From Howie Kurtz's
not horrible piece on the Gannon mess:
Jim Manley, a spokesman for Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), welcomed the news. In his question at the presidential news conference, Gannon had said that in an effort to disparage the U.S. economy "Harry Reid was talking about soup lines," which is not accurate and which Gannon later acknowledged was a characterization he picked up from Rush Limbaugh. "New media or old media, the fact is the question he asked was based on a lie, and that's unacceptable," Manley said. "Fundamentally, what he was reporting was not truthful."
So we take a bite out of small part of the Right Wing Noise Machine, expose yet another pillar of the White House propaganda operation, and -- as a bonus -- we take down a man who used the White House press room to repeat outright lies about the Minority Leader.
Daschle's people are also clapping. From subscription-only Roll Call:
Former aides to ex-Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) were among those cheering Wednesday's abrupt resignation of reporter Jeff Gannon from Talon News, a Web site affiliated with the conservative-activist site GOPUSA [...]
Daschle aides are elated because Gannon wrote extensively about the South Dakota Senate race, and former Daschle aides claim that the writer was essentially carrying water for Sen. John Thune's (R-S.D.) successful campaign. Gannon fired away at everything linked to Daschle's campaign, even writing a spate of articles attacking the dean of the state's political writers, Sioux Falls Argus-Leader columnist Dave Kranz, for allegedly shilling for Daschle.
"He and Thune's campaign worked hand in hand," said one former Daschle aide. "This guy became a dumping ground for opposition research."
Salon and the NY Daily News have stories that do a much better of discussing core issues than Kurtz. CNN's effort focuses on the propaganda angle, using Slaughter's letter as a hook (showing the importance of getting elected officials to show leadership on these sorts of issues).
A New York congresswoman asked the White House to explain Wednesday why a man who worked for a news Web site owned by a GOP activist was able to obtain White House press credentials under an assumed name.
The Boston Globe also
chimes in.