Here yar Wardo.

Let me get this straight. The White House hired a male prostitute affiliated with GOPUSA and a pornographer fronting as a news agency, and used him to out Valerie Plame?

No, that was Barney Franks.

I love the way that the articles and the reporter disappear into the netherworld when light is shined their way.

Kinda like cockroaches.

Too bad some of the other mouthpieces are still around though.

Them bloggers know where it's at. They sure did nail ole Dan Rather and CBS news to the wall. But wait, that was an old, respected, reputable news organization with absolutely no political ties. No comparison there.

Meanwhile the right is trying to whip up Eason Jordan's odd public remarks about the US targeting journalists in Iraq as a big story. Pathetic.

Armstrong Williams is a choir boy compared to Gannon (or whatever his name is). This story might have legs if Gannon is found to have blown the president. Since that hasn't been established, nobody is going to want to hear about how Dubya the good-ol boy we wanna have a beer with is blowing smoke up the ass of ordinary Americans and taking a crap on the 1st Amendment.

[center]
Gannon blew Friday[/center]

America will remember only that, thanks to George W Bush, perverts like Gannon and Barney Frank won't be gettin murrrahed.

Whose smoke blown up whose asses, I ask.

Ain't that good enough?

And every day we get more repug voters. Works for me.

That is just do farqing scandalous. O' Reilly probably has zero credibility in the entire world now.

Only because he draws a large audience and market share.

"Who is the conservative pseudo-journalist who calls himself "Jeff Gannon" and has a hard-to-get White House press pass, so he can toss softball questions at President Bush and rewrite press releases for a right-wing outlet called Talon News?

We wish we knew. We're on the trail, though. Here's a few more interesting things about Gannon, whose unlikely West Wing access is shedding new light on the unseemly White House propaganda machine.

One thing is that there's an excellent chance he's a native Pennsylvanian (wouldn't you just know it?). His "bio" on the Talon News site states "Jeff is a graduate of the Pennsylvania State University System and holds a Bachelor of Science in Education." The vast majority of students who attend Penn State, either at State College or its many satellite campuses, tend to be in-state residents.

More interesting is that he and Karl Rove seem to share a mentor -- a largely under-the-radar wingnut named Morton Blackwell. It seems that "Jeff" also is a graduate of the the Leadership Institute Broadcast School of Journalism -- a conservative propagandist training school that was founded and is run by Blackwell and that operates on an $8 million annual budget which comes from God knows where.

Remember the lame stunt during the Republican National Convention in NYC where many delegates taunted war hero Kerry by wearing purple band-aids that said: “It was just a self-inflicted scratch, but you see I got a Purple Heart for it”? It was Blackwell, a GOP delegate from Virginia, who handed the band-aids out to the conventioneers.

Less well known is that Blackwell -- who was the youngest Barry Goldwater delegate in 1964 -- is also a former national executive director of the College Republicans, who had trained the teen-age Karl Rove to be a “field organizer.” According to a May 2003 New Yorker article, it was Blackwell who urged Rove to shun the growing reliance on pollsters and media consultants and go back to the grassroots. We all know how that turned out.

We'd never heard until tonight of the Leadership Institute Broadcast School of Journalism, which apparently trains hundreds of "Jeff Gannons" every year. They were hiding in plain sight.

There's one other thing that raises our curiosity about who or what is behind "Gannon." It seems that when he wasn't bashing Kerry, he paid a ton of attention to the Thune vs. Daschle Senate race in South Dakota. One blog that seemed to think "Gannon" was an authoritative journalist and linked to at least one of his reports was called "Daschle v. Thune."

If that name sounds familiar, it should. It later was reported that the author of the blog, Jon Lauck, was a former Thune campaign staffer and was paid $27,000 by Thune's 2004 campaign while he was producing the Web site.

So let us get this straight: The top Democrat in the Senate loses a race where the GOP sets up a phony blog that passes along news reports from a pseudo media organization, written by a reporter given White House credentials under a fake name...."

http://www.pnionline.com/dnblog/extra/archives/001437.html

That would be interesting if I knew who he/they are. Lets's call Larry Flynt and Michael Moore in on this and have one big assed outing fest.

