On the fast track to fascism

By: PAUL JACOBS - For The Californian | Saturday, February 26, 2005 11:08 PM PST ∞

Politically, county Supervisor Jeff Stone and I probably agree on little, yet I have always admired his can-do attitude and actions. Stone consistently exemplifies representation of the electorate with leadership qualities that get things done to improve life for his constituents. He is an almost flawless politician.

Years ago, a Temecula activist group circulated an antigrowth petition. Stone, a councilman at the time, signed the petition with an assumed name. The political climate was running pretty hot in those days and perhaps Stone lost his cool for a brief moment. No harm was meant or came from the action, but that minor political scandal caused a local murmuring brouhaha. Stone has matured and gained wisdom as a statesman to more than make up for that somewhat amusing and insignificant indiscretion.

Recently, there has been a far more egregious case of an imposter in the White House that is being largely ignored by the media.

The revelation that a member of the White House press corps used an assumed name during presidential briefings for two years should draw some media attention. Considering the unvetted reporter with an alias had a lurid past with connections to gay Internet porn sites that include his own image, the story should be getting boffo coverage.

Had this scandal occurred during the Clinton years, the press would be frenzied, doing cartwheels to repeatedly report this titillating tale. There would be gleeful tears in the eyes of grateful news anchors, not seen since the days of Monica's blue dress.

But the media has not tenaciously followed the Bush scandals with the rabid fervidness inflicted upon the Clinton administration. Maybe Jeff Gannon isn't the only shill in the news industry.

Gannon, whose real name is James Guckert, attended White House press briefings for the past two years with day passes issued from the Bush press office.

According to the few media reports I could find on the story, Guckert/Gannon had minimal credentials as a reporter before receiving the pass, but he did have ties to a Republican group called gopusa.com. Gannon never asked the president any hard questions and most of his reporting consisted of copying White House press releases. The charade might have continued had Gannon not drawn attention to himself by asking the president a leading question that included a partisan snipe that Democrats divorced themselves from reality.

It was recently discovered that the White House paid at least three journalists to promote administration policies and programs. Now they have been caught putting a plant amongst seasoned journalists to lob softball questions during press briefings. This is a level of propaganda that Soviet-era journalists must find nostalgically impressive.

It is exceedingly suspicious that the news media hasn't jumped all over this story that is certainly as scandalous, salacious and scintillating as the sex and celebrity scandals that seem to be non-stop fodder for the news media.

The news blackout of this juicy story is distressing. America's corporate and political elite control the news media. Freedom of information and speech are quickly becoming relics of a bygone republic. America is on the fast track to fascism.

Paul Jacobs of Temecula is a regular columnist for The Californian. E-mail: TemeculaPaul@aol.com.

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