Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post - Has The White House and Texas Republican Party Lied About Ties To Jeff Gannon And Why

host · 02-25-2005, 02:22 AM

It is not my normal practice to link a thread starter to referenced websites that may cause the focus of my subject to be obscured by reaction to the links that I provide. The reason I deviate here is because the most prominent media is not yet providing "in depth" coverage of this story.

This coverage is well documented. The White House and Republican Party spokespersons statements on the record, "stink". The story is complicated but I believe that it has the potential to be a top political story of 2005. I want to believe that press coverage is lacking so far, because it is complicated. I present this because, if you follow politics, you should research what is on the record, so far, and draw your own conclusions.

Do you think that Gannon/Guckert has ties to Karl Rove and that the White House
and the Republican officials in Texas, South Dakota, and in the RNC are engaged in a "cover up", or that little more will come of all this and it's a case of the White House press office being too lax in checking the backgrounds of those that it issues daily press passes to. How about the matter of Guckert using an alias in the pressroom, and both Scott McClennan and Bush calling on Guckert by his alias name to ask questions during widely broadcast telecasts ?

In the unabridged version of the well documented Gannon/Gucket news coverage linked in the second quote box below, are the following two observations. Where the fuck is the "liberal media" coverage of this story ?

Quote:

Well, The Nashua Advocate is consistently amazed to see plumbers, doctors, lawyers, electricians, and stay-at-home mothers and fathers spending more time investigating important news stories than the folks who are paid damn good money to do so..........

..............Candidly, sir, only in the present media and political climate could a White House news correspondent be a featured speaker at a G.O.P. convention, and his boss be inviting to said convention members of an Administration which would later deny knowing him, and a state G.O.P. which had given him awards also deny knowing him, without anyone writing about it or thinking it a major news story. Especially when the RPT has been caught in a lie, Gannon has admitted coordination with the Thune campaign, and nobody can for the life of them figure out why all this man's news articles--hundreds of them--have been erased from the internet.

Quote:

<a href="http://nashuaadvocate.blogspot.com/2005/02/bush-administration-and-texas.html">http://nashuaadvocate.blogspot.com/2005/02/bush-administration-and-texas.html</a>
News From The U.S. Election Reform Movement
Thursday, February 24, 2005
Bush Administration and Texas Republican Party Appear to Have Lied About Ties to Jeff Gannon's Boss, Bobby Eberle; In Other News, Old Media Is Dead

