The folks at AmericaBlog have tracked down the website caches from a few of the male escort sites once operated by the now infamous White House pseudo-reporter Jeff Gannon. It’s not pretty stuff, but, then again, investigative reporting isn’t always pretty. “Sometimes, in the pursuit of a great story,” as journalist Edward R. Murrow used to say, “there’s no getting around having to stare at Republican cock.” Actually, I made that up. To my knowledge, Murrow never had to wade though shots like these in researching a story… I’ve been drinking… (Thanks for the link, Matt.)
While we’re on the subject of AmericaBlog and their fascination with all things Gannon, you might want to check out this CNN snippet featuring John Aravosis, the man behind AmericaBlog, going up against a amazingly stupid Aaron Brown. I think he does pretty well, but, then again, as I just told you, I’ve been drinking.
And, one more thing, as long as we’re talking about persons of ill-repute in the media, I just learned on the East Cross site that daytime talk-show host Ellen DeGeneres has announced a competition to become the boyfreind of Tara “I can’t act” Reid. It’s obviously something that Reid’s desperate PR people dreamed up, and, from theaudio on the clip, there was almost no response at all from the “Ellen” audience. No one laughed. No one clapped. No one cared. It was even more pathetic than those freakish things she totes around with her.
I was going to clumsily try to merge the Gannon and Reid stories… maybe by suggesting that Gannon should enter the “Chaperone an Alcoholic Actress with Bad Plastic Surgery as Her Career Fades” contest… but I can’t make the connection… As I believe I’ve mentioned, I’ve been drinking… If you do have an idea, however, as to what we could do in the one-minute “Be Tara’s Boyfriend” audition video, leave a comment. I’m thinking that perhaps we could use the opportunity to deliver some kind of message.
14 Comments
Finally something I agree with Mark about, Aarron Brown sucks! I know several people who know him and he’s apparently an even bigger prick in person than on TV. You might not like FOX, but other than Geraldo they don’t have anyone nearly as bad as Brown. He also apparently chain smokes on the set.. As soon as the camera cuts out he’s smoking (Kinda like Krusty the Clown)
Mark – I agree that gannon is a homo. And so is Ellen. Both should be banned from the pree room and air waves. However, Tara Reid is hot.
Hey, Anyone have a link to any transcripts of the questions that Gannon asked? The people want to know all of the softball questions that he asked. Meanwhile, in seemingly more important news (although the gannon story is newsworthy also) Eason Jordan looks like he has done as much damage to America’s reputation as that drunk liar Ted Kennedy. Eason, after admitting that CNN lied for years about the brutality of Sadam’s regime so they could stay in Bagdad to ‘report’, now says that American troops targeted journalist and has killed several. Maybe we can dig up a transcript of that speech someday. I mean if we are seeking the truth about how America operates then I think we owe it to our country to set the record straight. Politics aside, what he did damages our country (with lies) and aids in the recruitment of terrorists…that want to kill us all.
Eason Jordon lied, or misspoke, and suggested that US military forces purposely targeted (killed) reporters. He backtracked some, and then eventually resigned from CNN. I don’t see how that’s relative to the Gannon case. In that instance, you have the White House clearly breaking rules in order to put a plant inside the press corps, someone who would ask questions favorable to the Bush administration, or at least in harmony with Rove’s talking points. If you cannot see the difference between the two you’re not paying attention. On one hand we have a single individual taking responsibility for a inappropriate statement and paying the price – on the other we have a man with no journalistic credentials, using a fake name, helping the White House spin machine to the tdetriment of the American people. The two things can’t be compared. And I think we’re all bright enough to see through the “leave him alone because he’s gay” stuff.
Don’t really see whats different with gannon who has (no journalistic credentials) spinning public opinion and CBS news which has (had) (journalistic credentials) spinning public opinion by using fabricated documents and the bully pulpit of a national news network. I would say what CBS did was far worse, and the fact that it was timed just before a major election makes it even scarier. Is there any way we could see what these Gannon questions were? Did they involve the use of fake documents? Oh on another tangent, Jordon said in a speech to Harvard five years ago that the reason CNN went worldwide was that Turner met with Fidel Castro (Castro apparently really liked their coverage) and Castro told Ted to take it worldwide. I always thought the Communist News Network thing was stupid, … or is it… Also why are you guys so hung up on the fact that Gannon is Gay? I think thats his own personal business and don’t see how it relates to the matter at hand.
