances that the whole Jeff Gannon/Jim Guckert thing is about more than partisan media manipulation?
posted by kgasmart (64 comments total)

You're only queer if you're not in power. I thought we knew that by now.
posted by WolfDaddy at 10:26 AM on February 11, 2005

This post has totally bummed me out. It's not just the info on the Rigorous Institution site, (I'm gonna bookmark it and check it out later,) it's the comments. Good god man, I believe in some pretty far out shit, but this takes the fucking cake. I followed the links to piratenews.org and now I don't know what to believe. Fnord!!
posted by daHIFI at 10:56 AM on February 11, 2005

Would someone be willing to post a synopsis of the argument here?
posted by nobody at 11:00 AM on February 11, 2005

The discussion would be filed under 'whackos' if it was posted on Memepool. I need someone wiser than I to see if there's any substance in the speculation...

Or, to be brief, ROVE PUPPETMASTER OF GAY SEX RING IN WHITE HOUSE
posted by anthill at 11:08 AM on February 11, 2005

The synopsis I got out of it is that Gannon was a "honey pot" used to curry gay-blackmail against persons of influence, not just a whitehouse press patsy. Mr. Wells claims Craig Spence was during the Bush Sr. administration, and that Gannon was simply being used in the same way, with the added bonus of being handy for press conferences where he could ask questions wearing kid gloves.

It seems very tin-foil hat to me.
posted by togdon at 11:10 AM on February 11, 2005

the Eberle connection to the previous and current scandals, and to this Spence guy, is the thing, along with all the holdovers from previous administrations in the current white house. I don't know if there's a there there tho.

Rove totally is a puppetmaster, so why not literally, with his hand up someone somewhere? Funny how you never hear of his family...
posted by amberglow at 11:14 AM on February 11, 2005

With all due respect, this should've been posted on one of the (still active) "Jeff Gannon" threads. The question mark after "more to the story" is an apt indicator.
posted by soyjoy at 11:15 AM on February 11, 2005

It seems very plausible given the kind of torture-advocates who have just been appointed AG and elsewhere, given the kind of wholesale falsehoods the WH has foisted on everyone, and given the vehemence of Bushcos anti-gay stance.

Methinks they protest too much, if you know what I mean.
posted by mooncrow at 11:16 AM on February 11, 2005

Methinks they protest too much, if you know what I mean.

Yeah, I bet they're all secretly arabs too.
posted by PinkStainlessTail at 11:17 AM on February 11, 2005

Interesing theory. Difficult to prove, but it does touch on something that's been on my mind- why Gannon? I mean, the guy's such an obvious tool- they didn't even try to do this with someone with a modicum of journalistic experience. Why?

When I saw the prostitution link, my first thought was that he was caught in an uncompromising position, and that he was blackmailed into it. But, upon further reflection, why would anyone bother to blackmail him? The more likely scenario, I think, is that Gannon has goods on someone and he's the one who thought it would be cool to leverage that into playing reporter, getting into the WH, and getting on TV.
posted by mkultra at 11:19 AM on February 11, 2005

i think that too, mk.
posted by amberglow at 11:28 AM on February 11, 2005

Wasn't the CIA involved in the gay blackmail (GBM :P) operations at Abu Ghraib?
Supposedly, gathering blackmail material is the motivation for some of the Skull and Bones initiations, as well.
posted by sonofsamiam at 11:33 AM on February 11, 2005

I really can't fault any out-there theories that come out of this scandal, as it's insane to begin with. A Republican Operative with no journalistic experience is planted in the White House Press Corps asking blindingly biased questions with the expectation that no one will call him out on it, AND NO ONE DOES, until, with startling ease, bloggers expose him for the fraud he is AND point out that he has links to a male prostitution ring. Oh, and he was the ONLY "journalist" to have access to that Valerie Plame memo.

Forget gay blackmail, it's enough to make you believe they all might be goddamned lizard aliens after all.
posted by unsupervised at 11:38 AM on February 11, 2005

Oooo, mkultra, I like that explanation... but how far could one really take blackmail against high level Republicans before you have an accident?
posted by anthill at 11:41 AM on February 11, 2005

Rude Pundit has a bit about someone who posted Gannon's picture to a Chicago M4M Craig's list, and got responses. Not that I approve of it, but I must say it's creative.
posted by fungible at 11:44 AM on February 11, 2005

Good god man, I believe in some pretty far out shit, but this takes the fucking cake.

