Text 9165, 96 rader
Skriven 2005-02-17 06:29:18 av LESLIE BLITZER (1:275/311)
Ärende: Guckert/Gannon
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February 17, 2005
OP-ED COLUMNIST
Bush's Barberini Faun
By MAUREEN DOWD

WASHINGTON

I am very impressed with James Guckert, a k a Jeff Gannon.

How often does an enterprising young man, heralded in press reports as
both a reporter and a contributor to such sites as Hotmilitarystud.com,
Workingboys.net, Militaryescorts .com, MilitaryescortsM4M.com and
Meetlocalmen.com, get to question the president of the United States?

Who knew that a hotmilitarystud wanting to meetlocalmen could so easily
get to be face2face with the commander in chief?

It's hard to believe the White House could hit rock bottom on credibility
again, but it has, in a bizarre maelstrom that plays like a dark comedy.
How does it credential a man with a double life and a secret past?

"Jeff Gannon" was waved into the press room nearly every day for two years
as the conservative correspondent for two political Web sites operated by
a wealthy Texas Republican. Scott McClellan often called on the
pseudoreporter for softball questions.

Howard Kurtz reported in The Washington Post yesterday that although Mr.
Guckert had denied launching the provocative Web sites - one described him
as " 'military, muscular, masculine and discrete' (sic)" - a Web designer
in California said "that he had designed a gay escort site for Gannon and
had posted naked pictures of Gannon at the client's request."

And The Wilmington News-Journal in Delaware reported that Mr. Guckert was
delinquent in $20,700 in personal income tax from 1991 to 1994.

I'm still mystified by this story. I was rejected for a White House press
pass at the start of the Bush administration, but someone with an alias, a
tax evasion problem and Internet pictures where he posed like the
"Barberini Faun" is credentialed to cover a White House that won a second
term by mining homophobia and preaching family values?

At first when I tried to complain about not getting my pass renewed, even
though I'd been covering presidents and first ladies since 1986, no one
called me back. Finally, when Mr. McClellan replaced Ari Fleischer, he
said he'd renew the pass - after a new Secret Service background check
that would last several months.

In an era when security concerns are paramount, what kind of Secret
Service background check did James Guckert get so he could saunter into
the West Wing every day under an assumed name while he was doing
full-frontal advertising for stud services for $1,200 a weekend? He used a
driver's license that said James Guckert to get into the White House,
then, once inside, switched to his alter ego, asking questions as Jeff
Gannon.

Mr. McClellan shrugged this off to Editor & Publisher magazine, oddly
noting, "People use aliases all the time in life, from journalists to
actors."

I know the F.B.I. computers don't work, but this is ridiculous. After
getting gobsmacked by the louche sagas of Mr. Guckert and Bernard Kerik,
the White House vetters should consider adding someone with some blogging
experience.

Does the Bush team love everything military so much that even a
military-stud Web site is a recommendation?

Or maybe Gannon/Guckert's willingness to shill free for the White House,
even on gay issues, was endearing. One of his stories mocked John Kerry's
"pro-homosexual platform" with the headline "Kerry Could Become First Gay
President."

With the Bushies, if you're their friend, anything goes. If you're their
critic, nothing goes. They're waging a jihad against journalists - buying
them off so they'll promote administration programs, trying to put them in
jail for doing their jobs and replacing them with ringers.

At last month's press conference, Jeff Gannon asked Mr. Bush how he could
work with Democrats "who seem to have divorced themselves from reality."
But Bush officials have divorced themselves from reality.

They flipped TV's in the West Wing and Air Force One to Fox News. They
paid conservative columnists handsomely to promote administration
programs. Federal agencies distributed packaged "news" video releases with
faux anchors so local news outlets would run them. As CNN reported, the
Pentagon produces Web sites with "news" articles intended to influence
opinion abroad and at home, but you have to look hard for the disclaimer:
"Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Defense." The agencies spent a
whopping $88 million spinning reality in 2004, splurging on P.R.
contracts.

 Even the Nixon White House didn't do anything this creepy. It's worse
 than hating the press. It's an attempt to reinvent it.

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