Unfairness and Inaccuracy in Media, The Propaganda-Apologists Continue to Shill For Jeff/Jim Gannon/Guckert

Unfairness and Inaccuracy in Media, The Propaganda-Apologists Continue to Shill For Jeff/Jim Gannon/Guckert

By Anthony Wade

February 28, 2005

www.OpEdNews.com

Now that Jeff Gannon has returned to brag about how the left hunted him down, it was expected that the apologists for this whore would start coming out of the woodwork to defend the indefensible. People from the far right, the administration, and the mainstream media all have a stake in downplaying this story. In order for that to work, they need to convince you that this is somehow a partisan story and that poor Jeff/Jim is the hapless victim of the mean-spirited lefties.

Cliff Kincaid is one such writer who has come to the defense of Jeff Gannon/Jim Guckert. Clearly shilling for the administration, Kincaid maintains his blog on the Accuracy in the Media (AIM) website. This is a cheap imitation of the Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting organization, which is in the business of real activism. AIM tries itÂ's best to appear to be FAIR, but in the end it is clearly a partisan enterprise, engaged in the business of disinformation.

Kincaid has written more than one piece already, serving as an apologist for the administration and Gannon. In his pieces he has defended Gannon and ridiculed the blogosphere. He has portrayed Gannon as the victim and the new media as the relentless villain. This is nonsense.

On February 11, 2005, Kincaid posted his article entitled, Â"The Destruction of Jeff GannonÂ". It can be found here.

In it we have the following observations by Kincaid in italics, followed by my analysis:

Â"They have taken the scalp of an on-line conservative journalist by the name of Jeff Gannon, who was virtually unknown until about three weeks ago. His crimes were that he was too pro-Republican, attended White House briefings, and asked questions unfair to Democrats.Â"

Mr. Kincaid wastes no time in identifying himself as a whore for the administration. The first point is that Gannon was NOT a journalist; he played one in the White House press pool. He actually had no training in journalism, no history in journalism, and worked for a fake news agency that was actually a front for the GOP. The fact that Kincaid ignores these facts reveals his true agenda. Secondly, his crime was not that he asked questions unfair to democrats, that is highly arrogant of Kincaid to suggest so. Here is the actual question he asked, OF OUR PRESIDENT:

I would ask Mr. Kincaid to try and defend this question keeping in mind the following facts:

1) Harry Reid never talked about soup lines.

2) Hillary Clinton never said the economy was on the verge of collapse.

3) Gannon actually heard these lies on the Rush Limbaugh show, where Rush was making a joke.

4) Gannon did not realize they were jokes, so he packaged them and asked the President of the United States a question containing these two lies.

5) Regardless of the lies, this is not even a real question, as it is rhetorical in nature, designed only to serve up a tee-ball to Bush.

No, the fact is that this question is indefensible. Kincaid knows it, but hopes that by avoiding the particulars, he can convince some that Gannon was just a poor little victim. Not satisfied with this distortion, Kincaid continues:

Â"A massive left-wing investigation of GannonÂ's personal and business affairs was launched and was said to reveal that he was associated with some homosexual-sounding website addressesÂ"

There was no massive investigation. In fact, someone came forward and gave Gannon up, just like that. Kincaid also tries to downplay the associations. Gannon was not just Â"associatedÂ" with the websites; he hosted them and paid for them. The names were like Â"militarystud.comÂ" but the real story was that when Gannon was asked about them by Wolf Â"fluff-pieceÂ" Blitzer, he responded that he opened these sites for a client and that the sites were never hosted. The next day, the person came forward with the proof that not only did Jeff open the sites, he hosted them and they contained over 40 naked pictures of himself, as he apparently was prostituting himself, for up to $1,200 per weekend and he liked to be called Â"BulldogÂ".

Â"The Gannon Â"scandalÂ" would be laughable, were it not for the fact that GannonÂ's personal privacy has been invadedÂ"

Excuse me, are you serious? Gannon had invaded the White House press pool for two years, without any credentials, asked softball questions designed only to help out the administration, and you do not think his personal life is relevant? What about the $20,000 plus that he owes the government in back taxes; is that relevant? BulldogÂ's life became exposed because he still had ACTIVE web sites where he was still illegally selling himself as a male hooker. Can you imagine the outrage if this was the Clinton White House? Who does Kincaid think he is fooling? To hear Kincaid tell it, someone in the vast left-wing conspiracy took spread-eagle naked pictures of Jeff, unbeknownst to him, posted them on multiple websites and forced him into male prostitution. Where is the accountability? The media or the blogs did nothing but report the truth. Maybe Kincaid has forgotten what the truth looks like.