Amen to that. On the other hand, there's very little of the last 5 years that I would've believed in 1999.

The more likely scenario, I think, is that Gannon has goods on someone

Not too difficult given the number of closet cases in the Republican party these days. Does anyone else think it's a little weird that gay sex, gay sex, bondage, forced gay sex, more bondage, and repressed gay sex seem to be repeating themes in this administration?

"Jeff Gannon." Heh. He even sounds like a gay porn star.
posted by octobersurprise at 11:48 AM on February 11, 2005

Gannon the Love Cannon.
posted by unsupervised at 11:58 AM on February 11, 2005

how far could one really take blackmail against high level Republicans before you have an accident

Depends who you've got the goods on.
posted by mkultra at 11:59 AM on February 11, 2005

how far could one really take blackmail against high level Republicans before you have an accident

Ask Craig Spence! Oohhh, that's right ...
posted by tizzie at 12:03 PM on February 11, 2005

Mrs. and Mr. Rove from 2003. Her name is Darby.
(Offered without comment ... so feel free to comment in my comment's absence. Thanks.)
posted by grabbingsand at 12:09 PM on February 11, 2005

The comment by AWGB sort of sums it all up.

If I get it right, Jeff is arguing that maybe this gannon guy was:
1. Running a male prostitute ring, possibly in conjunction with blackmail ops to get dirt on Republicans for political gain/manipulation within the party.
2. The favors from this discreet service earned a guy with no journalistic credentials top security access within the whitehouse without using his real name.

AWGB also argues that Gannon is probably a CIA handler trained to identify and nurture the homosexual tendancies of Republican party members so that the party can maintain control of its members through fear (of outing/exposure) tactics similar to those used by Hitler and the Vatican.

Your mileage may vary. I'm gonna go get my tin foil hat now.
posted by junkbox at 12:17 PM on February 11, 2005

and then there's this from americablog's comments: I think he is by design someone you can easily throw aside and discredit. If at any time the right wants to just disappear him, they can "discover" that he seems to be evading taxes and that he may have been involved with a prostitution business. Voila, he cannot testify credibly in a court of law and he can easily be threatened with jail time.
posted by amberglow at 12:19 PM on February 11, 2005

Amberglow: How apropos. I guess he's going to disappear then. However, the theory espoused by the links in the FPP is ludicrous. But then again, this administration seems to continually push the envelope of ludicrousness.
posted by Freen at 12:35 PM on February 11, 2005

exactly, Freen--they knew about that before they planted him. If they let him keep going on tv, even if it's a blowjob like Blitzer's interview with him yesterday, i'd be surprised.
posted by amberglow at 12:41 PM on February 11, 2005

Now, the Deputy Under-Shill to the President, Mr. Jeff Jim JD Gannon Guckert, is under fire for apparently running prostitution rings. Most politicians would have done everything they could to distance themselves from someone like him, but not Our Leader. He stands behind those who serve his needs.
posted by amberglow at 12:51 PM on February 11, 2005

Maybe this is what they were trying to cover up...
posted by mullingitover at 1:16 PM on February 11, 2005

365gay asks some interesting questions concerning this story: What has become of any membership list to his gay military sex sites? Were those sites created only to out servicemembers under "don't ask, don't tell"? Were any names turned over to the Pentagon?

This guy might be a more dangerous little shit than it appears so far.
posted by MotherTucker at 1:43 PM on February 11, 2005

I have to laugh at this line: we should probably ask the rhetorical question: what other purpose could a male prostitute possibly serve in the White House press corps? Or, I suppose, whom could he serve? It still seems much more likely that he is just another shill for the white house.

We know that preference is given to reports who soft ball the president, and we know that established reports like Helen Thomas have been frozen out. We also know that members of the media are getting contracts to report on the white house.

The only difference between Gannon and your average reporter today, is that Gannon prostitutes himself both sexually and politically.
posted by gesamtkunstwerk at 2:00 PM on February 11, 2005

Finally a sex scandal in this administration. Now we just need someone to get a blowjob, ideally a homosexual blowjob, thus Bush and Company will be strung up on their own petard of intolerance.

