Ari-Bob Wades into Gannongate

Posted on February 17, 2005

Former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer (affectionately known as Ari-Bob by our nickname-loving president), waded into the Gannongate mess with an interview with Editor and Publisher, which has been doggedly following the simmering scandal. Fleisher confirmed that faux reporter/gay male prostitute James Guckert aka Jeff Gannon was, indeed, in the White House press corps during Ari-Bob's tenure and that Ari-Bob was so concerned about the fact that he was a political activist and not a reporter that he refused to call on him for a week.

"I found out that he worked for a GOP site, and I didn't think it was my place to call on him because he worked for something that was related to the party," Fleischer told Editor and Publisher.

"He had the editor call me and made the case that they were not related to the Republican Party. He said they used the GOP name for marketing purposes only." Fleischer was worried about paid activists masquerading as journalists, saying "They are advocates, not reporters, and a line should be drawn." (The owner of Talon News eventually talked Ari-Bob into calling on its reporters by swearing Talon News wasn't an official RNC party site.)

When E&P pushed him about the revelations that Guckert was a hooker, the master of understatement himself would say only, "It is all a bit odd." Well, that's one way of putting it, I suppose.

The mainstream press is starting to pick up on the story. Howard Kurtz of The Washington Post pens a nice little story about the Guckert Fiasco, giving a spicy description of the Guckert/Gannon's naked pictures on the the website which offers his services for hire. Kurtz notes that "The X-rated twist has made for a lot of clandestine clicking in a town where Deep Throat conjures images not of a porn star but of a man in a parking garage."