By ADVOCATE STAFF [EDITOR'S NOTE: The really juicy bits are deep in the article, but we'd like to think the whole thing is worth it]. The less you know about Gannongate, the easier it is to write about it. Makes sense, doesn't it? If you haven't done the necessary <a href="http://nashuaadvocate.blogspot.com/2005/02/former-daschle-campaign-spokesman-says.html">research</a>, Gannongate can appear to be nothing more than a case of sloppy journalism with an attendant, but ultimately irrelevant dabbling into the personal affairs of a White House reporter--which, while occasionally interesting, was in the end (this particularly odious theory goes) not entirely newsworthy. Of course, if you have done the necessary research, then writing an article like <a href="http://www.thenation.com/capitalgames/index.mhtml?bid=3&pid=2219">this one</a> by David Corn would be, ironically, a true exemplar of <a href="http://www.foxnews.com/">sloppy journalism</a>. So, how it is that The Nation's Corn can openly wonder if Gannongate is "smaller than it seems," while Salon <a href="http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2005/02/23/more_gannon/index_np.html">declares</a> it's "worse than you think?" Two reasons. The first, of course, is the laziness of the print media. But we've already said enough on that topic. The second, and more vital reason, is the laziness of the print media. [We exclude Minnesota's Nick Coleman, of whom we are a newly-minted fan, and a few other notable journalists from this broad brushstroke. But what would rhetoric be without a little hyperbole?]. .........................................................Our research has focused on whether a White House news correspondent <a href="http://nashuaadvocate.blogspot.com/2005/02/former-thune-staffer-jon-lauck-speaks.html">shared opposition research</a> with staff of U.S. Senator John Thune (R-SD) in a purposeful attempt to discredit a sitting Democratic Senate Minority Leader (Daschle); whether a White House news correspondent <a href="http://nashuaadvocate.blogspot.com/2005/02/former-daschle-campaign-spokesman-says.html">lied about his identity</a> to the Daschle campaign in order to get information which would or could be used to discredit them; and whether a White House news correspondent <a href="http://nashuaadvocate.blogspot.com/2005/02/credible-evidence-emerges-that-jeff.html">synchronized his news stories</a> in order to have them coincide with the partisan activities of the Thune campaign. Thus far, all three of these theories/propositions have proven true: the first, Gannon has admitted to the news outlet Editor & Publisher within just the last 72 hours; the second, The Nashua Advocate confirmed with the spokesman for the Daschle campaign; the third, former Thune staffer and current Professor at South Dakota State University, Jon Lauck, has admitted on his publicly-accessible blog. The Advocate has also provided additional evidence of this synchronicity on its <a href="http://nashuaadvocate.blogspot.com/2005/02/credible-evidence-emerges-that-jeff.html">website</a>. You may also be aware that all of the parties involved in this scandal have thus far denied the allegations against them or else <a href="http://nashuaadvocate.blogspot.com/2005/02/quotes-from-ongoing-jeff-gannon-saga.html">refused to speak</a> to reporters, with the exception of Gannon (as I've noted above) who frankly seems to admit more and more every time he speaks to the press. Now he's saying he kept a diary, a piece of evidence at least two Members of Congress have asked the Special Prosecutor for the Valerie Plame investigation to subpoena. But as to the denials: I'm sure you've found in your own career (and I certainly have in mine) that when people deny facts which are easily proven, something is amiss. The Republican Party of Texas (RPT), through its spokeswoman Sherry Sylvester, told The Houston Chronicle that no one at the RPT knows Bobby Eberle, the owner of GOPUSA. With all due respect to the RPT, that that statement <a href="http://nashuaadvocate.blogspot.com/2005/02/gop-spokeswoman-may-have-lied-in.html">is a lie</a> has now been confirmed several times over. Not only was Eberle one of a few dozen Texas Delegates (from the RPT) to the 2000 Republican National Convention, he was awarded the distinction of being one of the RPT's "Volunteers of the Year" in 2000. He was also on the 2000 RPT Convention Host Committee. Plus he was an RPT Convention Delegate in 1996, 1998, 2000, and 2002. Plus his GOPUSA co-founder is the Chairman of the Williamson County [TX] G.O.P. Simply put, Eberle is a major player in the RPT and yet they have denied knowing who he is. As you may know, Talon News announced yesterday that it is ceasing operations. It had already inexplicably wiped all of Gannon's articles from its website; GOPUSA has done the same on its website. Jeff Gannon has also, again inexplicably, done the same on his own website--even though, in published interviews, he adamantly stands by his articles. So why scrub them? Moreover, Bobby Eberle has now told <a href="http://nashuaadvocate.blogspot.com/2005/02/gop-spokeswoman-may-have-lied-in.html">The New York Times</a>, "Jeff did his thing, I did mine." Which is a distancing between editor and reporter that I also think is worthy of note by the media. The President (through Scott McClellan) has denied knowing Gannon or Eberle. McClellan and former White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer have <a href="http://nashuaadvocate.blogspot.com/2005/02/quotes-from-ongoing-jeff-gannon-saga.html">strongly implied</a> they do not know Eberle [or GOPUSA.com]. The problem here, of course, is that Eberle worked for the Bush-Cheney 2000 campaign in Washington state, was a Presidential Elector and Delegate (as mentioned above) from Bush's home state during the 2000 RNC Convention, and, as we've recently discovered, convened a "GOPUSA Conservative Conference" in Washington, D.C. in both 2003 and 2004, which conventions, run by Eberle, drew the attendance and indeed participation of such Administration and G.O.P. officials as: Senator John Cornyn (R-TX); Chuck DeFeo, eCampaign Manager, Bush-Cheney 2004; Tim Goeglein, Director, White House Office of Public Liaison; Rep. Tom Tancred (R-CO); Raul Damas, Hispanic Outreach Coordinator, Republican National Committee; Patrick Davis, Political Director, National Republican Senatorial Committee; Phillip Stutts, National Director, 72-Hour Task Force, Republican National Committee; and, of course, "Jeff Gannon," "reporter" for "Talon News." Candidly, sir, only in the present media and political climate could a White House news correspondent be a featured speaker at a G.O.P. convention, and his boss be inviting to said convention members of an Administration which