Writing for the right-wing media advocacy group, Accuracy in Media, Cliff Kincaid dismissed the controversy as "laughable," insisting Guckert's only "crimes" were "that he was too pro-Republican, attended White House briefings, and asked questions unfair to Democrats." And at Power Line, the conservative outpost that wrote relentlessly about CBS's troubles with its Bush National Guard story last year, the site has confessed bewilderment about the Guckert controversy. "I can't figure out what the story is," wrote one of Power Line's contributors . . .
Faux ignorance and willful dismissal of a contentious issue that would have this sort of wingnut in a screaming convulsive dung-flinging hissy-fit had it happened under a Kerry administration won't make it go away.
[. . .]
That is the issue, wingnuts; you can stick your wailing and whining about non-issues and gay-bashing right up your clamped asses. Shut the fuck up. You lot don't get to even dare utter any noise about gay-baiting.
He's absolutely right, but the sheer, obvious hypocrisy is lost on the Wingnuts. You heard it since this story broke. Howie and Wolf were the first in line (via Digby).
BLITZER: I used to be a White House correspondent for many years, sat through numerous briefings. There are plenty of journalists that wear their politics on their sleeve, liberals, conservatives. What's wrong with journalists having these kind of views, being advocacy journalists, if you will?
KURTZ: I personally don't think there's anything wrong with it, as long as they make clear what their views are, as Jeff Gannon clearly did.
I wonder if someone gave these two hacks a gift certificate for Gannon/Guckert's services? And I don't think this is all blatant hypocrisy. I think a large dose of blatant stupid. Thanks to Pam (so I didn't have to do it) for rounding up these Wingnut comments:
"Yeah it's amazing how fast they go to this when trying to destroy a Republican... almost as amazing as how fast they go to racist caricature when confronting a black conservative."
"That is an out and out lie; in fact, he said just the opposite. I just checked the link .. The Raw Story is nothing by trash. Plus they have been on a witch hunt of gays (I'm not saying Gannon is) The two guys that run that site are far far far left loons."
Have any of us forgotten the Lewinsky matter? While I don't condone Clinton's actions, Ol' Monica the Mouth was a credentialed member of the White House staff, not some 'mystery woman'
The Homeland Security angle: How can someone who is so suceptible to extortion and blackmail get so close to the (p)resident? God knows what he could have been coerced into doing to keep his 'cover'. Why was he included in the distribution of the Plame memo? Who does security checks at the White House? If the Secret Service vetted this guy, the (p)resident better start walking around in body armor and a helmet. They suck.
The cedibility angle: Not that the White House has much credibility among the 'unmandated' 49% of us, but do you think this story stayed here? What do you think the rest of the world says about our archaic views on homosexuality, good ol' regular sexuality, abortion, religion, and almost everything else. I love the Wingnuts who say that it doesn't matter what Europe or the rest of the world thinks. Just the fact that you're on the Internet, communicating just as easily with people from your hometown as Uzbekistan. The world is smaller and the actions of our nation affect many more people than they did in the past. It's far easier nowadays to piss in somebody else's pool. From our British friends at The Guardian:
Fake reporter unmasked at White House
[. . .]
Jeff Gannon, who represented a rightwing site owned by a Texas-based Republican activist, had been a regular at White House briefings since 2003 but aroused reporters' suspicions after posing ideologically loaded questions.
[. . .]
It's one thing when other nations think our policies are fucked up. They can deal with that by diplomatic and economic means. It's another thing altogether when they think we're stupid, incompetent morons. This country was always known as a bunch of 'can-do' folks. We might have been idiots at times, but when we put our minds to it, we got the job done. To wit: WW1, WW2, Man on the Moon, etc.
Seems like everything we've touched in the last 4 years has gone to shit. American jokes are gonna take the place of Polish jokes soon.
"Hey, why'd the American fall out the tree?"
"Why?"
"He was trying to rake the leaves. Ha!"
Guess what? If you're not the go-to guy, eventually you get left behind. Guess who the next go-to guy will be? Europe. Keep a glancing eye on value, Dollar vs. Euro, and you'll see what I mean. If your only response to international turmoil involves either B-52s, a naval barrage, Abrams tanks, or Jarheads crawling all over the place, people are gonna look somewhere else for leadership. They're gonna look at us as they did at the beginning of the last century. As petulant teenagers who need to be shown our place and be supervised until we grow up. The Europeans built modern civilization and, instead of looking to them as the wise old uncle who's 'been there and done that', we treat them as if they are senile old fools who make a new friend every time they look in the mirror.
This Gannongate bullshit is just another nail in the coffin of the go-to guy known as America. Instead of the shining beacon of Democracy, we have become the poster boy for hypocrisy and ineptitude.