Sexcapades aside:

"...McClellan said Gannon has not been issued -- nor requested -- a regular "hard pass" to the White House, and instead has come in for the past two years on daily passes. Daily passes, he said, may be issued to anyone who writes for an organization that publishes regularly and who is cleared to enter the building.

He said other reporters and political commentators from lesser-known newsletters and from across the political spectrum also attend briefings, though he could not recall any Internet bloggers. McClellan said it is not the White House's role to decide who is and who is not a real journalist and dismissed any notion of conspiracy.

Nonetheless, transcripts of White House briefings indicate that McClellan often calls on Gannon and that the press secretary -- and the president -- have found relief in a question from Gannon after critical lines of questioning from mainstream news organizations.

When Bush called on Gannon near the end of his nationally televised Jan. 26 news conference, he had just been questioned about Williams and the Education Department funds, an embarrassment to the administration. Gannon's question was different.

"Senate Democratic leaders have painted a very bleak picture of the US economy," Gannon said. "[Minority Leader] Harry Reid was talking about soup lines, and Hillary Clinton was talking about the economy being on the verge of collapse. Yet, in the same breath, they say that Social Security is rock solid and there's no crisis there. How are you going to work -- you said you're going to reach out to these people -- how are you going to work with people who seem to have divorced themselves from reality?"

As it turned out, Reid had never talked about soup lines. That was a phrase attributed to him in satire by Rush Limbaugh on his radio show.

Last year, during the presidential campaign, Gannon's comments could be even more pointed. In a Feb. 10, 2004, briefing with McClellan, for example, Gannon rose to deliver the following:

"Since there have been so many questions about what the president was doing over 30 years ago, what is it that he did after his honorable discharge from the National Guard? Did he make speeches alongside Jane Fonda, denouncing America's racist war in Vietnam? Did he testify before Congress that American troops committed war crimes in Vietnam? And did he throw somebody else's medals at the White House to protest a war America was still fighting?"

David Brock, the former investigative journalist who made his name revealing aspects of former President Bill Clinton's extramarital affairs, said he was watching last week's press conference on television and the "soup lines" question sparked his interest because it "struck me as so extremely biased." Brock asked his media watchdog group, Media Matters for America, to look into Talon News.

It quickly discovered two things, he said. First, both Talon and the political organization GOP USA were run by a Texas Republican activist and party delegate named Bobby Eberle. Second, many of the reports Gannon filed for Talon News "appeared to be lifted verbatim from various White House and Republican political committee documents."..."

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washingt...under_scrutiny/

You're going to have to try a whole lot harder to shock this old dude. But then if you get your chi in concert with your yin and yang, you might not feel the need.

We are at farce now, right?

Right?

If you want to call tactics that went out with high button shoes and buggy whips a farce, then yes.

"...Newsday reported on March 6, 2004, that when the federal grand jury investigating the leak of the identity of CIA covert operative Valerie Plame subpoenaed White House records on contacts with many journalists, Gannon was among them. Froomkin explained in his March 10, 2004, column that "the reason Gannon is on the list is most likely an attempt to find out who gave him a secret memo that he mentioned in an interview he had with Plame's husband, former ambassador and administration critic Joseph Wilson." Froomkin continued:

[center]Gannon asked Wilson: "An internal government memo prepared by U.S. intelligence personnel details a meeting in early 2002 where your wife, a member of the agency for clandestine service working on Iraqi weapons issues, suggested that you could be sent to investigate the reports. Do you dispute that?"

According to a December Washington Post story by Mike Allen and Dana Milbank, "Sources said the CIA is angry about the circulation of a still-classified document to conservative news outlets suggesting Plame had a role in arranging her husband's trip to Africa for the CIA. The document, written by a State Department official who works for its Bureau of Intelligence and Research (INR), describes a meeting at the CIA where the Niger trip by Wilson was discussed, said a senior administration official who has seen it."

