Propaganda? Or major security leak?

This story just keeps getting bigger. A fake journalist with a fake name got White House press credentials (which means he got to ask direct questions of the WH press secretary and even the president). He purported to work for a fake internet news site (it was nothing but republished Republican press releases), and regularly asked such hard-hitting-but-fair questions in the vein of “why are the Democrats evil?” (or somesuch). This went on for two years.

What’s more, this “Jeff Gannon”--who is really James D. Guckert--is linked to a gay military website called hotmilitarystud.com where his photo and description exposed him as the fake WH reporter. Not that that is critical to his phony propagandizing, but it’s interesting how many Republicans are turning out to be “evil homosexuals.” (This is actually in keeping with the GOP mentality. Pretend to be against something, then overlook your own members who do it. Hypocrisy, thy initials are GOP.)

The White House is fervently denying that it knew anything about “Gannon” being a fake. To believe that, we must believe that the White House has the worst background checking methods in history. A simple glance at his “employer”, Talon News, would show this guy is no more a reporter than any blogger. Talk about a gaping hole in White House security. What if a member of Al Qaida had gotten in?

It’s ridiculous to believe that not even the WH press secretary Scott McClellan knew who this guy was. They knew, and they wanted him there. There can never be enough propagandizing stooges for this administration.

As Frank Rich points out for the NY Times, the WH press room is no more a real-news situation than any episode of The Daily Show With Jon Stewart. You get a phony host with a phony journalist having phony Q&A sessions. Only this time it’s not funny. These Republican pukes are destroying our democracy.