Haven’t had time to comment on Jeff Gannon, International Man of Mystery. Here’s a good roundup in case you’re not up to speed on this one, which is entirely possible, as the story seems to grow ever stranger by the hour.
And via Kos, here’s Rep. Slaughter’s letter to the President on the matter:
Dear Mr. President:
In light of the mounting evidence that your Administration has, on several occasions, paid members of the media to advocate in favor of Administration policies, I feel compelled to ask you to address a matter brought to my attention by the Niagara Falls Reporter (article attached), a local newspaper in my district, regarding James “JD” Guckert (AKA Jeff Gannon) of Talon News.
According to several credible reports, “Mr. Gannon” has been repeatedly credentialed as a member of the White House press corps by your office and has been regularly called upon in White House press briefings by your Press Secretary Scott McClellan, despite the fact evidence shows that “Mr. Gannon” is a Republican political operative, uses a false name, has phony or questionable journalistic credentials, is known for plagiarizing much of the “news” he reports, and according to several web reports, may have ties to the promotion of the prostitution of military personnel […]
And just this morning we have learned that “Mr. Gannon” has resigned his post at the, so called, Talon News amid growing concerns over his controversial background and falsified qualifications. In fact, it appears that “Mr. Gannon’s” presence in the White House press corps was merely as a tool of propaganda for your Administration.
The idiot rightwing spin on this seems to be that it’s a left-wing anti-gay witch hunt. Because they don’t want to discuss what’s actually been “outed” here: a shocking degree of administration duplicity.
A few years back, I was given a tour of some of the non-public areas of the White House by a cartoonist-turned-historian-turned-Clinton-speechwriter named Jeff Shesol (who probably has one of the odder resumes you’re likely to see) — and I can assure you that you don’t get in “backstage,” as it were, with a fake name and a phony press pass — unless you have friends in very, very high places.