Wait no, who am I kidding, those sensible republican congressmen and women would never lower themselves to such a depraved level as to investigate the sex life of a major political figure...
posted by Freen at 2:12 PM on February 11, 2005

It's interesting. You can lie about taking a country to war, you can lie about your budget, you can pay off reporters, but once there is sex involved.... whoa, it's gone to far.
posted by gesamtkunstwerk at 7:33 PM on February 11, 2005

The connection to Guckert seems peripheral, but the Craig Spence story is fascinating in its own right; thanks for posting this. Question for those who think we're in tinfoil hat territory: Do you think the idea of call girl/boy operations designed to snare D.C. power brokers is inherently implausible? Because from where I sit, the real surprise would be if that sort of thing *wasn't* a long-standing part of the upper level political game.
posted by mediareport at 8:18 PM on February 11, 2005

James D. Guckert (aka Jeff Gannon) "...threw into question media accounts suggesting that he had seen a classified CIA document critical to the Plame case, saying he had made references to the 'internal memo,' but adding, 'I never said I had it or had seen it.' But when asked if he had in fact seen it, he declined to say."

"Although Press Secretary Scott McClellan and others at the White House knew that Gannon was not his real name, they always referred to him by that name, he said in the interview. 'My professional name is Jeff Gannon, and that is what people called me,' he explained, adding, in an odd reference, 'It is like Kirk Douglas, they do not refer to him when they meet him by his real name.' " [from an interview with Guckert/Gannon at Editor & Publisher | February 11, 2005]
posted by ericb at 8:46 PM on February 11, 2005

so he's an actor like Kirk Douglas? that's it! ; >
posted by amberglow at 9:05 PM on February 11, 2005

And Guckert doesn't seem like a difficult name to pronounce. I mean, Kirk Douglas was Issur Danielovitch Demsky. Lots of people simplify or drop complicated names in the news business. For instance, Kent Schocknecht is now Kent Shocknek and the late Mark Denis Melbourne simply used his first and middle name. But, aside from radio traffic reporters with obviously goofy names and radio news anchors hiding from their other employers (here's looking at you, Susanne Whatley/"Christina Barnes"), no one completely makes up a name in the news business, unless there are some ulterior motives involved.
posted by calwatch at 11:01 PM on February 11, 2005

ericb pulls a quote: "Although Press Secretary Scott McClellan and others at the White House knew that Gannon was not his real name, they always referred to him by that name, he said in the interview. 'My professional name is Jeff Gannon, and that is what people called me,'...."

Haven't any of you guys ever been to a titty-bar?* "Cigarette girls", strippers, and hookers always have stage names.

And "Gannon" was whoring it out, one way or another.

^{All trips to titty-bars were for legitimate research. And all the girls were just working their way through college. And those weren't tips, they were, uh, contributions to the girls' scholarship funds. That's it, that's the ticket!}
posted by orthogonality at 1:12 AM on February 12, 2005

"Yeaaaah, that's the ticket!" (Tommy Flanagan of Pathological Liars Anonymous)
posted by ericb at 5:59 AM on February 12, 2005

The only difference between Gannon and your average reporter today, is that Gannon prostitutes himself both sexually and politically.

"Coming up on our 11 o'clock report: Wolf Blitzer Sucks!"
Seriously, I can't wait to hear about the bizarre "suicide" of this guy in five months.

Remind me to sign my holiday cards with "Nichi Bei."
posted by FormlessOne at 3:41 PM on February 12, 2005

I'd love to see a moratorium on the phrase "tin foil hat." It's become a meaningless cliche thrown at anything that strays beyond the boundaries of the mainstream. Please, people, you can do better than that.
posted by Profpan at 6:22 PM on February 13, 2005

there's more coming tomorrow am, apparently
posted by amberglow at 6:25 PM on February 13, 2005

Ayyyyup.
posted by soyjoy at 1:20 PM on February 14, 2005

See also.

