The "Jeff Gannon" issue

John Aravosis and his AmericaBlog blog have been focusing heavily on this story. This post (A man called Jeff 02/14/05) includes a good summary of why that aspect of the story is not only legitimate but essential:

So in the end, why does this matter? Why does it matter that Jeff Gannon may have been a gay hooker named James Guckert with a $20,000 defaulted court judgment against him? So he somehow got a job lobbing softball questions to the White House. Big deal. If he was already a prostitute, why not be one in the White House briefing room as well?

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?

Ultimately, it is the hypocrisy that is such a challenge to grasp in this story. This is the same White House that ran for office on a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. While they are surrounded by gay hookers? While they use a gay hooker to write articles for their gay hating political base? While they use a gay hooker to destroy a political enemy? Not to mention the hypocrisy of a "reporter" who chooses to publish article after article defending the ant-gay religious-right point of view on gay civil rights issue.

Actually, the Republicans in Mississippi did cook up a gay prostitution-related scandal against a Democratic candidate for governor years ago, which fortunately didn't keep the Democrat from being elected. This would be the same Mississippi state Republican Party whose current governor and at least some elected Republican officials are happy cozying up to the racist, anti-Semitic White Citizens Council group.

I should note that, so far as I'm aware, the notion that the White House is "surrounded by gay hookers" is hyperbole and a hypothetical.  Although, rereading that paragraph, I initially thought "While they use a gay hooker to destroy a political enemy?" was meant to be a hypothetical.  But he probably meant that to be a characterization of "Gannon's" having received a confidential CIA memo on Valerie Plame that supposedly cast doubt on her husband Joe Wilson's account of exactly how he was selected to investigate the "yellowcake from Niger" story in 2002.

Eric Boehlert at Salon has been covering the "Jeff Gannon" story: "Jeff Gannon's" secret life 02/15/05.

Most White House reporters obtain a permanent, or "hard," press pass only after passing an FBI background check, and only after first securing Capitol Hill credentials. Guckert was denied Hill credentials when the committee in charge of issuing them could not confirm Talon was a legitimate, independent news organization. Instead, Guckert, with the help of someone inside the White House press office, used a daily pass for nearly two years. Daily passes require only instant background checks, compared to the ones the FBI conducts for hard-pass applicants, which can take several months to complete.

According to Eberle, Guckert provided White House officials with his real name, which means they knew he was writing under a false one. White House officials refuse to discuss why they let Guckert in or what, if any, criteria they used to determine his qualifications. "We're trying to get more details about how this was done," says Mark Smith, vice president of the White House Correspondents Association.

Last week, Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., requested from McClellan all documents related to Guckert's press passes. "As you may know, Mr. Guckert/Gannon was denied a Congressional press pass because he could not show that he wrote for a valid news organization. Given the fact that he was denied Congressional credentials, I seek your explanation of how Mr. Guckert/Gannon passed muster for White House press credentials," Lautenberg wrote. On Monday, House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer noted, "This issue is important from an ethical as well as from a national security standpoint. It is hard to understand why a man with little real journalism experience was given a White House press corps credential."

Earlier Boehlert articles include:

Fake news, fake reporter 02/10/05
Giving "Gannon" a pass 02/11/05