CNN.com - White House reporter's credentials questioned - Feb 9, 2005
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A New York congresswoman asked the White House to explain Wednesday why a man who worked for a news Web site owned by a GOP activist was able to obtain White House press credentials under an assumed name.

James Guckert, who reported from the White House for the Talon News Service under the name "Jeff Gannon," announced he was quitting the business "in consideration of the welfare of me and my family."

In a letter to President Bush, Rep. Louise Slaughter, a Democrat, questioned why Guckert routinely received credentials for White House news briefings. Slaughter linked Guckert's case to recent revelations that two conservative columnists who supported Bush administration policies had received government money.

Slaughter said she was writing at the request of senior editors of the Niagara Falls Reporter in her Buffalo-area district.

The newspaper ran an open letter questioning "how a partisan political organization and an individual with no credentials as a reporter -- and apparently operating under an assumed name -- landed a coveted spot in the White House press corps."

During White House press secretary Scott McClellan's regular briefings, Guckert routinely offered administration-friendly questions.

He became the focus of liberal and media Web sites after Bush called on him during his news conference January 26.

Guckert asked Bush how he could deal with Democratic congressional leaders "who seem to have divorced themselves from reality."

This was the whackjob money quote, exposing himself for the shill that he is (was). Now he's running around crying about the big, bad liberal bloggers. If he was so legit, why would Talon and others pull down all his stories? He's literally becoming an "unperson". What's up with that?

The Boston Globe covers the gay prostitution link, always good to spike interest in a story, but not the real problem here. Hypocrisy runs rampant in this administration, nobody is surprised by it. Starting to wonder if that angle is a smokescreen for this-

Why no mention of the CIA link, hmmm? A diarist at Kos lays out the evidence and comes to this conclusion-

"Jeff Gannon was planted by the administration to disseminate their talking points unfettered by any journalism ethics or investigation shortly after the Iraq war, when the failure to find WMDs was becoming apparent. He became incredibly useful in L'Affaire Plame to continue to push the dual stories that a) Plame's name was already common knowledge and therefore 'outing' her was not a crime and b) to continue to help discredit the CIA and Wilson.

Based on the evidence, I believe the 2002 CIA memo was leaked to Gannon when Novak became unusable and when the 'mainstream' reporters with CIA contacts were not pushing the WH's preferred story line. They needed cover, and they got it.

And as is evidenced by his remarkable access to Scott McClellan and President Bush in the White House press room, to this day, he was rewarded handsomely...

And it continues as business as usual... until today when he became expendable and 'resigned' from Talon News."

Some of the major media players are showing interest in this story, we will see where it goes from here. But, as a wise man said to me, "these are the guys who started a war based on lies and got away with it", so chances are they will get away with this too. Good point.

Still it's fun to expose the frauds wherever we can. Three cheers to the Kossacks!