Time for Bush to define 'independent press' (CSM)

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/csm/20050222/cm_csm/ychinni22_1



Tue Feb 22,11:22 AM ET

Democrats and Republicans get caught in the naughty bits of the Gannon affair, but there are bigger issues here.

By Dante Chinni

WASHINGTON - The cafes and restaurants here were atwitter again last weekend. Finally, after years of talking about things like terrorism and deficits and Social Security (news - web sites) reform, the capital's chatterers had a story they could discuss without reading a briefing paper.

Thank you, Jeff Gannon or James Guckert or whatever your name really is. It seems like old times again inside the Beltway.


In case you haven't heard the story, it goes something like this: Somehow, a "reporter" (his, not my, description of his work) calling himself Jeff Gannon, who worked for a conservative website called Talon News, got into the White House briefing room on a regular basis. He then would lob softball questions at the press secretary and even, on at least one occasion, the president.


Not interesting enough? OK, it turns out he was using an alias. His real name is James Guckert. And it turns out there are compromising photos of Mr. Guckert on some homoerotic websites.

more.......

"Previously" is used to describe Gannon/Guckert's gay porn site prostitution life.

As of today, Guckert/Gannon is selling the websites he claimed he never owned.