And watch for the comment about how this could put last year's "you gotta pretty face" remark from Bush into perspective.
posted by soyjoy at 1:29 PM on February 14, 2005

McClellan in gay bars, and a real hustler in the press room...this is a story that keeps on giving. : >
posted by amberglow at 1:59 PM on February 14, 2005

This is the Conservative Republican Bush White House we're talking about. It's looking increasingly like they made a decision to allow a hooker to ask the President of the United States questions. They made a decision to give a man with an alias and no journalistic experience access to the West Wing of the White House on a "daily basis." They reportedly made a decision to give him - one of only six - access to documents, or information in those documents, that exposed a clandestine CIA operative. Say what you will about Monika Lewinsky - a tasteless episode, "inappropriate," whatever. Monika wasn't a gay prostitute running around the West Wing. What kind of leadership would let prostitutes roam the halls of the West Wing? What kind of war-time leadership can't find the same information that took bloggers only days to find?

None of this is by accident.

Someone had to make a decision to let all this happen. Who? Someone committed a crime in exposing Valerie Plame and now it appears a gay hooker may be right in the middle of all of it? Who?

---from Americablog
posted by amberglow at 2:03 PM on February 14, 2005

wow, it keeps getting weirder and weirder. Will it make its way into the mainstream media next? It's a salacious story, seems made for the network and local news.
posted by chaz at 2:33 PM on February 14, 2005

That so few major establishment papers have latched on to the unfolding Manchurian Beefcake story helps explain why major establishment newspapers are losing readers in droves, unable to spot a juicy scandal when it's doing a lapdance in front of their glazed eyes.--James Wolcott, even before this latest proof of whoredom
posted by amberglow at 2:34 PM on February 14, 2005

digby has a grea post on this too: ... And has it ever been logical that this nobody from a vanity web site would get access to the Plame story? Why him? JimJeff claims that he never actually saw the Plame memo, yet he clearly knew of it. Could it have been pillow talk?

I don't have a clue. But, I do know that if this were 1998, we'd be knee deep in congressional investigations into the gay hooker ring in the White House. Every news crew in the DC area would be camped out on JimJeff's front lawn. A wild-eyed Victoria Toensing and panting Kelly Ann Fitzpatrick would be crawling up on the Hardball desk rending their silk teddies and speaking in tongues while Matthews'exploding head spun around on his shoulders.

But, it isn't 1998 and it will probably not even be mentioned.
...

And yes, I do think that Patrick Fitzgerald's boys will probably be paying JimJeff another visit. Sadly, I think it's entirely likely that they didn't know about this until today. It is impossible to believe that the secret service and the FBI would allow a known prostitute to have access to the White House after 9/11. If they did, then our national security is in very deep shit. Come to think of it, it's also pretty scary that they didn't know. What's up with that?
posted by amberglow at 3:19 PM on February 14, 2005

Okay ... just got home from work ... need to catch up on all of the tizzy.

Oh, my - there's even a warning: "A number of the links in this story are to x-rated photographs, and some of those might prove shocking to some people. Please exercise your own discretion when clicking." [AMERICAblog | February 14, 2005].

Thanks amberglow and soyjoy for the new links. Time to review it all!

I think I need a cocktail, or two.
posted by ericb at 4:38 PM on February 14, 2005

one more thing to read with your drink, eric: House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer released the following statement regarding revelations that a man who went by the name of "Jeff Gannon," and who was given White House media credentials despite his lack of qualifications, was given access to classified documents which disclosed the identity of Undercover CIA Operative Valerie Plame: ...
posted by amberglow at 4:47 PM on February 14, 2005

Looks like the FBI and Secret Service sure did their job on their background check! As AMERICAblog says: "What kind of war-time leadership can't find the same information that took bloggers only days to find? ... Who in the White House is at the center of all of this? Who allowed this to go on in the People's House? Who committed the crime of exposing Valerie Plame? Jeff Gannon has the answers to these questions, and boy we know he loves to talk."
posted by ericb at 5:03 PM on February 14, 2005

Re-emphasizing amberglow's post above!!!
posted by ericb at 5:05 PM on February 14, 2005

How many more layers does this onion of a story have? OMG. A weird and strange tale.
posted by ericb at 5:12 PM on February 14, 2005

This all seems like it could be a Tony Kushner play ... or a plot line for an episode (or, two - or, three) of Queer As Folk.
posted by ericb at 5:16 PM on February 14, 2005

and meanwhile, it's still being ignored or played as a "bloggers expose personal life" thing--ugh! Kurtz even today
posted by amberglow at 5:28 PM on February 14, 2005

Free (Hot, Naked) Jeff Gannon
"Well, we asked for full frontal on fake conservative reporter Jeff Gannon, but we didn't really think we were going to get it. Seriously, looks like all of Karl Rove's plans are coming to fruition! Step one: distract the lefties with pictures of cock!