Â"The campaign against Gannon demonstrates the paranoid mentality and mean-spirited nature of the political left.Â"

I am getting tired of having to continue to point out to the whores of this media, but this story is not about Gannon, or any campaign against him. It is about a government that does not think twice about buying your opinion. There is nothing Â"mean-spiritedÂ" about it. If Bulldog goes on to have a fantastic career in the military-stud business, I will be very happy for him, as long as he stops pretending to be a journalist and polluting our country.

Â"Despite all the innuendo and controversy, the fact remains that Gannon had done some excellent political stories on a wide range of subjects, including the CIA and former Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle. Gannon could have survived the charge of having a conservative bias but when his personal life and family became targets, he decided to call it quitsÂ"

The fact actually remains that Gannon has been exposed as a plagiarist who has lifted verbatim portions of GOP press releases because he had difficulty writing original pieces. There are serious questions as to the role he played in the Daschle unseating as it appears that he was a fake reporter, working for a fake blog at the time. I might add that if his work was so good, then his buddy Eberle would not have scrubbed the Talon site of ALL of his articles. His coverage of the CIA calls into question how he obtained a secret memo regarding the outing of a covert CIA operative, a felony. Now, Kincaid is right, Gannon could have survived the charge of being biased, but it was far more than that. DonÂ't hand me the Â"his family was targetedÂ" nonsense. If Kincaid had any proof of this, other than the word of the proverbial liar, Gannon, he should REPORT it. The fact that he does not only continues to reveal his agenda and the truth is not on that agenda.

Â"It all started when GannonÂ's writings were Â"exposedÂ" for having too many statements taken directly out of White House press releases. Gannon apparently believed that covering the White House meant that he should actually report, in long and complete sentences, what the White House actually said on various public policy issues. He was also accused of tossing softball questions to White House spokesman Scott McClellan and the President himself.Â"

No Cliff, pimp your lies somewhere else. Jeff actually lifted the entire sentences verbatim and passed them off as his own. That is plagiarism, period. I would expect a reporter involved in fairness in media to know the difference. To hear this continuous apology for unethical behavior is disgusting. Lastly, Jeff is not Â"accusedÂ" of tossing softball questions, that is exactly what he did. I have several examples but letÂ's use this one:

This is not a journalistic question Cliff, not only that, it is rife with lies and innuendo. That is entirely the point. Stop apologizing for him.

Â"Was Gannon a Bush plant? Was he secretly on the White House payroll? The conspiracy theories were fed by the fact that Jeff Gannon wasnÂ't his real name; he used a professional name because he didnÂ't like the sound of his real name - James Guckert.Â"

Here we have it at last; Cliff Kincaid has now lied for Jeff Gannon. The truth is that when asked by Blitzer about using a pseudonym, Gannon replied that he used the fake name because Jim Guckert was Â"too difficult to pronounce.Â" He never said anything about not liking the sound of his name. The reality is that since his defense with Blitzer, myself and other writers have skewered Blitzer for allowing such a ridiculous answer for using the fake name. Apparently, Guckert must have agreed so now his apologists are pretending he Â"didnÂ't like the soundÂ" of his name.

Â"The leftÂ's whole focus is wrong in this case,Â" Eberle told AIM. Â"This is a private company owned by me, with no ties to the Republican Party. WeÂ're on no oneÂ's payroll, except what I choose to pay people.Â" Eberle has been running Talon News and GOPUSA for over four years. They send out news and commentary and Â"the conservative messageÂ" to about half-a-million subscribers a day.Â"

Sure, and I have some Â"gay-soundingÂ" websites to sell you. CÂ'mon Cliff, do you honestly believe that an organization named GOPUSA, run by a Texas boy such as Eberle, who personally thanked Karl Rove on his website for his Â"guidanceÂ" is non-partisan? The truth is that no one ever said that these organizations were connected to Bush, only that they worked together for what they believed in. Did you expect to find that Bush was the co-owner of the organization? Stop lying.

