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Bush's Barberini Faun
By
MAUREEN DOWD

WASHINGTON

I am very impressed with James Guckert, a k a Jeff Gannon.

How often does an enterprising young man, heralded in press reports as both
a reporter and a contributor to such sites as Hotmilitarystud.com,
Workingboys.net,
Militaryescorts.com, MilitaryescortsM4M.com and Meetlocalmen.com, get to
question the president of the United States?

Who knew that a hotmilitarystud wanting to meetlocalmen could so easily get
to be face2face with the commander in chief?

It's hard to believe the White House could hit rock bottom on credibility
again, but it has, in a bizarre maelstrom that plays like a dark comedy. How
does
it credential a man with a double life and a secret past?

"Jeff Gannon" was waved into the press room nearly every day for two years
as the conservative correspondent for two political Web sites operated by a
wealthy
Texas Republican. Scott McClellan often called on the pseudoreporter for
softball questions.

Howard Kurtz reported in The Washington Post yesterday that although Mr.
Guckert had denied launching the provocative Web sites - one described him
as "
'military, muscular, masculine and discrete' (sic)" - a Web designer in
California said "that he had designed a gay escort site for Gannon and had
posted
naked pictures of Gannon at the client's request."

And The Wilmington News-Journal in Delaware reported that Mr. Guckert was
delinquent in $20,700 in personal income tax from 1991 to 1994.

I'm still mystified by this story. I was rejected for a White House press
pass at the start of the Bush administration, but someone with an alias, a
tax
evasion problem and Internet pictures where he posed like the "Barberini
Faun" is credentialed to cover a White House that won a second term by
mining
homophobia and preaching family values?

At first when I tried to complain about not getting my pass renewed, even
though I'd been covering presidents and first ladies since 1986, no one
called
me back. Finally, when Mr. McClellan replaced Ari Fleischer, he said he'd
renew the pass - after a new Secret Service background check that would last
several months.

In an era when security concerns are paramount, what kind of Secret Service
background check did James Guckert get so he could saunter into the West
Wing
every day under an assumed name while he was doing full-frontal advertising
for stud services for $1,200 a weekend? He used a driver's license that said
James Guckert to get into the White House, then, once inside, switched to
his alter ego, asking questions as Jeff Gannon.

Mr. McClellan shrugged this off to Editor & Publisher magazine, oddly
noting, "People use aliases all the time in life, from journalists to
actors."

I know the F.B.I. computers don't work, but this is ridiculous. After
getting gobsmacked by the louche sagas of Mr. Guckert and Bernard Kerik, the
White
House vetters should consider adding someone with some blogging experience.

Does the Bush team love everything military so much that even a
military-stud Web site is a recommendation?

Or maybe Gannon/Guckert's willingness to shill free for the White House,
even on gay issues, was endearing. One of his stories mocked John Kerry's
"pro-homosexual
platform" with the headline "Kerry Could Become First Gay President."

With the Bushies, if you're their friend, anything goes. If you're their
critic, nothing goes. They're waging a jihad against journalists - buying
them
off so they'll promote administration programs, trying to put them in jail
for doing their jobs and replacing them with ringers.

At last month's press conference, Jeff Gannon asked Mr. Bush how he could
work with Democrats "who seem to have divorced themselves from reality." But
Bush
officials have divorced themselves from reality.

They flipped TV's in the West Wing and Air Force One to Fox News. They paid
conservative columnists handsomely to promote administration programs.
Federal
agencies distributed packaged "news" video releases with faux anchors so
local news outlets would run them. As CNN reported, the Pentagon produces
Web
sites with "news" articles intended to influence opinion abroad and at home,
but you have to look hard for the disclaimer: "Sponsored by the U.S.
Department
of Defense." The agencies spent a whopping $88 million spinning reality in
2004, splurging on P.R. contracts.

Even the Nixon White House didn't do anything this creepy. It's worse than
hating the press. It's an attempt to reinvent it.

E-mail: liberties@nytimes.com

Posted vy Miriam V. Feb. 17