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March 4, 2005
Go for It
Apparently some Democrats in Congress believe that this is the path that will lead them to glory
Unable to wrest answers from the White House on "Gannongate," five top Democrats say they will force a vote in Congress to spur a House investigation.I say go for it.
The quintet of heavyweights from the House Judiciary, Government Reform, Homeland Security, Rules, and Ways and Means committees filed a resolution of inquiry yesterday to demand that the Justice Department and the Homeland Security Department surrender any documents they have concerning James Guckert's access to the White House.
Mr. Guckert, also known as "Jeff Gannon," wrote for a conservative online news operation. Democrats say the White House used him as a plant to further the administration's agenda.
Rep. Louise M. Slaughter, New York Democrat, repeatedly has failed to get the White House or anyone else to turn over the goods on Mr. Guckert.
"This is a matter of national security and unethical White House media manipulation," Mrs. Slaughter insisted yesterday. "We intend to find out what the White House is hiding."
While Democrats occupy themselves with this non-scandal, we'll get on with the business of running the country.
In case you're not familiar with what all this fuss if about, the left has decided that they've been handled the equivalent of a "Rathergate" level scandal. What a hoot.
If you want the full story of what this is all about read Byron York's article in National Review. A digital subscription is required to view it on line, but here are a few excerpts:
The name refers to Jeff Gannon, a previously little-known correspondent for a previously little-known conservative website called Talon News. For the last couple of years, Gannon was a fixture at White House briefings, where he often asked questions with a clear conservative slant (as opposed to questions from others with a clear liberal slant). Although the softballs Gannon lobbed to press secretary Scott McClellan irritated some members of the press corps, Gannon did not attract much attention until January 26, when President Bush surprised reporters by giving a news conference.
"Gannon" thew a softball question to the President. Other reporters were annoyed by this, and some decided to investigate. To make a long story short, from what I can understand "Gannnon's" sins were that A) he did not have a 'hard pass' to the White House press briefings, B) went by the alias "Jeff Gannon" instead of his real name, James Guckert, C) did not work for a "real" news organization, and D) was a closet homosexual who either ran or participated in gay "escort services". The latter is what really set left-wing bloggers off:
It might seem odd to some that what began as a story about one reporter's soft question turned into a hostile outing. The liberal bloggers claimed they were justified in their actions because Gannon was a hypocrite who, they charged, wrote anti-gay stories for Talon. But the best they could come up with was a 2004 story in which Gannon, playing off the oft-quoted saying that Bill Clinton was America's first black president, wrote that John Kerry "might someday be known as "the first gay president." Kerry, Gannon continued, "has enjoyed a 100 percent rating from the homosexual advocacy group, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), since 1995 in recognition of his support for the pro-gay agenda."
You get the point. The left has decided that this is a huge story, and if they want to occupy themselves with over it, fine by me.
Posted by Tom at March 4, 2005 9:53 AM
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