ANDY SCHUB

 

Andrew Schub is our Newsletter Contributing Editor. He will be posting weekly stories on things Bush and Fox News you may not know about but should, may know about but do not know enough about, or may know about but dagnabbit you just need to know more.

 

NOT JUST A GIGOLO
by Andrew Schub

You probably haven't heard about it, but something unbelievable has been going on. Some things happen and you think, "Man, if this was a movie, I wouldn't believe it." Well. If the completely true story I am about to tell you was a movie, I wouldn't believe it.

But it's not a movie -- it's all true.

It started with what appeared to be a "ringer" in the White House press corps -- a conservative plant who Scott McClellan and W Bush could call on when other reporters started asking too tough questions ("too tough" by today's standards, anyway).

The ringer was Jack Gannon, a reporter for a Web-based news organization, Talon News, and he would pitch W Bush and McClellan "softball" questions like "Is this another piece of evidence showing the direct terror ties between Iraq and Al Qaeda?"

(There has never been any evidence, direct or otherwise, proving a connection between Iraq and Al Queda, so Gannon's asking if this was "another" piece of evidence is like asking, "Is this another piece of evidence Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster are related by marriage?") There are many examples of these kinds of questions from Gannon:

MEDIA MATTERS FOR AMERICA: GANNON

Gannon asked so many blatantly partisan questions during daily White House briefings that, in the wake of the Armstrong Williams payola revelation, AND the Maggie Gallagher payola revelation, AND the Michael McManus payola revelation, someone took a good hard look at Gannon.

First, it turns out Talon News isn't a real news organization. Talon "appears to be more [of] a political organization than a media outlet":

MEDIA MATTERS FOR AMERICA: TALON

Second, Gannon is not a hack reporter -- but only because to be a hack reporter, Gannon would have to be a reporter in the first place. And Jack Gannon isn't a reporter. Jack Gannon isn't even actually "Jack Gannon." His real name is Jim Guckert and Gannon AK Guckert got his journalism "degree" from the (right-wing) Leadership Institute Broadcast School of Journalism, and if you want a degree from this same institute of journalism, it will cost you exactly $50 and one weekend's worth of your time to get it.

DEGREES GOING CHEAP

Bloggers at the Daily Kos also discovered that, apparently, Gannon/Guckert was a (you're not going to believe me...) a... (really, you won't...) a... (wait for it...) a male prostitue.

A gay male prostitue.

THE DAILY KOS

I could not care less if Gannon/Guckert is gay, straight, bi, or is into feet. But I'll bring it up to point out that even though W Bush and his administration hate homosexuals and actively campaign against them, if a homosexual wants to do the Republican Party's bidding, well the Bush administration is happy to let a "queer" sit at the adult's table just as long as that "queer" is useful.

So. A reporter who wasn't really a reporter, using a name that wasn't really his name, writing for a news organization that wasn't really a news organization, asking important questions like "is this new evidence supporting something no evidence has ever supported in this century or any other?" had access to daily White House press briefings, sitting just four rows away from the president, almost every day -- for two years.

The White House press office issued Gannon/Guckert a daily pass nearly every day for two years, which meant he didn't have to go through the background check needed for getting a permanent pass. Which means, either security is so bad at the White House, someone using a fake name can get within four rows of the president on a daily basis (which is awfully hard to believe), or someone working at the White House personally okayed Gannon/Guckert's attendance at the press briefings every day for two years in order to avoid a security background check.

The fallout from all of this is still... uh... falling out, but some of the most recent events to occur include:

Gannon/Guckert quit his reporting job with Talon.

JEFFGANNON.COM

Talon News removed many of Gannon's articles from its Web site -- but thanks to Google's cache, you can still read them.

GOOGLE SEARCH

Representatives Louise Slaughter and John Conyers have called for a special prosecutor and for the Secret Service to investigate the Gannon/Guckert "situation."

SLAUGHTER CALLS FOR SPECIAL INVESTIGATION

And I'm sure you know what they've been saying about this increasingly important story on the major news networks, don't you?

Not much.

There has been some talk about it on Fox News. Sean Hannity said: "[Gannon is] a terrific Washington bureau chief and White House correspondent for Talon News."

(Way to go Sean, you evil jackass.)

You can continue to follow all the excitement of what is now being called "Gannongate" as it continues to unfold through links updated at Media Matters for America:

MEDIA MATTERS FOR AMERICA: GANNONGATE