The people at Crooks and Liars have video highlights of the National Press Club blog panel today that included, among others, the famous Jeff Gannon/James Guckert, previously known to insiders as the second-finest gay prostitute in the White House Press Room.*
Some of his winners:
–The administration had to pay Armstrong Williams to shill for the No Child Left Behind act, because it couldn’t get a fair hearing otherwise. (No comment necessary.)
–Of course he just regurgitated what was spoonfed to him in the White House press releases. Someone in the media needs to be doing that, instead of passing it through a “filter”. (If I want the White House press briefings “unfiltered”, I’ll get them from the White House web site. That spot in the Briefing Room should go to someone willing to scrutinize or at least augment that information.)
–He was pressed by another reporter about how he managed to get into the White House press room in the first place; the other reporter is now reporting on day passes like Guckert did, but he had to go through a lengthy and involved process to get those. “I persevered,” he said, amid a bunch of bullshit about how they appreciated his point of view.
How long did you persevere, they asked? A long time, he said, over and over. Oh come on, they asked, was it days or weeks? He finally admitted that it was “closer to weeks than to days”. Doesn’t that mean it was “days”?
–“Well, you certainly can’t call Fox News ‘conservative’.” (Said it with a straight face, too.)
I can’t tell if he’s just this chock full o’bullshit or if he is really enough of an idiot that he really believes what’s coming out of his mouth.
The best bit was how the entire room burst out into laughter when he claimed that Faux News isn’t conservative. That’s exactly what fucks like him need, public ridicule.
Just watched the NPC footage . . . my word, Gannon is a fucking moron. No wonder he became a prostitute, he’s clearly unfit for any career that demand an ability to think. Fox News isn’t conservative? A green map is supposed to be red and blue? The White House has to pay to get a fair hearing? I liked the bit where he mentioned the Bush flight records scandal and said that nobody got fired, and his clueless expression when he was informed that, yes people were fired over it.
I’m wondering why the press is going along with the “Jeff Gannon” name – it’s not his name. His name is Jeff Guckert. Nobody calls Ana Marie Cox “Wonkette”, pretending that that’s her “real” name. Look here at the screen shots, note the titles under Guckert and Cox.
Well, to be fair, i think we should call people what they want to be called. If you come to my house and tell me to call you “mop,” even though i know your name is “squeegee,” i’ll comply because you can choose how you want to be known.
Yeah, that was a brilliant bit. He held up a printout of the “red/blue by county” map that the wingers like to trot out, only the red was green since his printer cartridge had run out of ink. “These are the people who want to hear the questions I ask,” he said.
His questions, of course, being along the lines of “Mr. President, why are you so awesome?”