Wordcruncher

The "Manchurian Beefcake" And Other Scandals

I have been watching the Jeff Gannon/Guckert controversy with a keen interest.

Indulge me in some speculation. I am trying to draw the line between developing my own conspiracy theory and examining some odd facts that, when examined in their totality, comprise circumstantial evidence pointing in a strange direction.

Let me first present the facts – followed, on occasion, by my own speculation – as we know them.

Fact: Jeff Guckert, a.k.a Jeff Gannon, has been exposed as a faux-journalist who obtained White House press credentials under a pseudonym just five days after the websites for which he worked, Talon News and GOPUSA, were founded.

Fact: The Talon News and GOPUSA websites are owned and operated by Republican Party activist Robert Eberle of Texas.

Fact: Gannon/Guckert was subpoenaed to appear before the grand jury investigation into the Plame leak.

Inference: Of course, the testimony is sealed, so we are not yet certain if he was testifying as someone to whom the White House source leaked the outing of Valerie Plame as an undercover CIA asset (but we may know something soon). Since he, in an interview with Ambassador Joseph Wilson, mentions an intelligence document that had at that time not been made public, it is logical to infer that this is what his grand jury testimony was about.

Fact: Talon News and GOPUSA have scrubbed all mention of Gannon/Guckert (excepting his resignation statement), including all the articles he had written for the site.

Question: Why? One would think that, in the wake of this controversy, they would present him as a martyr, Example Number One of a conservative unfairly pilloried by the left and the So-Called “liberal media,” a la Oliver North. Since his articles were often little more than RNC press releases and never failed to parrot the party line, one would think the site owners would want to attract attention to his previous posts. Unless it had to do with:

Fact: Gannon/Gucket registered URLs that explicitly stated gay prostitution. Records show the websites were last updated in November of 2004.

Inference: The update indicates the sites may have been active until recently. Of course, we do not know who updated the records or what the updates were. They may not have been content-related; they may have been technical.

Fact: GOPUSA and TalonNews quietly changed ownership on Monday, just as the Gannon story was breaking on the liberal blogs, to a corporation that was founded on the same day.

Inference: Combined with the previously mentioned site scrubbings, someone is whitewashing, reason unknown. When people act as roaches scurrying when the lights come on, it naturally implies someone is hiding something.

I expect we’ll hear much more about the Manchurian Beefcake scandal, as James Wolcott so appropriately dubbed it, in the coming days. It certainly feels like something is unraveling.

However, none of this crosses yet into conspiracy theory territory. These are facts and logical – but not necessarily accurate – suppositions one could make based on the facts. There isn’t yet a smoking gun that could potentially tie all of this together.

Radical Speculation: It’s when I read this, via Wolcott, that I was reminded of a little-known gay pedophilia ring that was run in the Bush I White House. I realized as I researched that this speculation could lead to a criticism that I have strayed too far from the boundaries of reasonable inquiry – and perhaps even, some may say, sanity itself.

But is this radical speculation? Bush I was the former head of the CIA. He would thus be expert at covert operations, blackmail, and all of the spy vs. spy elements of Cold War espionage. When he served as Reagan’s VP, the administration was discovered to have engaged in nasty forms of espionage, including arms-for-hostages, clandestine operations in Central America and support of right-wing death squads.

All of this seemed too hard for Americans to accept or believe; this cold realpolitik belied Reagan’s perceived sunny optimism. In retrospect, if one considers the current administration model, it makes more sense. That is, a vice president who operates under the radar, but has considerably more power and influence than is typically ascribed to the position.

As Reagan descended further into Alzheimer’s during his presidency, is it not conceivable that the second-most powerful person would seize the reins of control? The considerable tension between Nancy and Michael Reagan and the Bush family, I would submit, is rooted in more than just stem-cell research; it smacks of a power struggle.

I certainly haven’t seen any hard evidence to implicate Bush I (I am discounting the eyewitness accounts and testimony) in prostitution or blackmail. We do know that Lawrence King and Craig Spence had very high-level GOP ties.

Now we have proof of Jeff Gannon/Guckert’s own high-level GOP connections, and his sudden disappearance in the midst of other Bush II propaganda scandals (bloggers are following the money -- also here). The fact that he received White House press credentials under a pseudonym just days after his media organ was founded clearly indicates preferential treatment, as no other journalist would be credentialed under similar circumstances. To receive such preferential treatment, you have to know some powerful people. I am sure we’ll see some connections as the story develops.

Again, I realize I am speculating. But in the aftermath of fervent connect-the-dot attempts regarding Vince Foster’s suicide, a failed real estate venture and a blue dress, I don’t think it’s unreasonable to consider this as historical background potentially relevant to this scandal.