Jim "Jeff Gannon" Guckert deep

White House press secretary Scott McClellan originally told reporters that Guckert was properly allowed into press briefings because he worked for an outlet that "published regularly." But that's when the questions were about Talon. More recently McClellan offered up a new rationale. Asked by Editor and Publisher magazine how the decision was made to allow a GOPUSA correspondent in, McClellan said, "The staff assistant went to verify that the news organization existed." (Emphasis added.)

[...]

In a White House obsessed, at least publicly, with security and where journalists cannot even move between the White House and the nearby Old Executive Building without a personal escort, Guckert's lenient treatment was likely unprecedented.

  Salon article

He has friends.

This is not how the White House press office has traditionally worked. "When I was there we didn't let political operatives in. It was completely contrary to what the press room should be used for," says Joe Lockhart, who served as White House press secretary to President Clinton during his second term.

[...]

[In] the past, a reporter seeking a permanent White House press pass has had to first secure credentials to cover Capitol Hill. Without those, the White House would not submit the application for a background check. But even though Guckert failed to secure Capitol Hill credentials, the White House waved him into press briefings for nearly two years using what's called a day pass. Those passes are designed for temporary use by out-of-town reporters who need access to the White House, not for indefinite use by reporters who flunk the Capitol Hill test.

[...]

So the mystery remains: How did Guckert, with absolutely no journalism background and working for a phony news organization, manage to adopt the day-pass system as his own while sidestepping a thorough background check that might have detected his sordid past? That's the central question the White House refuses to address. And like its initial explanation that Guckert received his press pass the same way other journalists do, the notion first put out by White House officials that they knew little or nothing about GOPUSA/Talon News, its correspondent Guckert or its founder Eberle has also melted away. Instead, we now know, former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer personally spoke with Eberle about GOPUSA, so concerned was Fleischer that it was not an independent organization. (Eberle convinced Fleischer that it was.) Additionally, Guckert attended the invitation-only White House press Christmas parties in 2003 and 2004, and last holiday season, in a personal posting on GOPUSA, Eberle thanked Karl Rove for his "assistance, guidance, and friendship."

Well, well, well, well. We've been suspecting KKKarl is elbow deep in the Guckert/Gannon scandal. Someone is probably right this minute trying to find out whether Mr. Rove and Mr. Guckert/Gannon have a "personal" relationship. Or whether they just have a "mutual acquaintance" in Mr. Eberle and his brother. If I had to bet, I'd take the former. It looks like a certain bet that Rove and Gannon/Guckert have a connection outside Eberle. Eberle might have given Guckert a pretend job, but he hasn't been getting him day passes and party invitations to the White House. And Eberle doesn't mention Scott McClellan or Ari Fleischer on that website thanks for guidance, etc. He does mention Grover Norquist and G. Gordon Liddy, however, which takes the whole thing into another realm yet. The list contains other names I don't recognize, but will try to check out: Mike Hiban, Don Stewart, Paul Teller, Tim Goeglein, Stuart Richens, Matt Smith, Jen Ohman, Bob Johnson, Liz Sheld, Julie Cram, Phillip Stutts, Chuck Muth, Grover Norquist, Karl Rove, and G. Gordon Liddy.

Guckert background (last post)

Update 12:45pm:

It looks like Daily Kos already has people checking out the list. I had only gotten as far as finding out Mr. Chuck Muth is an extremely conservative political consultant and campaign trainer, and that Phillip Stutts was campaign manager for an anti-gay Louisiana Governor contender.

Curiouser and curiouser.