# White House "outs" ABC News reporter as gay (AND Canadian)? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 18, 2003, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-outs-abc-news-reporter-as-gay-and-canadian/189463 "2003-07-18T20:23:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2003, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-outs-abc-news-reporter-as-gay-and-canadian/189463/41 "2003-07-19T03:53:42Z")
Okay, if I HAVE to, I’ll register on the Washington Post web site. But it would be a lot less of a pain in the ass if somebody would just note whether the story tells what Drudge did with the “alert.” Did he run with it, or did he do the right thing and denounce the little shitheel and his attempt at character assassination? ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2003, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-outs-abc-news-reporter-as-gay-and-canadian/189463/42 "2003-07-19T04:01:51Z")
Registering on the Washington Post site is fun. All it asks for is year of birth, gender, and zip code. I always enter 1901, female, 90210. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2003, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-outs-abc-news-reporter-as-gay-and-canadian/189463/43 "2003-07-19T04:18:56Z")
The [Pentagon is also retaliating](http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2003/07/18/MN248299.DTL) against the soldiers who were critical of Rummy. > [@](#): > > On Wednesday morning, when the ABC news show reported from Fallujah, where the division is based, the troops gave the reporters an earful. One soldier said he felt like he’d been “kicked in the guts, slapped in the face.” Another demanded that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld quit. > > The retaliation from Washington was swift. > “It was the end of the world,” said one officer Thursday. “It went all the way up to President Bush and back down again on top of us. At least six of us here will lose our careers.” > > First lesson for the troops, it seemed: Don’t ever talk to the media “on the record” – that is, with your name attached – unless you’re giving the sort of chin-forward, everything’s-great message the Pentagon loves to hear. I wonder if Rummy will do anything to Abizaid for pretty much calling him a liar on the whole “guerilla war” question. ---
**Author:** ![Coriolanus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coriolanus/32/18769_2.png) [@Coriolanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coriolanus)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2003, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-outs-abc-news-reporter-as-gay-and-canadian/189463/44 "2003-07-19T05:00:10Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by kaylasdad99 \* > \*\*Okay, if I HAVE to, I’ll register on the Washington Post web site. But it would be a lot less of a pain in the ass if somebody would just note whether the story tells what Drudge did with the “alert.” Did he run with it, or did he do the right thing and denounce the little shitheel and his attempt at character assassination? \*\* From the Washington Post: > [@](#): > > On Wednesday, for 6 hours 38 minutes, the Drudge Report bannered Kofman’s widely quoted ABC story – in which enlisted people questioned the Army’s credibility and one irked soldier went on camera to call on Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to resign – and linked to the Advocate piece with the understated headline > **"ABC NEWS REPORTER WHO FILED TROOP COMPLAINT STORY IS CANADIAN."** _emphasis mine_ ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2003, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-outs-abc-news-reporter-as-gay-and-canadian/189463/45 "2003-07-19T05:39:07Z")
Well, THAT was coy of Drudge, wasn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![Satisfying\_Andy\_Licious](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/50afbb/32.png) [@Satisfying\_Andy\_Licious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satisfying_Andy_Licious)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2003, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-outs-abc-news-reporter-as-gay-and-canadian/189463/46 "2003-07-19T07:05:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Diogenes the Cynic \* > \*\*What a petty, vicious, vindictive thing for the White House to do. How can they possibly justify doing this? I hope this backfires on them big time. \*\* Yes. I wish we could go back to the days of the Clinton administration, when no one ever practiced character assassination. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2003, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-outs-abc-news-reporter-as-gay-and-canadian/189463/47 "2003-07-19T07:16:06Z")
_Tu quoque_ much, **Andy**? How does anything Clinton did (and I remember him _defending_ himself against character assassination not engaging in it) let Bush off the hook right now? ---
