If this connection has already been discussed before, please let me know and I'll delete this diary to reserve space for other diarists.
If not, this seemed pretty funky to me so I thought I'd share. More below the fold.
Seems that Bobby Eberle, head of GOPUSA and Talon News, has a pretty interesting and influential relative, Bruce Eberle. Bruce even has a very nice, congenial letter he's posted on GOPUSA.com, where he refers to Bobby as the "Texas branch of the Eberle clan". Bruce's
letter of March 24, 2004 speaks of the wonderful merger of www.millionsofamerican.com with www.gopusa.com:
"The good news is that www.millionsofamericans.com is now combining forces with www.gopusa.com to bring you even better reports and news on hot conservative topics. Bobby Eberle (of what you might call the "Texas branch" of the Eberle clan) founded www.gopusa.com several years ago. With news sources across the nation and in key places, Bobby Eberle has created one of the best outlets for conservative news and insight in the nation and today www.gopusa.com has some 50,000 opt-in subscribers.
In fact, he has done such an outstanding job that he will now be sending conservative commentary and action items to you. I'm stepping aside to let this talented and well-informed young man take the helm of www.millionsofamericans.com and I am confident he will do a great job - giving you the same top quality conservative news and giving you an opportunity to have a powerful impact on events that affect our nation."
As Georgia10 has noted, www.millionsofamericans.com had originally been formed as:
"...an online project to mobilize Americans against every attempt to overturn the fair election results in Florida. Altogether, Election Integrity 2000 delivered over 600,000 petitions and letters from Americans all over the country. To our knowledge, that's the biggest and fastest political mobilization in Internet history!"
After reading her insightful post in another diary on the questionable legitimacy of Talon News, I got intrigued and just started googling the Eberles. While surfing, I found this interesting article by Sheldon Rampton of the Center for Media and Democracy, where he talks about Bruce Eberle's Omega List Company and its practice of paying conservative commentators to endorse clients and their causes:
"On a section of the website that has subsequently been removed, Omega List was quite straightforward about the fact that it pays conservative commentators to endorse clients and their causes. A series of web pages featured conservative radio show host Blanquita Cullum explaining exactly how the system works and how other radio hosts could get in on the gravy. "You do what you do best!" she said. "Get on the air and talk to your listeners! Drive them to your website by conducting a daily survey or a contest on the topic of your choosing."
Eberle's "polling wizard" software, installed on the site, would then capture the names of respondents so that they could be hit up for money. "What happens next is a cakewalk," Cullum continued. "Omega will call you with an opportunity to send an endorsement e-mail to your list . . . and receive a royalty for lending your name to a cause, organization or product you believe in. . . . Omega gives you their specialized software absolutely FREE and presents you with an opportunity to earn an extra $25,000 or more annually."
It is interesting to note that GOPUSA.com's membership list is a part of Omega List's offerings.
Omega List is a part of the Eberle Communications Group, which includes Bruce W. Eberle & Associates, Omega List Company, Kaleidoscope Publishing, Ltd., Fund Raising Strategies, Inc., Campaign Funding Direct, Inc., and InternetFundRaising.com. Mr. Eberle's past clients, according to the Center for Media and Democracy, have included:
Pat Buchanan's 1992 campaign for president; Stacey Koon, one of the Los Angeles police officers convicted in the 1991 beating of Rodney King; Ollie North during his losing Senate bid in 1994; Paula Jones, the former Arkansas state worker whose lawsuit accused President Bill Clinton of sexual harassment; and conservative Missouri Senator John Ashcroft...
We've established that there is a connection between GOPUSA.com and the Eberle Communications Group. We've also established that Omega List, a division of Eberle Communications, has in the past "pitched" conservative talk show hosts on being paid to endorse certain political causes or ideas. We also know that Attorney General John Ashcroft was one of Bruce Eberle's clients.
Here's the unanswered question: is there any connection between Eberle and the White House, or one of Eberle's clients and the White House?
In my opinion, if there is such a connection I think it would uncover a large piece of the Gannon puzzle, and answer a very large question about how Gannon was allowed access into the White House press briefings.