On top of being secret, CIA officials said it was wrong.[/center]

On March 9, 2004, Talon News also reported that it "learned that one of the journalists being targeted [in the federal grand jury investigation of the Plame leak] is Jeff Gannon." According to that article, Gannon told Talon News that the memo he cited in his interview with Wilson "did not come from inside the administration." "I don't know why I'm on the list of journalists being called before the Grand Jury," Gannon said. "I have been an outspoken critic of the leak probe and an aggressive questioner of the motives behind it. That seems to have drawn the attention of someone with the authority to issue subpoenas."

Gannon's syndicated column, "Jeff Gannon's Washington," appears on his website. RIGHTALK, which airs radio programs "from leading conservatives and organizations," and bills itself as a "conservative web alternative to National Public Radio," airs Jeff Gannon's Washington weekly."

http://mediamatters.org/items/200501260015

"...Jeff Gannon's Washington (3pm EST)
Description: Jeff is on hiatus, in his place Marc Morano shares his experiences at the State of the Union Speech last week Also analysis of Howard Dean's coming leadership of the Democratic Party. Marc delves into the CNN/Eason Jordan controversy over whether U.S. troops targeted journalists in Iraq. Plus find out how the media is treating the "Global Warming" issue. You won't want to click your mouse in this power packed hour of radio...."

http://www.rightalk.com/index.php

"Talon News Washington, DC reporter and White House Correspondent Jeff Gannon submitted his resignation from our organization effective February 8, 2005.

I understand and support Jeff's decision, and have accepted the resignation.

We are currently evaluating candidates to fill this critical assignment, and anticipate minimal interruption of Talon's coverage of our nation's capitol and the White House in the meantime.

-- Robert R. Eberle, Ph.D.
Editor in Chief, Talon News

Talon News' alexa.com ranking is 640,377


The comments are owned by the poster. We aren't responsible for their content....

{posts follow - AND ARE HILARIOUS!}

http://www.theconservativevoice.com/module...hp?storyid=2811

David Brock was instrumental in outing Gannon and Talon News Service?

Once this story is covered by the Daily Show, we will have a fake news reporter on a fake news program reporting about a fake journalist outing a fake journalist and a fake news organization.

I was referring to the ever-more-ridikkilous cascade of media manipulation stories. This latest, with a "reporter" named "Gannon," in a "publication" called "Talon" just about has to be farce.

Years on the job do count as experience. Even if it was a hatchet man. Brock was a good hatchet man - Gannon a good shill.

I look forward to learning more of "Gannon's" fascinating biography.

This story does have porn and sex involved. If somebody saved photos from Gannon's other enterprises (like GG suggested), this thing could have legs.

And yes, Hu, you are right. I should not be surprized that Brock is in the picture.

As the old saying goes, "It takes a mentally unstable gay fake journalist hatchetman to know one."

One, unfortunately, must fact check every line, jot and tittle on this administration they don't have much in the way ethics beyond constantly doing whatever it takes to forward their agendas. It is mind boggling that the Republican grass roots base considered BC a liar and can't see that Slick Willie was a Thomas Moore by juxtaposition.


Do you suppose the John Birchers were right about public drinking water.


It's sapping our vital essences!!!!!

Bill Clinton as Thomas Moore? I told you people we'd gone to farce.

Ten to one the eff'er has tax dollars in his banking account, that's likely why they're busy like a kitty in a sand box.

Only by juxtaposition

Post of the day so far.

Judy Woodruff just had a piece on "Joe Gannon" on her show saying that nobody is taking credit for getting a man with an alias and fake web sites (owned by a rich Texas repub) got daily passes into the White House press briefings.

"Joe Gannon" will be interviewed by Leslie (Wolf) Blitzer today at 5:00 on his show on CNN.

We'll see how many "softballs" get thrown by Leslie. CNN is getting more like Faux news propaganda every day. Makes me ill.

Hmph, I thought it was "it takes a drunk to
know a drunk?" Er, 'send a thief to catch a thief?'

In retrospect, I find it odd the other reporters didn't find him a person of interest. He seems to have been fairly unvarnished for a shill.

Thanks for the heads up, Sherry.

In some ways I hate the format of tv. Judy Woodruff, unless she has done original investigation herself (fat chance), is going to ask Gannon about only those facts and insinuations which Gannon already knows are out there. So he has his spin ready, and is going to have the opportunity to present it with little follow-up and no surprises. This format allows Gannon to conduct damage control while permitting Judy Woodruff to pretend she is conducting an unscripted interview without parameters.

perzackly.