Kincaid wraps up this shill piece with:

Â"So the case against Gannon boils down to being too pro-Republican, writing stories with a conservative slant, and being linked to conduct, homosexuality, that is accepted and celebrated by those who were going after Gannon in the first place. The standard of the liberal thought police is evidently that someoneÂ's private life should be protected - except when the accused is a conservative. The old media and their new found friends in the left-wing blogging community will stop at nothing to maintain their political power.Â"

No Cliff. What your article boils down to is you are now exposed as an apologist for state-controlled media. You do not represent what is fair or accurate. You have sold out for this administration and thrown away whatever journalistic credibility you may have had. I will review again what this story is about.

This story is about the truth. It is about what can be believed in the media. The facts are these:

Jeff Gannon lied about who he was.

Jeff Gannon had on his Talon News website resume that he Â"graduatedÂ" from the journalism Leadership Institute. This turned out to be a two-day seminar about how to write anti-liberal pieces.

Jeff Gannon was denied a hard pass because Talon News was not considered a real news agency and was too connected to a political partisan operation.

Undeterred, Gannon received a day-pass, for two years.

These day-passes were not designed for the way Gannon used them. They were designed for out-of town reporters who needed access for a day.

Each day he got a pass; he signed in as Jim Guckert, but was called on by Scott McClellan as Â"JeffÂ".

For two years, Gannon would serve as an emergency outlet for McClellan, serving up the most biased, ridiculous questions, removing any doubt that he was not a journalist. Again, it has nothing to do with party, just about truth. Comparing him to Helen Thomas is asinine, period. Thomas may have been an administration critic but she was still asking journalistic questions. If she began asking questions about why Bush was a butt-head, I would agree that she was Gannoning-it. Conversely, if Gannon was asking a conservative question that had merit, we would not be having this conversation.

Finally, he asked such a horrific question, this time to the president himself, that people took notice.

That question contained untruths in it that Gannon gleaned from a Rush Limbaugh joke, but he could not discern the truth.

Questions were asked, and it turned out that Gannon was Guckert and that he had been involved with some racy-homosexual websites.

Gannon stepped down from the media attention, claiming his personal life was under attack.

In an interview with Wolf Blitzer Gannon stated he changed his name because Guckert was too difficult to pronounce, a foolish assertion.

In the same interview he claimed the websites were never hosted and he did the work for a Â"client.Â"

The following day, Gannon is exposed again as a liar as a witness comes forth to verify that Gannon did host the sites and that there are over 40 naked pictures of Jeff Â"BulldogÂ" Gannon, as he tried to sell his sexual services as a male hooker, at $1,200 per weekend. Bulldog likes to be on top.

Suddenly, people line up on two sides of this story. On one is the old media and conservative base which actually tries to make this story personal to Gannon and not be about how this man got access to the press pool for two years. They portray Gannon as the victim. On the other side, people line up for the truth, saying that shills and whores have no place in the White House press pool.

Other odds and ends have Gannon gaining access to a secret memo about the outing of CIA operative, Valerie Plame, a felony. He also had sources that revealed to him hours before anyone else knew when we were bombing Iraq as well as other sensitive governmental matters. Lastly, there is the fact that Gannon was allowed into his first conference, before Talon News was even in Â"business.Â"

This is a serious story. It reveals deep problems within this administration. It reveals that someone made a conscious decision, day after day, to let a man with no credentials, $20,000 in back taxes owed, and an open male prostitute into the White House to ask blatantly partisan Â"questionsÂ". People like Cliff Kincaid want you to think this is about a man who was conservative asking conservative questions but that is nonsense. In order for Cliff to get you to look past the obvious problems this story presents for this administration, he has to convince you that it is about party. It is not. It is about a whore in the White House providing propaganda for the president and his administration. Any fair or accurate assessment of this situation would have to conclude that. Anyone trying to convince you that it is the male hooker that is the victim, has been exposed as whore themselves.

Anthony Wade, a contributing writer to opednews.com, is dedicated to educating the populace to the lies and abuses of the government. He is a 37-year-old independent writer from New York with political commentary articles seen on multiple websites.  A Christian progressive and professional Rehabilitation Counselor working with the poor and disabled, Mr. Wade believes that you can have faith and hold elected officials accountable for lies and excess.

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