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Sen. Durbin Calls for Jeff Gannon Inquiry

By Jeralyn, Section Media
Posted on Wed Feb 23, 2005 at 10:32:59 AM EST
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Raw Story reports that Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) is asking other senators to join him in calling for an investigation into fake news reporter Jeff Gannon.

The letter, issued from Minority Whip Richard Durbin (D-IL), calls on President Bush to “order a full inquiry” into how a “fake” journalist working for a “sham” news organization got access to the president,

America Blog has more details and an Action Alert so you tell your Senators to sign onto Durbin's letter.

Update: House Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) is joining in Sen. Durbin's request. Raw Story has the details.

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    Sen. Durbin Calls for Jeff Gannon Inquiry | 41 comments (41 topical)
    Re: Sen. Durbin Calls for Jeff Gannon Inquiry (none / 0) (#1)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed Feb 23, 2005 at 10:44:27 AM EST
    There are a lot of "fake" journalists working for John Stewart. With Jeff Gannon available, The Daily Show can have a "fake" journalist with real "fake" credentials, not those fake "fake" credentials.

    Re: Sen. Durbin Calls for Jeff Gannon Inquiry (none / 0) (#2)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed Feb 23, 2005 at 10:49:15 AM EST
    may i suggest Ken Starr, since his thorough investigation into whitewater is a model for congressional inquiry.

    Re: Sen. Durbin Calls for Jeff Gannon Inquiry (none / 0) (#3)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed Feb 23, 2005 at 11:33:06 AM EST
    What a waste of time. If this is what Durbin thinks is a credible use of time and effort, he should stay home and do something more constructive and worthwhile, like making paper clip chains.

    Re: Sen. Durbin Calls for Jeff Gannon Inquiry (none / 0) (#4)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed Feb 23, 2005 at 11:37:47 AM EST
    This is on par with the House arguing about Janet Jackson's nipples. It is also a perfect example of why the Founding Fathers saw being a Representative or Senator as a part-time job.

    Re: Sen. Durbin Calls for Jeff Gannon Inquiry (none / 0) (#5)
    by Che's Lounge on Wed Feb 23, 2005 at 11:41:41 AM EST
    Right wing creed: When all else fails, lower your standards.

    Re: Sen. Durbin Calls for Jeff Gannon Inquiry (none / 0) (#6)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed Feb 23, 2005 at 12:03:06 PM EST
    And I thought the democratic minority of congress was going to sit on its collective fat a$$ and do nothing but collect a pay check for the next four years.

    Re: Sen. Durbin Calls for Jeff Gannon Inquiry (none / 0) (#7)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed Feb 23, 2005 at 12:11:09 PM EST
    On par with Janet's Nipples??? That was the highlight of that Superbowl. The subsequent debate was a classic waste of time. So is this. Agreed.

    Re: Sen. Durbin Calls for Jeff Gannon Inquiry (none / 0) (#8)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed Feb 23, 2005 at 12:12:06 PM EST
    Hmmm, I have yet to understand what makes him fake rather than poorly credentialed. Did he not go to J-school? Or was it a bad j-school? Was it opinion masquerading as reportage? (Call the NYT and Wapo!) Was it his desire to curry favor? Enlighten me, ye grasshoppers. -C

    Re: Sen. Durbin Calls for Jeff Gannon Inquiry (none / 0) (#9)
    by Jlvngstn on Wed Feb 23, 2005 at 12:23:28 PM EST
    The only issue with this story to me is the lapse in security, when this administration talks about security and the dems apathy for security it smacks of ridiculousness that someone was allowed in the WH with his background. Aside from that this story is as exciting as janet's cosmetically enhanced nipple....

    Re: Sen. Durbin Calls for Jeff Gannon Inquiry (none / 0) (#10)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed Feb 23, 2005 at 12:30:48 PM EST
    What a waste of time!!! Democrats can talk about all the investigations they want, and all the voting reforms they want bt in reality, Democrats don't have the votes to do JACK!!!!! It's not going to happen. It's a one party system right now and the Republicans are in charge!!! Like it or not!! PS Durbin only got 1 person to sign his bill!!!!