Are we talking about Eason Jordan, or Dan Rather? We need to first agree to what we’re comparing. With that in mind, I think Teddy makes good points. The Gannon mess, no matter which way you look at it, has more serious implications for this beautiful country that we all love so much. Eason fucked up, like Jimmy the Greek and others have fucked up in the past, and it ended his career. Some people don’t think before they open their mouths. Now, if we’re talking about CBS News, that’s a different matter. CBS rushed to air with something they thought was hot news and it turned out to be fraudulent. I don’t think there’s any evidence that they were behind the creation of the document though. While this is worse than the Jordan thing though, I don’t think it’s worse than the situation with Gannon. If it indeed turns out that Gannon 1. was used to manipulate the news 2. was the recipient of classified documents and 3. was aided in circumventing security protocols at the White House, then it smells like state-sponsored propaganda. And this is not a question of liberal or conservative. I voted for Bush.
mike is swamped with work right now so I will not post much until about 4 am or so. They are all bad. I want to know what questions Gannon asked but nobody seems to know. Someone find out so I can come back here after work and see what he asked. In principle, no matter if he asked anything or not —not good. Don’t diminish what Eason did though, especially in a time of war. This is serious shit. It will be used as a recruiting tool and could cost lives…like a think remarks by ted kennedy will cost lives. Somebody come up with some new dirt. Back to the grind.
I know the questions that Gannon asked, or at least some of them, and I’ll post them later. Right now, I have my hands full with the baby… Before I go though, I just want to suggest that the photos of prisoner torture, and especially the video of the US military guy shooting the wounded man in cold blood, might resonate a bit more with would-be terrorists than a quote from a CNN executive in Switzerland about journalists killed in combat zones.
Yes I know lots of people in the news room at CNN and I agree with them the Jordan’s comments weren’t all that bad. His problem was that he had a habit of making stupid statements which discredited CNN. If you remember right before the start of the war he admitted that CNN had overlooked Hussein’s atrocities so they could keep a office open in Bagdhad. He said that they knew of the rape rooms, the stories of mass grave, the torure (not taking naked photo’s we’re talking iron maidens, making people crawl across glass and hot asphalt, electrical torture.. etc) but decided not to report it because Saddam would have forced them to leave. That went over like a brick at CNN, if they overlook abuses like that then what are they overlooking in other countries like Cuba… Full disclosure my in-laws escaped Cuba during the revolution and several of their family members were killed by Castro.. plus all their property was siezed..
I’m not a fan of CNN, or their justifications for keeping a station in Iraq. And I agreed with everyone that Jordan should leave for his stupid statements. I don’t, however, share Mike’s opinion that it was anywhere near as significant as Gannongate. And, I should point out, the first person to call Jordan out for his statements in Switzerland was the very liberal Barney Frank. As much as Mike and others try to paint it as such, this isn’t a right against left thing.
Well the important thing to remember is the CNN is a catpitaistic enterprise (as are the other networks). CNN has one purpose which is to make money.. News organizations are not glowing candles of light, rather they are there to make money from ads. This is why Jordan is gone, he was hurting the network’s credibility thus hurting their bottom line (I’m sure you’ve seen the codislim ads)
I never said it was right against left. I know Barney was calling him out on iut as well as another Democrat. Good for them. It’s their responsibility to do it. To do anything but that, would be beyond reproach. I said Eason’s remarks could be used as a recruitment tools for terrorists and just exhibits his contempt for this country. The soldier that shot the TERRORIST in the mosque was definitely doing the right thing in my opinion. Of course you could ignore that the day before soldiers in his same company were killed by a terrorist that was booby trapped and just laying there almost dead. When whey went to see if he was dead, boom. I’d shoot the assholes too. Every single one of them after something like that. They weren’t in the mosque to pray. You discredit our soldiers like they are just a bunch of rambos waiting to kill any innocent they see. Not the case. They are the best trained fighters in the world and I would stand behind any one of them in a case like that. The gaurdsmen taking the pictures though was the stupidest thing I have ever seen one of our own do. The pyrimids were kind of funny though, you gotta admit. They just shouldn’t have taken pictures.
credit taranto:
The Eason Jordan kerfuffle is really getting silly now. Blogger Charles Johnson points to a 1997
Why dont you friggin losers get a life and start worrying about your own meaningless lives instead of everybody else that has a life dorks.
Well said! Terrific, salient point.