Free Republic

Suppose a Democratic strategist wrote an open letter to colleagues and clients analyzing this week’s election returns. “Republicans have very little to cheer about this election,” he said with some satisfaction. “But off-year elections are rarely harbingers of future performance. Democrats actually did quite well in 2003, to little effect in 2004.” Suppose further that the Democratic strategist signed his name to the letter and distributed it widely.And then suppose one more thing: that the Democratic strategist had not actually written those words but had lifted them wholesale from a liberal blog. (In fact, those words do come from such...

Liberal blogger Eric Brewer, who writes for the blog BTC News, wrote that a 'reporter' for Air America radio has been given a White House press pass.Brewer says he met the new 'reporter' while going through security to cover yesterday's White House briefing by Scott McClellan.The Air America reporter is identified as a lawyer from Aptos, California named Paul Sanford. A quick search shows that Mr. Sanford does have a law practice there, but according to his Website he does not have an education in journalism. However, he is a law professor which might explain his erudite debut question to...

WASHINGTON (Talon News) -- White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan denied that the White House had a role in keeping a gruesome video of atrocities committed by Saddam Hussein's regime from the media. When asked by Talon News on Thursday to explain the virtual news blackout of the horrific images of Iraqis being beheaded, tongues being cut out, and fingers being chopped off, McClellan said that he'd "leave it to the media to address those issues." McClellan pointed out that Saddam Hussein has a long history of brutal crimes against his own people and his neighbors. "It is important to...

Reps. Slaughter & Conyers Call on Special Prosecutor and Secret Service to Investigate Growing Gannon Scandal Washington, DC - Rep. Louise M. Slaughter (NY-28), Ranking Member of the House Committee on Rules, and Rep. John Conyers (MI-14), Ranking Member of the House Judiciary Committee, called on Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald to investigate the leaking of a classified Central Intelligence Agency memo containing the identity of undercover agent Valerie Plame to a man at the center of the White House Press Briefing Room scandal, "Jeff Gannon."Rep. Slaughter, a long-time advocate for media reform and accountability, brought this story into the national...

Democrats ask White House for documents on conservative blogger BY ELANA SCHOR Knight Ridder Newspapers WASHINGTON - (KRT) - U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., the House's top Democrat for homeland security, has found an unlikely place in need of his protection: the White House press room. Thompson and four colleagues, all senior congressional Democrats, have petitioned Bush administration officials to release classified documents about James D. Guckert, a conservative activist who was a daily fixture at White House press briefings. Calling himself Jeff Gannon, Guckert asked President Bush questions at televised news conferences as a representative of Talon News Service,...

Talon News shuts down Domain names for porn sites tied to reporter now up for sale -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Posted: February 25, 2005 8:06 p.m. Eastern © 2005 WorldNetDaily.co Talon News, the website at the center of a scandal linking one of its reporters to the White House, has temporarily shut down its online operations, while explicit Internet domain names allegedly used by its reporter are now up for sale. A statement posted on TalonNews.com reads: The recent public focus on Talon News, while much of it malicious, has indeed brought some constructive elements to the surface. It has also brought many...

Lawmakers: Writer May Have CIA Leak Info Thursday, February 24, 2005 WASHINGTON — Two lawmakers have sent a letter to the U.S. attorney saying a White House reporter who recently resigned following questions about his identity and background may have information vital to the investigation into who leaked a CIA operative's name to the press. Reps. Louise Slaughter, D-N.Y., and John Conyers, D-Mich., the ranking Democrats on the House Rules Committee and House Judiciary Committee, respectively, wrote a letter to Patrick Fitzgerald (search), the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, saying the Chicago attorney's office may need to...

(Talon News) -- A radical Islamic web site containing a death threat against a New Mexico-based Talon News writer remains on line at its Chicago-based Internet service provider -- at least for now. In a Friday phone call from Alex Korneyev, the owner of Host for Web (www.hostforweb.com), Talon News report Jeremy Reynalds understood him to say the site will be taken off line shortly. In a follow-up e-mail to Reynalds, Korneyev said the reason the site has remained available is "because we were working with ... law enforcement agencies." However, in the same e-mail, Korneyev emphasized to Reynalds, "I...

Web Site Owner Says He Knew of Reporter's 2 Identities By RALPH BLUMENTHAL OUSTON, Feb. 19 - The operator of an activist Republican Web site and news service said Friday night that he had known for two years that his White House correspondent went by two identities. But the operator, Robert R. Eberle, denied in an interview that the correspondent, Jeff Gannon, whose real name is James D. Guckert, was an administration plant or was given preferential treatment as a Republican partisan to ask soft questions at briefings. Mr. Guckert, who wrote for the Gopusa.com Web site and its offshoot...