    Re: Sen. Durbin Calls for Jeff Gannon Inquiry (none / 0) (#11)
    by Sailor on Wed Feb 23, 2005 at 12:38:49 PM EST
    Cliff, assuming you are serious: No, he didn't go to journalism school; he didn't report, he cut and pasted WH releases as his articles. And at the same time was advertizing himself as a $200/hr hooker. His original credentials were for a website that was owned by Bobby Eberle, a Bush delegate to the 2000 GOP presidential convention. So, think of a blue dress and see whether this would be news if clinton had done it.

    Re: Sen. Durbin Calls for Jeff Gannon Inquiry (none / 0) (#12)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed Feb 23, 2005 at 12:41:55 PM EST
    Nancy Jo - Gannon was never a "Journalist." He billed himself as a "Reporter." Now, if your problem is non-reporters at the news conferences, I direct your attention to Helen Thomas, who now writes a column, but doesn't report the news. Some might say she hasn't for the past 20 years, but that's another story. et al - I wonder what business it is of the Senate as to who the White House wants to allow at a press conference. You know, seperation of powers and all that. I mean the Senate might complain, but it appears to me that the WH could specifiy that only red-headed step children of third generation immigrants from Ireland could attend, and be perfectly within their rights.

    Re: Sen. Durbin Calls for Jeff Gannon Inquiry (none / 0) (#13)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed Feb 23, 2005 at 12:57:47 PM EST
    lack of credibility in this administration not withstanding, this debacle does hit at the core of credibility. you people on the right can dismiss it anyway you what, whatever, par for your tactics. as far as wasting time, they don't seem to be doing anything else, but.

    Re: Sen. Durbin Calls for Jeff Gannon Inquiry (none / 0) (#14)
    by kdog on Wed Feb 23, 2005 at 01:08:52 PM EST
    I'm insulted more than anything else, why would the white house need a stooge? The MSM gives them a cake walk anyways, how easy do they want it to be? Would it kill the WH to answer some tough questions...I mean come on! Really!

    Re: Sen. Durbin Calls for Jeff Gannon Inquiry (none / 0) (#15)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed Feb 23, 2005 at 01:26:37 PM EST
    Hmmm, I have yet to understand what makes him fake rather than poorly credentialed. Did he not go to J-school? Or was it a bad j-school?
    This seems to be at the crux of the wingers' complaints of NO FAIR!! I could not find a definition for "political operative", which could be helpful in this debate. However it seems to make common sense that the question would be, what was his "job description" as a Press Room Reporter. Is he a political operative posing as a journalist meaning that his main mission was to cull and tout party rhetoric in support of the President? This makes him a spinmeister, a little different from a journalist who lets their bias (we all have them, don't we?) sway their arguments a la Helen Thomas (don't know who the hell she is!). Or, is he someone who feels the "calling" to write news and disseminate it to his readers (I don't think he had any, though), which would make him a would-be journalist with bottom-of-the-barrel credentials (we as commenters here have more, I think, who in his motivation and ambition was "lucky" enough to get into the White House and somehow got to sit in the same room as Pres. and somehow got called on (don't they plan who they call on in advance?)?
    Was it opinion masquerading as reportage? (Call the NYT and Wapo!)
    Deep Throat told Woodward and Bernstein "Follow the Money". I wonder where the money leads here?
    Was it his desire to curry favor? Enlighten me, ye grasshoppers.
    He seems like he had all the curry he needed! Any more favor and he'd be in a blue dress blowing the President.