would later deny knowing him, and a state G.O.P. which had given him awards also deny knowing him, without anyone writing about it or thinking it a major news story. Especially when the RPT has been caught in a lie, Gannon has admitted coordination with the Thune campaign, and nobody can for the life of them figure out why all this man's news articles--hundreds of them--have been erased from the internet. [Sigh]. We're not certain we can expect a response to that one. McClellan and Fleischer have <a href="http://nashuaadvocate.blogspot.com/2005/02/quotes-from-ongoing-jeff-gannon-saga.html">made clear</a> that their phone call to GOPUSA.com in 2003 was to confirm the "existence" of Bobby Eberle's website--yes, you read correctly, the "existence" of the website was the only sign of legitimacy required by the White House Press Office in order to usher Jeff Gannon into the White House--yet the fact that Eberle successfully invited the Bush-Cheney 2004 On-Line National Campaign Manager to a <a href="http://ari.typepad.com/right/2003/09/gopusa_conserva.html">conference</a> titled the "GOPUSA Conservative Conference" seems to imply, I don't know, some connection with the Administration? Maybe we're mistaken. Maybe members of the U.S. Senate, Republican National Committee, and National Republican Senatorial Committee went to Eberle's 2003 and <a href="https://www.gopusa.com/conference/">2004</a> GOPUSA convention because they thought it was being hosted by, say, the tobacco lobby? So, the RPT lied. They said they didn't know Eberle, and he's an award-winning, committee-hosting, honor-of-being-delegate-to-national-convention-receiving prized member of the Party. [The Advocate successfully contacted Ms. Sylvester on Wednesday, and asked her how she could deny knowing who Eberle is, given that the man is currently featured in not one but two Republican Party of Texas <a href="http://www.texasgop.org/newsroom/newsDisplay.php?id=112">press releases</a>. Sylvester told an Advocate reporter, "You know, I really want to talk to you, but I'm trying to get into this parking garage. Can I call you back on the number that came up on my cell phone?" We never heard back from her]. So, the Leadership Institute, which gave Gannon a "degree" for $50, lied. They claim on their <a href="http://www.leadershipinstitute.org/index_flash.cfm">website</a> to be non-partisan, but the most high-profile document on the website--a frightening propaganda film entitled <a href="http://www.leadershipinstitute.org/04RESOURCES/rootsleft.htm">"Roots of the Ultra Left: What They Really Think"</a>--contains <a href="http://www.leadershipinstitute.org/04RESOURCES/RootsLeft_002.htm">voice-over</a> lines like, "around the world, there's been ample evidence: free enterprise means prosperity. And free enterprise is driven by the possibility of profit. Just don’t try to explain that to the young and dumb at a leftist rally." Can anyone expain how this fire-breathing propaganda dragon is <a href="http://www.leadershipinstitute.org/01ABOUTUS/copyright.htm">tax-exempt</a>? And Fox News thinks the NAACP should be <a href="http://ad-server-d10.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,140275,00.html">taxed</a>? [To save you the agony of reading Bill O'Reilly: he says to outgoing NAACP President Kweisi Mfume, "But you've got to admit that (Julian) Bond (of the NAACP leadership) really was an anti-Bush guy and to get the tax-exempt status, you're really supposed to be in the middle..."]. So, the White House lied, too. They said they didn't know GOPUSA.com from FeedTheDonkey.com or WePaintTrucks.com, when in fact the owner of the GOPUSA website, Eberle, worked for the Bush campaign in 2000, was one of the thirty-something Texas Delegates who put Bush over the top for the 2004 presidential nomination, and hosts Washington conferences which Administration officials and G.O.P. heavyweights fall over themselves to attend. Ari Fleischer and Scott McClellan "looked into" GOPUSA, but apparently had no opinion on statements by Bobby Eberle (with whom Fleischer spoke), posted on the website, which <a href="http://www.gopusa.com/commentary/bobby/2003/bobby_1103.shtml">said</a> "[GOPUSA] is about...work[ing] for [conservative] candidates." So, how does an organization which is committed to "working for conservative candidates" cover a conservative White House without "working for" the conservative occupants of that house? [And has anyone besides Daily Kos highlighted the fact that GOPUSA was founded as a consulting company for Republican candidates in 1999?]. So, Jeff Gannon lied. He said he had "no political ties." He gave a false name to the Daschle campaign. He used an alias in the White House. He fed opposition research to a Republican senatorial campaign in South Dakota while later crowing to National Public Radio about "the White House being his beat" and being an unaffiliated journalist. So, Bobby Eberle lied. He claimed "Jeff did his thing, I did my thing," and now he refuses to talk about Gannon at all. He said he saw writing samples from Gannon before he hired him, but Gannon hadn't published any work; he convinced Ari Fleischer his website wasn't partisan but <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/02/18/opinion/lynch/main675050.shtml">admitted</a> to the New York Times that the name of the site carries a "built-in bias"; he was responsible for the initial press pass Gannon received but now claims to have sought no responsibility whatsoever, editorial or merely supervisory, for anything Gannon wrote. He purports to carry a low profile in the Republican Party but says in <a href="http://www.gopusa.com/commentary/bobby/2003/bobby_1103.shtml">speeches</a> that he is friends with Kerri Houston, who, as the National Field Director of the American Conservative Union and a member of President Bush's Commission to Strengthen Social Security, hosted the <a href="http://web.archive.org/web/20011122195545/www.conservative.org/bootcamp.htm">American Conservative Union Policy Boot Camp</a> in Washington in 2001, which Eberle attended to "spend some time promoting GOPUSA at the Capitol." [Apparently all that time spent promoting was fruitless; three years later nobody Republican and Washington-dwelling would be willing to admit knowing him at all. Apparently it was also a waste to have <a href="http://www.gopusa.com/commentary/bobby/2003/bobby_0908.shtml">attended</a> President Bush's 2001 inauguration]. There are even <a href="http://www.lightupthedarkness.org/blog/default.asp?view=plink&id=397">allegations</a> that GOPUSA is hosted by the same server as the Conservative Political Action Committee, whose conferences (which Eberle has attended) typically include such G.O.P. luminaries as Vice President Dick Cheney and, yes, Karl Rove.

