Here's a great idea

Appoint a lesbian as top diplomat to the Middle East.

Dont' get freaky on me. This is not an anti-gay post. Just trying to figure out where these folks have their heads. The Middle East isn't exactly a showcase for tolerance when it comes to women, much less homosexual women.

But this post is not about Mary Cheney. It's about our old buddy Jeff Jim Guckert Gannon and the hypocrisy of the GOParty of Denying Gay Rights. It's not so much the hypocisy, although that alone is cause for disgust; it's about the control and manipulation that the administration and top Repuglicans use over a huge voting base of prejudiced people in this country. The GOPugs don't really have a problem with homosexuality - hell, many of them are still closeted. They are simply using the prejudice and intolerance of the rabid who do have a problem with it to whip up votes. I wonder what is going to happen when the rabid dupes realize they're being sorely used in such a manner. Will they turn on their masters? So far, they're proving to be extremely deep in denial. And their masters are working diligently to keep them that way.

The story was pursued by bloggers, broken by bloggers, extended by bloggers and its importance continues to be explained by bloggers all while many mainstream journalists (important exceptions include Keith Olbermann and a NY Times story) just bop along with their feeble exercise in microphone holding.
  Alternet article

"Gannon" was on with Wolf Blitzer and CNN Thursday evening, and Blitzer didn't even try to pose a hard question. He merely stepped aside and let "Gannon" pule. "Gannon" was allowed to paint himself as the victim in all this. Blitzer even went so far as to say that he absolutely didn't understand one key facet of the story, and just let "Gannon" frame it as he pleased. It was as luxurious a backrub as has ever been broadcast. The other 'reporter' involved in that CNN report was Howard Kurtz, who had earlier in the day stated emphatically that there was nothing at all to this story. He knew this because he had asked Scott McClellan about it, and McClellan said that was the deal. Move along. Nothing to see here.
  Scoop article

Now...the juicy bits....

The former White House reporter for the conservative website Talon News, who resigned after his links to military escort domains appeared on the Web, is said to have paid two individuals to set up a site on which he intended to prostitute himself.

[...]

Some question whether Gannon may have leveraged a personal intimate relationship with someone at the White House to gain access to President Bush.

[...]

Such leveraging of personal relationships have seen increased scrutiny after the resignation of former New Jersey Governor James McGreevey, who admitted to having an affair with a male staff member.
  Raw Story article

Of course, speculation about the identity of any such possible "relationship" is going to go a-buzzin'.

RAW STORY has been told that the White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan visited a gay bar in Austin, Texas, on March 19, 1995. The date was placed exactly as a local memorial service was held on the same day.

The source, who would only comment on condition of anonymity, reserved comment on whether McClellan was actually gay, but said he was frequently seen at gay clubs. Another source also confirmed this account.

“He was often seen in gay clubs in Austin, Texas and was comfortable being there,” the Texan said. “He’s been seen in places that normal people who are looking for heterosexual relationships are not seen alone.”

[...]

The White House has been aware of the allegations about McClellan’s sexuality since at least September.

[...]

The Republican National Committee also declined comment on whether Guckert had any relationship with Chairman Ken Mehlman, who was outed on Air America last year, and who has refused to answer questions about his sexuality.
  Raw Story article

AmericaBlog has a post showing screen shots of Gannon's various sexually explicit websites - it turns out he's not just gay, he's a gay hooker with a military theme. (Warning: that is not an office-friendly link.)

Why does it matter that Jeff Gannon may have been a gay hooker named James Guckert with a $20,000 defaulted court judgment against him? So he somehow got a job lobbing softball questions to the White House. Big deal. If he was already a prostitute, why not be one in the White House briefing room as well?

[...]

Ultimately, it is the hypocrisy that is such a challenge to grasp in this story. This is the same White House that ran for office on a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. While they are surrounded by gay hookers? While they use a gay hooker to write articles for their gay hating political base? While they use a gay hooker to destroy a political enemy? Not to mention the hypocrisy of a "reporter" who chooses to publish article after article defending the ant-gay religious-right point of view on gay civil rights issue.

Who in the White House is at the center of all of this? Who allowed this to go on in the People's House? Who committed the crime of exposing Valerie Plame?
  Americablog post

The Houston Chronicle at least questions the story, unlike Howard Kurtz, Wolf Blitzer and CNN.

The unmasking of an alleged journalist who used a pseudonym to gain access to White House briefings and news conferences raises more questions about the Bush administration's tactics for securing favorable news.

[...]

A journalist familiar with the process says it's likely Bush was tipped by his press staff that "the bald guy would lob him an easy one." If so, setting up ringers to toss fawning questions to the president is another indication, if any were needed, that the administration prefers the media to be propagandists rather than independent inquisitors.