    Re: Sen. Durbin Calls for Jeff Gannon Inquiry (none / 0) (#16)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed Feb 23, 2005 at 02:22:19 PM EST
    Hmm, so he's a "fake" journo because, variously: 1> Gay male prostitution; 2> No j-school degree; 3> Quotes from WH press releases; and 4> Republican connections. Really, hmm. -C PS - The difference between Clinton's inability to find a girl who will swallow and Gannon is.... Yes, you got it, Gannon isn't president AND didn't lie about it under oath.

    Re: Sen. Durbin Calls for Jeff Gannon Inquiry (none / 0) (#17)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed Feb 23, 2005 at 02:40:29 PM EST
    don't feed the trolls, like an alley cat they won't go away, and eventually will attract more alley cats because there’s sustenance, and the end result will be a feral colony around your premises. eliminate their sustenance and they'll go away.

    Re: Sen. Durbin Calls for Jeff Gannon Inquiry (none / 0) (#18)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed Feb 23, 2005 at 03:44:17 PM EST
    antiTrollmsg, What's a troll in your definition?

    Re: Sen. Durbin Calls for Jeff Gannon Inquiry (none / 0) (#19)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed Feb 23, 2005 at 03:55:01 PM EST
    Cliff, I think everytime you take a dump, you lose I.Q. points.

    Re: Sen. Durbin Calls for Jeff Gannon Inquiry (none / 0) (#20)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed Feb 23, 2005 at 04:47:57 PM EST
    Ricky - True, but another liberal is born. Don't bring a knife to a gun fight, boy. _C

    Re: Sen. Durbin Calls for Jeff Gannon Inquiry (none / 0) (#21)
    by jondee on Wed Feb 23, 2005 at 05:30:07 PM EST
    Cliff - Not another one,just one you might have a chance against.

    Re: Sen. Durbin Calls for Jeff Gannon Inquiry (none / 0) (#22)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed Feb 23, 2005 at 06:02:42 PM EST
    mfox writes - "sway their arguments a la Helen Thomas (don't know who the hell she is!). Come on, you gotta be kidding... Try google - "Helen Thomas." You'll get hundreds of hits, maybe thousands. Helen Thomas. "Commonly referred to as “The First Lady of the Press,” former White House Bureau Chief Helen Thomas is a trailblazer.." I am afraid that your creditability as a commentator has fallen to just a notch above zip. I mean here you are, blasting away about news conferences, credentials, etc., and you don't know who....Helen Thomas is? That's like a sports writer not knowing who Babe Ruth was, who OJ was.... Tell me. Have you ever even watched a WH news conference? I mean in the past 20 years? I am doubled over LOL. This is just so funny.

    Re: Sen. Durbin Calls for Jeff Gannon Inquiry (none / 0) (#23)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed Feb 23, 2005 at 06:08:27 PM EST
    Helen Thomas: Journalisms crazy old aunt in the attic.

    Re: Sen. Durbin Calls for Jeff Gannon Inquiry (none / 0) (#24)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed Feb 23, 2005 at 07:34:34 PM EST
    justpaul - Say what you please, she is right there everytime.

    Re: Sen. Durbin Calls for Jeff Gannon Inquiry (none / 0) (#25)
    by Johnny on Wed Feb 23, 2005 at 07:58:48 PM EST
    Big whoop, another right winger turns out to be not only gay, but masquerading under false pretenses. What a shock that he turns out to be human. Legislate THAT behaviour away...

    Re: Sen. Durbin Calls for Jeff Gannon Inquiry (none / 0) (#26)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed Feb 23, 2005 at 08:06:44 PM EST
    jon - I know you are but what am I? Sheesh, for a supposedly better educated group the whole "you are a turd" thing is surprisingly, well, thin. -C