**Author:** ![Monster104](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Monster104](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monster104)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2003, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-outs-abc-news-reporter-as-gay-and-canadian/189463/48 "2003-07-19T07:29:56Z")
I see nothing wrong about reprimanding soldiers that were out of line like that. They are supposed to act and behave responsibly, it’s part of their job. They adhere to stricter standards than civilians. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2003, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-outs-abc-news-reporter-as-gay-and-canadian/189463/49 "2003-07-19T07:38:54Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Jonathan Chance \* > \*\* > > Of course they would have had to report that… > > “Psst! Hey Drudge! Did you know that Jonathan Chance is _married_! And he goes to sleep early! And watches **ENTERPRISE**!!!” > \*\* Rumor has it that **Chance** also LIKES the shitty theme song of **ENTERPRISE** and sings it in the shower regularly! Oooh, the scandal! ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2003, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-outs-abc-news-reporter-as-gay-and-canadian/189463/50 "2003-07-19T07:39:03Z")
Giving their opinions when asked is “out of line”? I can only conclude, **Monster104,** that you have less respect for America’s armed forces than I do. ---
**Author:** ![Satisfying\_Andy\_Licious](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/50afbb/32.png) [@Satisfying\_Andy\_Licious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satisfying_Andy_Licious)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2003, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-outs-abc-news-reporter-as-gay-and-canadian/189463/51 "2003-07-19T08:22:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Diogenes the Cynic \* > \*\*_Tu quoque_ much, **Andy**? How does anything Clinton did (and I remember him _defending_ himself against character assassination not engaging in it) let Bush off the hook right now? \*\* I never was much of a fan of selective outrage. Clinton had a “war room” of staffers whose job it was to dig up the background dirt on anyone who might prove troublesome. He had phone banks of people who would spread the dirt. He had James Carville, ferchrisake. We could also ask “How does anything Bush did let Clinton off the hook.” If you wish to be taken seriously when you condemn such acts, you must condemn them without bipartisan prejudice. Otherwise, it is merely a case of “It’s wrong for you to do this, but it’s fine for us to do it.” ---
**Author:** ![Coriolanus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coriolanus/32/18769_2.png) [@Coriolanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coriolanus)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2003, 9:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-outs-abc-news-reporter-as-gay-and-canadian/189463/52 "2003-07-19T09:49:29Z")
SAL, umm…cite? Yah, it’s the Pit and not required to back up inflammatory or flammatory accusations. Remember way back in 2001, just after Rehnquist dubbed the sElected President Bush NeoCon King of the World? We were so touchingly naive back then. Ari Fleischer’s first week of press conferences were about the looting, burning and general vandalism the departing Clintonions wraught on the White House? That didn’t pan out, did it? To be, like the truth? Or even technically true? Did Ari ever “disabuse” you of that notion? ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2003, 9:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-outs-abc-news-reporter-as-gay-and-canadian/189463/53 "2003-07-19T09:49:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Snooooopy \* > \*\*Rumor has it that **Chance** also LIKES the shitty theme song of **ENTERPRISE** and sings it in the shower regularly! > > Oooh, the scandal! \*\* “It’s been a _long_ time…” Clinton, at a minimum, was always fairly conservative about bashing individual members of the press. There are very few ways for an administration to get the press corps buzzing like hornets than to attack someone in it. And to do it so clumsily! And to **DRUDGE** for God’s sake! He was _bound_ to report it in such a way as to make the administration look bad. What were they thinking! As to the soldiers…it was foolish of them to speak on the record. But it’s certainly true that soldiers on active duty have less freedom of speech that the average citizen. That’s pretty long standing. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2003, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-outs-abc-news-reporter-as-gay-and-canadian/189463/54 "2003-07-20T00:21:03Z")
**Satisfying Andy Licious**. You said > [@](#): > > Clinton had a “war room” of staffers whose job it was to dig up the background dirt on anyone who might prove troublesome. He had phone banks of people who would spread the dirt. and you got called on it by **Corbomite**. When you get time, you might give us a cite which would allow us to applaud you on your memory. Until then, quit posting crap. ---
**Author:** ![Satisfying\_Andy\_Licious](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/50afbb/32.png) [@Satisfying\_Andy\_Licious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satisfying_Andy_Licious)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2003, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-outs-abc-news-reporter-as-gay-and-canadian/189463/55 "2003-07-20T04:31:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Corbomite \* > \*\*SAL, > > umm…cite? > > Yah, it’s the Pit and not required to back up inflammatory or flammatory accusations. > > Remember way back in 2001, just after Rehnquist dubbed the sElected President Bush NeoCon King of the World? > > We were so touchingly naive back then. > > Ari Fleischer’s first week of press conferences were about the looting, burning and general