[...]

The organization Guckert worked for turned out to be an arm of a partisan group, GOPUSA, a conservative Web site based in Houston and dedicated to "spreading the conservative message throughout America." It turns out Talon News was created only a few days before Guckert first applied for a White House daily pass.

[...]

Guckert was denied similar credentials to cover Capitol Hill because of questions about his legitimacy as a reporter.

[...]

The practice of buying ostensibly independent reporters and writers to shill for politicians deceives the public and corrupts the free media. Allowing fake reporters to compete with credentialed journalists for sparse press conference time with the leader of the free world demeans the whole process.
  Houston Chronicle article

McClellan gets a chance to respond to the issue...

"I first came across him two years ago when I was deputy press secretary and he started covering the White House," McClellan said about Guckert during a phone interview with E&P. "I knew he asked questions from a conservative viewpoint, but that was all."

[...]

Although his office handles credentials, McClellan said he did not find out that "Gannon" was an alias, or that Talon News had political party links, until recently, when blogs and news organizations began to question Guckert's credentialing. "I checked into it more recently," he told E&P, adding that "the president didn't know who he was."
  Editor & Publisher article

I believe that like I believe that they didn't know Bernard Kerik's background, either.

Asked if he'd ever talked with Guckert outside the briefing room or at social events, McClellan said, “Nothing like that.”

[...]

McClellan also said he did not believe Bush knew Bobby Eberle, the owner of GOPUSA.com and Talon News, despite the fact that Eberle is a Texas Republican activist and was a delegate to the 2000 GOP convention.

"I don't think he [Bush] has ever known him; I don't think he has ever met him," McClellan told E&P. "I have never asked the president, but I don't think so." Guckert received White House "day pass" credentials within days of signing on with Eberle's obscure Web site in the spring of 2003.

[...]

The press secretary also did not find fault with Guckert, who has admitted that he set up escort-service Web sites, reporting from the White House under an alias, as long as his legal name was the basis of his security review. "People use aliases all the time in life," McClellan said, "from journalists to actors. He was cleared under his legal name."

Asked if he knew any other White House reporters who had used an alias, McClellan declined, saying he didn't know.

Scotty on the hot seat. And no Jeffie to get him off. I suspect Scotty knows Jeffie a lot better than he's letting on (nothing like "talking" outside the briefing room perhaps), but I also suspect that you'll find that slimebucket Karl Rove at the bottom of this barrel.

But, let's get back to the other problem in this situation...

According to the Washington Post, "Gannon" did an interview with Joseph Wilson in October of 2003. In that interview, "Gannon" directly referenced a secret internal CIA memo that named Valerie Plame as a covert CIA operative. According to the Post story, "Gannon" was the only reporter in the entire realm of journalism who had seen and read this confidential CIA document. "Gannon" proudly bragged about his role in outing Plame on the forums of the ultra-conservative website FreeRepublic.com, posting under the subtle pseudonym 'Jeff Gannon.'

"Gannon" wasn't just some gomer who got a day pass. He had serious access, as displayed by his knowledge of a CIA memo that no one else had ever heard of or seen. He bragged publicly about playing a key role in an act of treason perpetrated by members of this administration, something he would not have been able to do had he not had friends inside the Bush White House. Scott McClellan claims to not know him. I, for one, think that is a bald-faced lie.
  Scoop article

This is the major point. (Followed closely by the point that the WH is continually "securing favorable news", as the Houston Chronicle puts it.) Gannon had access to the CIA memo that outed Valerie Plame. The nation's interests and security were compromised by the act. That's treason. And this fool is bragging about it. Who gave him the memo? That's the important question. The rest of his sordid story is just titillation. (Well, aside from the fact that it's more dirt on the laundry list of GOP hypocrisy about homosexuality.)

Republicans have abandoned banning gay marriage this year, the Senate's leader said yesterday.
  NY Daily News article

What a surprise.

Also, for your religious Bush-supporting friends.....how many of the 10 Commandments is BushCo breaking? See if you can spot them.

1. I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

2. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.

3. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them.

4. Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.

5. Honor thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long.

6. Thou shalt not kill.

7. Thou shalt not commit adultery.

8. Thou shalt not steal.

9. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour.

10. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor's.

Coveting his neighbor's ass is given new meaning here. Beyond that, the administration is breaking a good many of the commandments just in its Iraq activity alone - stealing, coveting the oil, killing, lying (bearing false witness).

Maybe that Alabama courthouse can take those stone tablets out of storage (since they've found another way of displaying the commandments) - perhaps they need to be erected on Capitol Hill.

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.