do you hear us now?

The Bush administration has not yet responded to the requests of Rep. Louise Slaughter and Rep. John Conyers for information concerning Jeff Gannon (aka Guckert). So, today Slaughter appealed to the American people to help her. Here’s a clip:

It has been well over a week since I wrote President Bush seeking answers in this matter. I have not yet received a reply. Along with Rep. John Conyers, I have also submitted a Freedom of Information Act request for all DHS records regarding Mr. Guckert’s admittance into the White House. With each new revelation it becomes more and more clear that the relationship between the White House and Jeff Gannon was anything but typical.

It is time for this Administration to stop the stonewalling and come clean with the American people.

I have worked on media fairness and reform throughout my stay in the House, and never have I seen such an open assault on the standards of a free press as I have in the past four years. We have seen several right wing pundits who were being paid with tax dollars to promote Administration policies with no disclosure. We have seen fake news reports distributed to media outlets with no indication of their origin; we have seen those fake segments deemed “illegal covert propaganda” by the General Accounting Office; and then we have seen the White House simply continue on with the technique completely unphased. We now know that prior to the war in Iraq, Iraqi exiles with checkered pasts, allied with (and paid by) the White House distributed bogus intelligence on WMD to produce perhaps more than 100 newspaper articles hyping the case for war! Even now President Bush flies around the country at taxpayer expense holding televised “town hall discussions” on Social Security in which nobody who does not support him is allowed in.

This must stop, and it must stop now. This sort of manipulation of the free press – one of most pivotal checks & balances in our Constitution – demonstrates a contempt for democracy, the rule of law, and the great people of this nation, many of whom trust this president with all their hearts.

I ask you to stand with me – and the DCCC – in demanding an end to the propaganda.

Please sign our petition.

Don’t think about the Neocon “enemies list” that your name will get added to — just sign it.