In any event: Jeff Gannon/JG Duckert is our hero -- and he should be a hero to bloggers everywhere. If a loon hooker, working under a pseudonym for a made-up news organization, can spend his days being buddy-buddy with Scott McClellan and George Bush, why, anything can happen for the rest of us!

So we raise our glasses to Jeff Gannon. We want more ass-fuckers in the White House, not fewer! Also? Anyone who apparently commands $1200 for a weekend of outcalls demands our respect." [Wonkette | February 14, 2005]
posted by ericb at 5:35 PM on February 14, 2005

"But if it was a female prostitute it would be the talk of the town." Bingo! [CNN “blog reporter” Jacki Schechner].
posted by ericb at 5:38 PM on February 14, 2005

or if it was a Democratic administration, of course.
posted by amberglow at 5:39 PM on February 14, 2005

Exactly!
posted by ericb at 5:40 PM on February 14, 2005

check this out: The Conservative Voice !?!

and this: For you genuine Christians out there, how long will you allow this administration to use your Christian values and faith as a rationale for their policies? Please, wake up. You are being used. from Jeff Gannon: Wrong or Right?
posted by amberglow at 5:51 PM on February 14, 2005

and this is a new angle: One part in this story that has yet to surface is related to “Gannon”’s claim in his bio to have "taught in the public school system". Since Guckert’s degree from West Chester University of Pennsylvania is in Physical Education, he presumably was a gym teacher. Many parents will be unhappy that boys’ gym was taught by a gay prostitute that likes to wrestle, even if they can accept a discretely gay English teacher.
posted by amberglow at 5:57 PM on February 14, 2005

Is Bush Press Aide Gay?
posted by amberglow at 8:23 PM on February 14, 2005

BoxerDave's comment at DailyKos:

"Gannon/Guckert, the $200 per hour whore, should be held accountable (as should the CIA and White House, or whomever else was involved) for leaking, as he is accused, the identity of a CIA operative.

Gannon/Guckert, who also has apparently defaulted on a $20,000 court decision/ruling in Delaware, should also have legal action taken against him because of this default. Any DEMS in Delaware who can put pressure on the court there to send Gannon/Guckert back to court so he can be held accountable for this??? Please step forward now and get to work on this.

Giving classified documents to a prostitute; c'mon where is the outrage from the conservatives on this, especially from Republicans? Giving a White House press pass to a prostitute; c'mon where is the outrage from the Republicans?

Final question: is the apparently self-hating gay Gannon/Guckert so clueless (or is it vain?) that after having his hypocritical double life outed he would NOT contemplate suicide? It's not uncommon for those who, to use a Freudian term, identify with the aggressor to off themselves."
posted by ericb at 8:44 PM on February 14, 2005

hy·poc·ri·sy (hi-pok'ri-se)
n., pl. -sies.

(1) The practice of professing beliefs, feelings, or virtues that one does not hold or possess; falseness.

(2) An act or instance of such falseness.

(3) Hypocrisy is the act of pretending to have beliefs, virtues and feelings that one does not truly possess. The word derives from the late Latin hypocrisis and Greek hupokrisis both meaning play-acting or pretence.

(4) Jeff Gannon (aka Jim Guckert).
posted by ericb at 8:50 PM on February 14, 2005

Salon's on it again too: "Jeff Gannon's" secret life
posted by amberglow at 9:18 PM on February 14, 2005

Guckert's brand of openly partisan journalism was often suspect. Last February he reported that a former Kerry intern had taped an interview with "one of the major television networks" to discuss her affair with the senator, an assertion that was completely false. The intern never appeared on television and never claimed to have had an affair with Kerry. (Since quitting, all of Gannon's stories have been scrubbed from the Talon site.) Describing its editorial mission, Eberle told the Dallas Morning News that if he, as editor, came across a story that was critical of Republicans, "you bet we'd be covering it." To date, there's no evidence Talon has come across any such story.

posted by amberglow at 9:20 PM on February 14, 2005