Quote:

<a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/02/18/opinion/lynch/main675050.shtml">http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/02/18/opinion/lynch/main675050.shtml</a>
Rove-Gannon Connection?
WASHINGTON, Feb. 18, 2005
**************************
<a href="http://nashuaadvocate.blogspot.com/2005/02/credible-evidence-emerges-that-jeff.html">News From The U.S. Election Reform Movement

Sunday, February 20, 2005
Credible Evidence Emerges That Jeff Gannon Coordinated With the G.O.P. to Bring Down Former Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-SD) in 2004 Election

Post-Election, Daschle Campaign Aide Says Thune and Gannon "Worked Hand in Hand"; Gannon's Work in South Dakota Shows Substantial Ties to Current Thune Campaign Staffer Jason Van Beek</a>

Daschle opponent John Thune's campaign manager was Dick Wadham, an old political crony of Karl Rove's; the kind of pal Rove could ask to hire his first cousin, John Wood, a few years back. Wadham put the bloggers on the campaign payroll and the symbiotic relationship between the campaign, the bloggers and "reporter" Gannon continued. On September 29, Gannon broke the story that Daschle had claimed a special tax exemption for a house in Washington and the bloggers jumped all over it. According to a November 17 posting on South Dakota Politics--a site that Van Beek, who has become a staffer for now-Sen. Thune, has bequeathed to Lauck--"Jeff Gannon, whose reportage had a dramatic impact on the Daschle v. Thune race (his story about Sen. Daschle signing a legal document claiming to be a D.C. resident was published nearly the same day Thune began to run an ad showing Daschle saying, 'I'm a D.C. resident') has written an analysis of the debacle."

Daschle aides told Roll Call, "This guy (Gannon) became the dumping ground for opposition research." The connections are so strong that there is an FEC challenge which could be a test case on the limits of the use of the Internet in federal campaigns.

Quote:

<a href="http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/columns/pressingissues_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000817453">http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/columns/pressingissues_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000817453</a>
Gannon's to the Right of Me

By Greg Mitchell

Published: February 24, 2005 11:00 PM ET

Ten days ago, James Guckert told E&P he was through talking to the press, and now he won’t shut up. He’s even suggesting that some of his critics are “tingling” from viewing “sexy pictures” of him on the Web.

On Thursday, the once and perhaps future reporter known as Jeff Gannon, appeared on the Today Show and reactivated his Web site. It’s called <a href="http://www.jeffgannon.com/">“Jeff Gannon: A Voice of the New Media,”</a> with the tagline, “So feared by the Left it had to take me down.”