vandalism the departing Clintonions wraught on the White House? > > That didn’t pan out, did it? To be, like the truth? Or even technically true? > > Did Ari ever “disabuse” you of that notion? \*\* This post is a testimony to the value of reading a variety of news sources. Some papers have slants. Different papers, different slants. If you don’t keep in touch with a spectrum, you get only one side. Now to the basics: The General Accounting Office (GAO) is a nonpartisan, government watchdog agency. It investigated these claims – and people who are interested in learning something rather than just crying “cite” could find out about it. The GAO did, in fact, find some vandalism, estimated at around $19,000 to $20,000. > [@](#): > > [The GAO based its damage estimate of at least $19,000](http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A34764-2002Jun11?language=printer) on the funds needed to repair or replace 62 computer keyboards, 26 cellular phones, 15 television remote controls, nine historic doorknobs, two chairs with broken arms and one presidential seal. > > “Damage, theft, vandalism, and pranks occurred in the White House complex during the 2001 presidential transition,” concluded the report, which had been commissioned by Rep. Robert L. Barr Jr. (R-Ga.). “Incidents such as the removal of keys from computer keyboards; the theft of various items; the leaving of certain voice mail messages, signs and written messages; and the placing of glue on desk drawers clearly were intentional acts.” > > The report gave both sides some vindication. Bush aides said it validated their charges, and former Clinton aides said it proved the damage was minor and ordinary. And: > [@](#): > > [GAO reports on Clinton-era vandalism](http://www.hillnews.com/061202/vandalism.aspx) > By Sarita Chourey > > Did members of President Clinton’s staff try to turn the White House into their version of Animal House before they departed? > > According to a General Accounting Office (GAO) report issued Tuesday, the answer may never be known because the incoming Bush administration failed to keep adequate records on many of the alleged eleventh-hour misdeeds. > > Firing back, the Bush White House accused the GAO of pulling its punches. > > Nevertheless, the 220-page GAO report documented some $20,000 worth of damage, including vandalism and outright theft, by members of the outgoing Clinton team. There was, indeed, some initial questions about the extent of the damage, and the Bush administration said there was more than was documented because they had not, during that hectic time, recorded absolutely everything. Yes, some news sources have spun this story as saying that vandalism did not occur. I think those inclined to look at the world through that prism will also tend to ignore what the GAO found. ---
**Author:** ![Satisfying\_Andy\_Licious](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/50afbb/32.png) [@Satisfying\_Andy\_Licious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satisfying_Andy_Licious)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2003, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-outs-abc-news-reporter-as-gay-and-canadian/189463/56 "2003-07-20T05:10:33Z")
> [@](#): > > ## \*Originally posted by samclem \* \*\ ***Satisfying Andy Licious**. You said quote: > > ## (quote) Clinton had a “war room” of staffers whose job it was to dig up the background dirt on anyone who might prove troublesome. He had phone banks of people who would spread the dirt. > > and you got called on it by **Corbomite**. > > When you get time, you might give us a cite which would allow us to applaud you on your memory. Until then, quit posting crap. \*\* Sure, Sam. The key words are “when I get time.” I’d love to fight your ignorance, but in itself that would be a full time job. Actually, I didn’t think this statement would even be controversial except for diehards who still believe that he didn’t have sex with that woman, Monica Lewinsky, et al. Such people exist. And so did Clinton’s war room, and it doesn’t take much work to find reports on it, unless all you want to do is scream “cite.” Well, google “filegate,” will you? > [@](#): > > [“Filegate”](http://www.cnn.com/1999/ALLPOLITICS/stories/12/20/broaddrick.suit/) refers to a disclosure that the Clinton White House once had improper possession of approximately 700 FBI background files, including the files of many prominent Republicans. That’s merely for starters. During the impeachment, the White House established – and acknowledged – a scorched-earth policy of digging up dirty secrets on opponents. > [@](#): > > “We’re talking about the Doomsday Machine here,” one close ally of the president told Salon, alluding to the unstoppable chain of retaliatory nuclear strikes in the movie, “Dr. Strangelove.” “Once the Doomsday Machine is set in motion, there will be no stopping it. [The Republicans with skeletons in their closets must assume everything is known and will come out.](http://www.salon.com/news/1998/08/05news.html) So the question is: Do they really want to go there?” … The threat to out the president’s critics is not new. It first surfaced on Feb. 8, when former White House advisor George Stephanopoulos, analyzing the then-2-week-old Lewinsky scandal for ABC’s “This Week,” said White House allies were “starting to whisper about what I’ll call the ‘Ellen Rometsch’ strategy.” Background: The “Ellen Rometsch’ strategy” refers to using FBI files to blackmail members