    Re: Sen. Durbin Calls for Jeff Gannon Inquiry (none / 0) (#27)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed Feb 23, 2005 at 09:39:03 PM EST
    Journalist Helen Thomas was BUSHWHACKED.. Helen Thomas bio . Here’s another.Helen Thomas She was past over soon for all our great news media who are scare to question this administration. Good journalists are rare today, because they are not allowed to ask questions therefore we have “talking heads” as a press corp. I cannot stomach Fox but CNN is not much better. They also are bad. Wolfe Blitzer is an example as he spent his 2 hours a day last year to show Michael Jackson first court appearance as bush in England was received by big manifestations(Sorry no show. Even ours are not shown.) That is why I had a hard time to understand that they needed a Prostitute Gay $200.00 man an hr unless he was a plant for soflball questions! Again think, this kind of man could have more access to whoever do not want anyone knowing about their affairs, and that would be a way to get your lover in your office, close the door, without having anyone seeing someone coming to your house? Remember he knew a lot before other talking heads. Our talking heads in Iraq are now only getting military bull because they can not move around without the military. Therefore as all was screen, where the elections really was reported!!!!!! Probably not! Read this site about Scott Ritter and his perdition He was eight the first time. . The Scott Ritter prediction is that bush plan to bomb Iran in June Talking heads did not happen in Germany. Bush wanted an American style “town meeting” with all questions screen in advance. This did not happen because the German saw the same thing in France with condiliar on her previous visit. Brussels: In spite of these persistent divergences, European and American were satisfied of the change of climate. Jacques Chirac was thus delighted by the more realistic attitude of the United States toward Europe. The future will say to me if I were not mistaken, concluded the French president, educated by the experiment of the first mandate of George W. Bush. We are in deep trouble whathever this ape tells us? Are we sure he really won the ekections????????????????????

    Re: Sen. Durbin Calls for Jeff Gannon Inquiry (none / 0) (#28)
    by chupetin on Wed Feb 23, 2005 at 09:48:16 PM EST
    Is it that easy to be a WH reporter? Seems to me that if you are a reporter working in Washington,that working the White House would be the assignment of choice. Therefore the competion for this assigment would be great and only the best reporters would get the job. Correct me if I'm wrong. The question is, how did this guy get this job? The latest i've seen is that he was a working at the WH before Talon News was even created.

    Re: Sen. Durbin Calls for Jeff Gannon Inquiry (none / 0) (#29)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Wed Feb 23, 2005 at 10:41:02 PM EST
    Durbin's top ten " Congressional investigations" list: 10. "The Edmund Fitzgerald"- a Rove Conspiracy. 9. Where does the other sock go in the Dryer? 8.Do GOP Election tactics explain why Da Bears suck? 7. How the hell did Obama get a bigger office than me? 6.Soros and Helen Thomas- seperated at birth? Oh wait, has anyone actually ever SEEN them in the same room at the same time? 5.The Cheesecake in the Senate Cafeteria tastes like my mom's. WHO in the government stole the recipe? 4.Daylight Savings Time- another colossal Bush Failure. 3.School lunch programs, and how they translate into gross profits for Haliburton. 2. Airport pay per use toilets. What did Cheney know, and when did he know it? And last but not least... 1.WHO TOLD OBAMA HE COULD USE MY PARKING SPACE???!!?

    Re: Sen. Durbin Calls for Jeff Gannon Inquiry (none / 0) (#30)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Thu Feb 24, 2005 at 04:38:48 AM EST
    Good for Durbin. There is no way that this guy gets into the press room without the assistance of the insiders. This is blatant manipulation of the press conferences to put a ringer in the crowd that they can use to stage their soundbites. Freedom of the press may have several layers of meaning, such as freedom and disclosure of who is press and who is not. It's an important issue.

    Re: Sen. Durbin Calls for Jeff Gannon Inquiry (none / 0) (#31)
    by DonS on Thu Feb 24, 2005 at 04:49:13 AM EST
    Part of the story here is connected to potential manipulation of news by paying for favorable stories, a continuation of other payolas under investigation. Security breach/potential as well. Connect the dots yourselves.