Claiming he was “bruised but not broken,” James/Jeff announced: “I’m baaaaaaaack!” He vowed to “battle the Left,” which he accuses of “21st Century McCarthyism” against conservatives. “I’m stronger than before,” he threatened.

But forget about answering any of those charges about his “personal life…I won’t be discussing any of that stuff here.”

Just days ago, some wondered if the Gannon scandal would ever warrant the revered suffix “gate.” Now, on the site, he repeatedly refers to “Gannongate” himself. .................
He denounces those who found “sexy pictures” of him on the Web, which inspired “rumors and conspiracy theories.” Forget for a moment that Guckert has now refused, on half a dozen occasions (including three interviews with E&P), to deny his part in the sex-escort trade. Here he says, “Based on some of the emails I’ve received, many of these people were conflicted with hatred for my politics and tingling they experienced while viewing pictures said to be me.”

He also thanks God for his “career as a reporter” and the fact that he was “further blessed to become a White House correspondent.”

Then there’s this gem: “If I had been a liberal reporter with the salacious past now attributed to me, I would be the Grand Marshall of the next Gay Pride Parade as well as a media darling, able to give softball interviews.” Well, he is an expert on softball questions, that’s for sure.................

<a href="http://mediamatters.org/topics/gannongate.html">Gannon News Coverage Updates</a>

Quote:

<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/200502230003">http://mediamatters.org/items/200502230003</a>
As of February 22, none of the <a href="http://www.accessabc.com/reader/top100.htm">five largest</a> U.S. newspapers* (USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times and The Washington Post) had devoted an editorial on any aspect of the recent revelation that former Talon News Washington bureau chief and White House correspondent Jeff Gannon (aka James D. Guckert) was permitted to attend White House press briefings under an alias and despite having <a href="http://mediamatters.org/topics/gannongate.html">no credentials as a journalist</a>. By contrast, numerous smaller newspapers -- ranging in size from the Houston Chronicle and Minneapolis Star-Tribune to several college newspapers -- have examined the issue in editorials. 

Here are some examples:
<ul>
<li>"An open letter to Louise Slaughter," <a href="http://www.niagarafallsreporter.com/editorial188.html">Niagara Falls Reporter</a> (New York), February 8.</li> 
<li>"Our View," <a href="http://www.augustafreepress.com/stories/storyReader$31588">Augusta Free Press</a> (Virginia), February 11.</li> 
<li>"Fake reporter's questioning of the president fits into the administration's widening pattern of manufactured journalism," <a href="http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/editorial/3038061">Houston Chronicle</a>, February 13.</li> 

<li>"White House in scandal over fake reporter," <a href="http://www.pittnews.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2005/02/16/4212e105e073e">The Pitt News</a> (University of Pittsburgh), February 16.</li> 
<li>"Just how did 'Gannon' get White House access?" <a href="http://www.pensacolanewsjournal.com/opinion/html/A99F0567-9C43-4BD0-A70A-0AEFA27C0541.shtml"> The Pensacola News Journal</a> (Florida), February 16.</li> 
<li>"Phony journalist/Pimping for the White House," <a href="http://www.startribune.com/stories/1519/5247250.html">Minneapolis Star-Tribune</a>, February 18.</li> 

<li>"Viewpoint: Undermining free speech," <a href="http://www.dailytexanonline.com/news/2005/02/18/Opinion/Viewpoint.Undermining.Free.Speech-869179.shtml"> The Daily Texan</a> (University of Texas), February 18.</li> 
<li>"The 'Jeff Gannon' Story," <a href="http://www.oregonlive.com/editorials/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/editorial/1108818080222430.xml"> The Oregonian</a>, February 19.</li> 
<li>"And Another Thing ..." <a href="http://www.bangornews.com/news/templates/?a=109161&z=34"> The Bangor Daily News</a> (Maine), February 19.</li> 

<li>"The Propaganda Administration" (paid subscription required), <a href="https://www.timesfreepress.com/archive/SecureAuth.asp?Path=ChatTFPress/2005/02/20&ID=Ar06303&Qry=%22Jeff+Gannon%22">Chattanooga Times Free Press</a> (Tennessee), February 20.</li> 
</ul>