All FReepers and lurkers in good standing are invited to join the D.C. Chapter in our demonstration this evening. Details in the following press release: DEMONSTRATION IN SUPPORT OF JEFF GANNON& THE FIRST AMENDMENT WHEN: FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2005, 6 P.M. TO 8 P.M. WHERE: THE SIDEWALK BY MONICA’S GATE, AKA THE NORTHWEST VISITORS ENTRANCE THE WHITE HOUSE, 1600 PENNSYLVANIA AVE., NW, WASHINGTON, D.C. (Washington) The D.C. Chapter of Free Republic, an independent grassroots organization, will be holding a demonstration at the White House this evening in support of former Talon News White House Correspondent Jeff Gannon and the rights...

Former White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer was so concerned about Talon News reporter James Guckert's potential ties to the Republican Party that he stopped calling on him at press briefings for about a week in 2003, Fleischer told E&P today. "I found out that he worked for a GOP site, and I didn't think it was my place to call on him because he worked for something that was related to the party," Fleischer said in a phone interview. "He had the editor call me and made the case that they were not related to the Republican Party. He...

'Gannon' Signs Off: Guckert Says He'll No Longer Talk to Press By Joe Strupp Published: February 15, 2005 10:55 AM ET NEW YORK James D. Guckert, the former White House reporter who's been accused of everything from asking partisan questions to being a male prostitute, is no longer speaking to the press, claiming it does not help his cause, he told E&P this morning. "I talked to attorneys, and I am no longer talking to anyone [in the press] anymore," said Guckert, who has used the alias Jeff Gannon. "It doesn’t seem to clarify anything any longer. Everything I say,...

Senate floor statements November 17, 2003: MR. THOMAS: I would like to quote Senator LAUTENBERG'S floor statement during consideration of the fiscal year 1994 Department of Transportation and Related Agencies Appropriations Act on October 4, 1993. He said: The use of contract towers is an example of how we can reduce the costs of Government services and achieve savings over the long run. FAA estimates that the use of a contract control tower saves $200,000 annually because of the flexibility available in scheduling controller working hours around changes in air traffic activity levels. I ask unanimous consent that the Talon...

Giving "Gannon" a pass Questions remain about how a fake reporter working for a fake news operation got White House press credentials without a background check. By Eric Boehlert Feb. 11, 2005 | Before abruptly quitting his post this week as White House correspondent for the GOP-friendly group Talon News, Jeff Gannon enjoyed unfettered access to White House briefings. He gained that access not by going through the normal full background check most journalists face when obtaining a "hard pass," the ultimate White House credential, but rather by getting day passes, which require only an abbreviated background check. According to...

WASHINGTON – After a pointed question at a White House press briefing two weeks ago, a massive left-wing investigation of Talon News and Jeff Gannon's personal and business affairs was launched and was said to reveal that he was associated with homosexual website addresses. Left-wing bloggers, specifically Media Matters, which ironically is run by former conservative and once-closeted homosexual David Brock, have made a name for themselves by taking the scalp of this conservative journalist by the name of Jeff Gannon. His crimes were that he was too pro-Republican, attended White House briefings, and asked questions unfair to Democrats. This...

Democrats Want Investigation of Reporter Using Fake NameBy KATHARINE Q. SEELYE Published: February 11, 2005 wo Democrats in Congress are pressing for investigations into how a Washington reporter who used a pseudonym managed to gain access to the White House and had access to classified documents that named Valerie Plame as a C.I.A. operative.The Democrats, Representatives John Conyers Jr. of Michigan and Louise M. Slaughter from Rochester, wrote yesterday to Patrick Fitzgerald, the independent prosecutor appointed in the Plame case, seeking an investigation into how the reporter, James D. Guckert, who used the name Jeff Gannon, had access to classified...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 10 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Following Jeff Gannon's February 8 resignation as Talon News Washington bureau chief and White House correspondent, Talon News -- which appears to be more of a Republican political advocacy group than a media outlet -- removed all archived news stories from its website. Despite Gannon's claim that he is not "someone who takes a strong position and speaks in support of that issue," a Media Matters for America review of Gannon's catalogue of work for Talon (still available as cached documents via Google) showed that Gannon often used his news articles as a platform...

Jeff Gannon to appear on Larry Elder - upcoming momentarily

(END VIDEOTAPE) BLITZER: And Jeff Gannon is joining us now for an exclusive television interview, his first TV interview since leaving his job. Jeff, thanks very much for joining us. Should I call you Jeff or James? GANNON: Please call me Jeff Gannon. BLITZER: So what -- explain the discrepancy. Your real name is James D. Guckert. GANNON: Yes. Well, it's pronounced Guckert. BLITZER: Guckert. GANNON: It's a professional name. I used it because Jeff Gannon is easier to pronounce and easier to remember. BLITZER: But you haven't legally changed it? GANNON: No. BLITZER: So your driver's license still has...

WASHINGTON, DC -- In light of yet another scandal involving the Bush administration's manipulation of the media, United States Senator Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ) today requested from White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan all the documents relating to the press credentials of James. D. Guckert, a.k.a. "Jeff Gannon"; the "journalist" now famous for being the White House correspondent for his softball questioning of President Bush and various Administration spokespeople. "I am writing to request that you immediately release documents to my office relating to the White House press credentials of James D. Guckert, a.k.a. "Jeff Gannon." Specifically, I am seeking...