of Congress. "Rometsch was an East German spy who had slept with President John Kennedy as well as many other congressmen and senators. " (ibid) Maybe you forgot how the White House reacted to Paula Jones? > [@](#): > > [As part of his defense in the Paula Jones sexual misconduct lawsuit, Clinton’s lawyers retained private investigator Terry Lenzner, whose company, Investigative Group International, conducted interviews and public record searches to gather information on Jones’ sexual history.](http://www.salon.com/news/1998/08/05news.html) Clinton’s critics now believe IGI, which employs lawyers, former FBI, CIA and DEA agents, ex-cops and former reporters, was also hired to dig up dirt on the president’s accusers in the Lewinsky scandal as well. Remember Linda Tripp? She got a security clearance and worked at the Pentagon. Yet after she blew the whistle on Clinton, [suddenly her security clearance came under a review](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/clinton/stories/tripp031498.htm) for a supposed arrest, for which the charges were dropped – more than 29 years ago. And then: > [@](#): > > WASHINGTON (CNN) – The Pentagon’s inspector general has concluded that Pentagon spokesman Kenneth Bacon and one of his deputies, Cliff Bernath, [violated the federal Privacy Act by releasing information from Linda Tripp’s security file to a magazine reporter.](http://www.cnn.com/2000/ALLPOLITICS/stories/05/25/tripp.file/) Now, Sam, if you haven’t wandered away to listen to “Don’t Stop Thinking About Tomorrow” with earphones to drown out all the bad vibes, remember Juanita Broaddrick, “the Arkansas woman who maintains she was sexually assaulted by then-Arkansas Attorney General Bill Clinton in 1978, filed suit Monday, accusing the president’s office and Justice Department of trying to [“smear and destroy her reputation” by maintaining a file on her."](http://www.cnn.com/1999/ALLPOLITICS/stories/12/20/broaddrick.suit/) … Broaddrick wrote the White House on October 12 seeking documents related to her.” **But Associate White House Counsel Meredith E. Cabe replied that, in effect, the Freedom of Information Act wouldn’t apply to any files it had on Broaddrick.** Your attention span holding up, Sam? For personal attacks on a journalist, there’s always the crusade the White House waged against Vanity Fair contributing editor Gail Sheehy for “Hillary’s Choice,” her book on Hillary Clinton. > [@](#): > > [Yet suddenly, personal attacks on my credibility began appearing](http://gailsheehy.com/Politics/polimain_rebut.html) in the New Yorker, the New York Observer, and Cynthia Cotts’ “Press Clips” column in the Village Voice, using examples and language so consistent as to suggest a common source. The New York Daily News Washington bureau chief, Thomas M. DeFrank, reported, “The White House counterattack machine has combed Sheehy’s book for mistakes and is encouraging such Clinton media stalwarts as Arkansas columnist Gene Lyons and the New York Observer’s Joe Conason to write about the errors. They’ve also been feeding daily “Gail’s Goofs” tidbits to the Washington Post’s “Reliable Source” gossip column.” I later learned that Hillary’s surrogates in the White House had dredged up nearly every nasty review and unflattering profile of me from Lexis-Nexis, going back 30 years, and e-mailed them to Clinton-friendly columnists. I could go on. But it’s worth it only if there is an open mind on the receiving end. ---
**Author:** ![Satisfying\_Andy\_Licious](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/50afbb/32.png) [@Satisfying\_Andy\_Licious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satisfying_Andy_Licious)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2003, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-outs-abc-news-reporter-as-gay-and-canadian/189463/57 "2003-07-20T05:18:55Z")
Oh, and here’s your butt, **samclem.** I figured you’d want it back. ---
**Author:** ![omni-not](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8dc957/32.png) [@omni-not](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/omni-not)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2003, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-outs-abc-news-reporter-as-gay-and-canadian/189463/58 "2003-07-21T12:59:01Z")
> **[Opinion | Let's Blame Canada (Published 2003)](https://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/20/opinion/let-s-blame-canada.html)** > > Maureen Dowd Op-Ed column on Bush administration's fury at American troops in Iraq griping, especially to ABC correspondent Jeffrey Kofman, who is both Canadian-born and gay; notes that Kofman background was publicized by Drudge Report, which is... ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2003, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-outs-abc-news-reporter-as-gay-and-canadian/189463/59 "2003-07-21T13:27:43Z")
Oh, he’s a journalist and he’s okay. He sleeps all night and he works all day… ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2003, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-outs-abc-news-reporter-as-gay-and-canadian/189463/60 "2003-07-21T15:20:03Z")
Um, why has no one brought up the fact that Matt Drudge is a gay hypocrite who could stand some outing himself? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-outs-abc-news-reporter-as-gay-and-canadian/189463.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/white-house-outs-abc-news-reporter-as-gay-and-canadian/189463.md?page=4)