    Re: Sen. Durbin Calls for Jeff Gannon Inquiry (none / 0) (#32)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Thu Feb 24, 2005 at 05:05:23 AM EST
    Chupetin - I hate to tell you this, but the competition is between news people and within news groups. i.e. The WH doesn't have a "report off" to determine who can come from any organization. What the WH does have, and what most of this group doesn't understand, is the right to say who can attend, and who cannot. Congress cannot, the SC cannot, the Left cannot. Alas, even you cannot. Helen Thomas was a trailblazer. When she started, female reporters were called "sob sisters," and she opened many doors and did some fine reporting work. But, she has grown old and no longer is a "reporter." (She does write a column.) Yet, she is at the news conferences. So, if you say you must be a "reporter" to attend, she is out, unless you want to hypocritical.

    Re: Sen. Durbin Calls for Jeff Gannon Inquiry (none / 0) (#33)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Thu Feb 24, 2005 at 06:14:29 AM EST
    Did Gannon used to be part of the gay prostitution ring ran out of Barney Franks' basement?

    Re: Sen. Durbin Calls for Jeff Gannon Inquiry (none / 0) (#34)
    by kdog on Thu Feb 24, 2005 at 06:18:24 AM EST
    Jim...Pardon me, but I gotta ask....Do you have the hots for Helen Thomas or something?

    Re: Sen. Durbin Calls for Jeff Gannon Inquiry (none / 0) (#35)
    by Repack Rider on Thu Feb 24, 2005 at 07:28:32 AM EST
    What the WH does have, and what most of this group doesn't understand, is the right to say who can attend, and who cannot. If the White House gets to pick the journalists it permits to ask questions, that allows them to control the people's right to hold them accountable. The First Amendment says, "Congress shall make no law... abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press..." But you are saying that The White House is permitted to make such laws, even though lawmaking is not its constitutional function. If a female reporter during the Clinton era had been revealed to be a working prostitute at the same time as she was using "irregular" means to gain access to the president, and the president (and his press secretary) showed favoritism for this reporter, calling on her all out of proportion to the "agency" she represented v. all the others, and that reporter pitched softball questions just short of a proposal of marriage, and the agency she worked for, which published WH press releases as original articles, was owned by a big Democratic contributor, the "liberal" press wouldn't have had a thing to say about it, right?

    Re: Sen. Durbin Calls for Jeff Gannon Inquiry (none / 0) (#36)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Thu Feb 24, 2005 at 07:47:36 AM EST
    Repack, The ability of the people to hold our government accountable is made real through the election process, not through who is chosen to serve in the Whitehouse Press Corps (and let's be serious here, everyone in the Whitehouse Press Corps is a partisan political hack. It's a plum assignment handed out to has-beens and never-weres who are incapable of real investigative journalism). The administration is within its rights to choose who they take questions from, and no law needed to be passed (and none was) for this to be the case. The First Amendment protects the freedom to publish without fear of government sensorship, it does not include an unlimited grant of access to any potential news source, whether they are a private citizen or the head of state. (And as Miller and Cooper are currently finding out, it also does not grant a blanket immunity from answering questions before a grand jury.)