Heh, yes, sapped and impurified all of our precious bodily fluids.

Could be the residual lead effect.

Found one. Seems like I've seen it before. JT as Gannon?

"White House Decries ACLU Assault on Christmas
By Jeff Gannon
Talon News
December 24, 2004

WASHINGTON (Talon News) -- The White House spoke out this week about lawsuits threatened against local governments, schools and community groups by the American Civil Liberties Union to remove religious symbols and songs from Christmas celebrations. Across the country, incidents have been reported where Christmas carols have been banned from school programs and community events.

Press Secretary Scott McClellan told Talon News, "I think the president has made it very clear that people ought to be able to freely worship as they choose. And in terms of schools, he's talked about those issues, as well. He has been a strong supporter of voluntary efforts like voluntary student prayer. And so I think his views are very clear on these issues."

Americans have reacted strongly against the threats. In Maplewood, New Jersey, a crowd of more than 100 carolers sang Christmas and Hanukkah songs in front of Columbia High School in protest against the ban on religious songs in the South Orange/Maplewood School District...."

http://www.ccohio.org/0oldstuff/white_hous...clu_assault.htm

LOL Ya suppose the skinhead look was a clue?

I think the Daily Show lampooned Gannon's question to Bush described above.

I can't wait.

Here's a good lie from that:

"...The CEO of Target stores has decided to ban Salvation Army bell ringers from their 1,272 stores nationwide, costing that charity an estimated $9 million or 10% of their funds raised during Christmas. Last Christmas, the homosexual journal Washington (DC) Blade wrote that "Gay rights groups continue to target the Salvation Army's red kettles, hoping to persuade the Christian charity organization to end its anti-gay policies." Target has apparently submitted to their demands. Meanwhile, Target CEO Robert Ulrich took a bonus of $31.8 million dollars from his personal stock options right before the announcement banning the Salvation Army's red kettles. The Dayton family owns Target, with U.S. Sen. Mark Dayton (D-MN) being a major stockholder...."

Target quit the bell-ringers because very many other charities want to get in on the action.

Mark D is not a major stockholder. But a slick shot at him, yes?

The Dayton family does not "own" Target. It been a public company for quite some time and the combined Dayton family holds a very minority portion of the stock and has no members in management nor the board of directors.

Slick.

Infowarriors.

Strange.

Most reporters revel in attention.

Thrive on it.

uh... he's on CNN next.

He'll be elevated by all this attention.

freak

In spades. Here's another sly one:

"Kerry's Anti-War Record Discussed at White House Briefing
2/10/2004 | Jeff Gannon


Posted on 02/10/2004 2:56:29 PM PST by Jeff Gannon


This was the exchange at today's White House press briefing, much of which focused on George W. Bush's service records with the National Guard.

JEFF GANNON (Talon News): Since there have been so many questions about what the President was doing over 30 years ago, what is it that he did after his honorable discharge from the National Guard?

Did he make speeches alongside Jane Fonda, denouncing America's racist war in Vietnam?

Did he testify before Congress that American troops committed war crimes in Vietnam?

And did he throw somebody else's medals at the White House to protest a war America was still fighting?

What was he doing after he was honorably discharged?

MR. McCLELLAN: We've already commented on some of his views relating back to that period the other day. And, obviously, this was a time period also when he was going to get his MBA at Harvard. But the President was certainly proud to serve in the National Guard.

TERRY MORAN (ABC NEWS): And would the White House consider those actions by Senator Kerry, that Jeff mentions fair game in the political season?

MR. McCLELLAN: Terry, I think -- I know that that's a way to try to draw us into a Democratic primary that is ongoing."

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1.../posts?page=259

Heh, 'don't throw us in that briar patch.'

There may be photos. Bidding already started?

Almost like it was scripted by Karl hisself.

I have been watching for it, but haven't seen it yet.

This is what pissed me off about Armstrong Williams. This all has the earmarks of an overseas operation. I don't see where the government has the Constitutional right to pose as domestic press.