The Dark Lord Gannon

The blogosphere has truly arrived. This week, due to the diligent research of bloggers at sites like Atrios, World O' Crap, DailyKos and Americablog, a voice of hatred and irrationality has gone silent. If you don't follow the goings-on at left-wing blogs, here's the story, as briefly as I can render it:

There's a guy named Jeff Gannon. He's a White House correspondant who writes for some news service called Talon News. (Get it? Eagles have talons! Duh!) He's one of those guys who always asks really softball questions of the president, setting him up for easy answers that espouse whatever bullet points Karl Rove has designed that week.

"So, Mr. President, don't you think it's about time we invaded Iran already? I mean, come on." That sort of thing.

He's also one of those assholes who relentlessly sucks up to the Christian right by publishing anti-gay diatribes, such as the column defending Rick Santorum's comparison of gay people to dogfuckers. Cause he's all about family values, people! Deal with it!

Anyway, some bloggers came across an AOL Profile of a man named JD Guckert who looks an awful lot like Jeff Gannon. Here's the catch: JD Guckert is a male escort who works for a service called MilitaryEscortsM4M.com. And, even more damning, JD Guckert lives at a home in Wilmington, Delaware that is owned by a company called The Bedrock Corporation.

And guess what else is owned by BedrockCorp? Oh, no, it's JeffGannon.com!

So, yeah, that's basically the story. Americablog has a whole page now devoted to the ins and outs of this case, and after reading their dossier, it's clear that Gannon is simply a professional pseudonym devised by Guckert. It's just amazing that he didn't bother to do a better job of concealing his real identity. He's posting photos of himself online as both Guckert and Gannon! He's using both names to transact business with a single company.

This is a guy who has an inside track to the White House. He's one of the elite reporters G.W. and Co. are using to disseminate their wacky brand of fascist propaganda to the masses. They can't do a better job of covering up this reporter's bizarre nightlife, dressing up in fatigues and dogtags and giving it to other guys for money?

It reminds me of what John Dean said about his corrupt colleagues in the Nixon administration. They were sinister and obsessed with power, but not very smart, and that's how Woodward and Bernstein were able to catch them lying relatively easily. I think we've got us a similar crop in charge right now.

Jeff Gannon has officially retired, according to his website:

Jeff Gannon
A Voice of the New Media

The voice goes silent.

Because of the attention being paid to me I find it is no longer possible to effectively be a reporter for Talon News. In consideration of the welfare of me and my family I have decided to return to private life.

Thank you to all those who supported me.

Can you believe this guy? The hubris! He had to quit because everyone found out that he's a gay man who makes a living bashing homosexuals and advancing the agenda of anti-gay politicos. And all he has to say is "the voice goes silent" and a thank you to his supporters? It's also great that he's a reporter who has to quit because people are paying attention to him. Isn't that what reporters want? The public's attention?