    Re: Sen. Durbin Calls for Jeff Gannon Inquiry (none / 0) (#37)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Thu Feb 24, 2005 at 07:49:51 AM EST
    Our loss, JSwift (I think!. Jim, Alas we are at odds today (if not now, as soon as you read the last reply I gave to you on another thread) I actually do know who Helen Thomas is, basically from sight at the conferences. Does anyone actually call on her since Clinton left? Ms. Thomas has been brought into this discussion by the wingnut comparison of her to Gannon as proof that "If the standards are so low that Thomas can be in the room, then Gannon is every bit as qualified. As I didn't know enough about her qualifications and she seemed to be a legit journalist (she at least writes a column for a paper that has a circulation, right?) so I did not, in fact, check her out as I thought she was a straw "man" for your stupid argument. To illustrate, you say:
    Gannon was never a "Journalist." He billed himself as a "Reporter." Now, if your problem is non-reporters at the news conferences, I direct your attention to Helen Thomas, who now writes a column, but doesn't report the news.
    Gee, I thought, is it true? Thomas is a journalist but not a reporter. Guckert is a reporter but not a journalist. "Aha, the dictionary"! I thought: Journalist somebody who works as a writer or editor for a newspaper or magazine or for television or radio. Reporter broadcasting press somebody whose job is to find out facts and use the print or broadcast media to tell people about them. Now Jim, I realize that Thomas is such an American icon to you that my credibility as a commenter on all subjects has been nullified (ha, as if I had any with you to begin with) by my lack of knowledge about Helen Thomas. Truth is, I didn't know who Ward Churchill or Hunter Thomas were either, because I've come to most of my (admittedly liberal feminist)opinions without outside influence (actually most of my outside influence has been conservative - I'm just a rebel at heart). But by the above definitions, and now that I've checked out Helen (still looking for her gay escort service and for who initially "planted" her in the Press Room), it seems that she is both a reporter and a journalist, and Gannon/Guckert is neither (unless you can point to even one "fact" that he's uncovered, and you are guilty (unfortunately as usual, of disingenuity, if not outright lying to support your rants and raves.

    Re: Sen. Durbin Calls for Jeff Gannon Inquiry (none / 0) (#39)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Thu Feb 24, 2005 at 09:10:07 AM EST
    ...calling WH now to see if I can get a press pass... If I disappear after trying this TL, can you look for me (apparently in Gitmo or on the Area 51 runway on my way to a country that at least admits they torture)?? Maybe Helen will let me borrow hers for a day??

    Re: Sen. Durbin Calls for Jeff Gannon Inquiry (none / 0) (#40)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Thu Feb 24, 2005 at 09:16:23 AM EST
    mfox, Try for a daily pass. They are very easy to get, as compared to Helen's, which is probably a permanent pass. Want to guess which one Gannon had?

    Re: Sen. Durbin Calls for Jeff Gannon Inquiry (none / 0) (#42)
    by jimcee on Thu Feb 24, 2005 at 01:45:21 PM EST
    I was just wondering what exactly does it take to be a journalist? Let's just say someone is a lawyer never went to J-school but makes his living writing for the media are they a lawyer or a journalist or both? I like William Langewiesche, he's a great writer, freelances as well as works for the great "Atlantic Monthly" but I don't believe he ever attended J-school but he is good at what he does. So, is he a journalist? Just asking...

    Re: Sen. Durbin Calls for Jeff Gannon Inquiry (none / 0) (#43)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Thu Feb 24, 2005 at 06:46:00 PM EST
    kdog - How did you know? Repack - No one is saying the press can't say what it wants. And the Constitution says there are three separate but equal branches of government. mfox - Glad to see you have googled Helen Thomas. And I have read your other response, and, alas, dismissed it in a sentence or three. And, I don't defend Thomas, just use her as an example. She no longer is a "reporter," and if being a "reporter" is an absolute, then she should be cast into the outer darkness. I think a fair description of the two would be this. A reporter covering a WH news conference will write/broadcast an almost immediate story on what was said. A "journalist" will write a column containing facts and information on some point of the the news conference. But the timiming will not be immediate. Perhaps "columnist" is a better than "journalist," because many reporters don't want to be called "reporters," and "journalist" is kind of a fuzzy catchall word. In the business world we called that title inflation. i.e. As a Product Manager I had more power than I did as a Director.(But less money.) As a girl once told me, timing is everything. ;-) But if you did not know who Hunter S. Thompson was, or who Helen Thomas is, you must be exceedingly young. Read some history. As for Gitmo. Don't call collect. Ricky1756 - Don't whimper. We know you like whippings. jimcee - In the world of the Left, you are what they say you are. An old boss of mine once asked me: "What are you?" "I'm a salesman," I replied. "Prove, it," he said. You are what you do.

    Sen. Durbin Calls for Jeff Gannon Inquiry | 41 comments (41 topical)