by TChris

Here's more on the demise of JeffGannon.com (reported here by TalkLeft).

Jeff Gannon, the reporter whose GOP connections, lack of conventional journalistic credentials, and softball questioning of President Bush raised questions about the White House's decision to grant him access to news conferences, abruptly quit yesterday after bloggers connected him to websites apparently devoted to gay sex.

Gannon wrote for TalonNews.com, "a website operated by a Texas Republican Party operative that has run articles skeptical of what it calls 'the homosexual agenda.'" Many of Gannon's reports "have been criticized for consisting largely of passages from official press releases reprinted verbatim."

Gannon came under scrutiny after Bush called on him during a rare and nationally televised news conference two weeks ago. Gannon's question attacked Democrats as having "divorced themselves from reality" and repeated an allegation against Senate minority leader Harry Reid, Democrat of Nevada, that turned out to be a joke by conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh.

Regardless of the ethics underlying the "outing" of Gannon's alleged non-political writings, it's worth asking how Gannon, whose real name is James Dale Guckert, became such a favored reporter at the White House.