Gannongate: A Few Thoughts, A Few Questions

I thought…

…that Bush was the best man to keep America safe, that he was the “Security President.”

So why is he so resolutely uninterested in getting to the bottom of how an unproven journalist was able to secure himself a pass to get access into White House Press Briefings with a fake name?

I thought…

…that the GOP was tough on crime. When he was running for president against Al Gore, then-Governor of Texas Bush bragged about his successes in prosecuting crime. There were 100 executions in Texas under his governorship, and he

told the Fraternal Order of Police he would be the candidate of “tough love.” “The men and women in uniform understand that if you break the law, there will be a consequence. In order to have a safe country, we’re going to stand by the men and women who wear the uniform.”

He also, at least as recently as ’98, advocated strengthening both the penalties and sentences for sex offenders.

So why is there no outrage from the White House about a flesh peddler infiltrating the Press Corps? Prostitution is illegal in D.C., which would make Jeff Gannon a sex offender. Will there be no consequence for his criminal behavior?

I thought…

…that the GOP was the party of moral values, including strengthening families and protecting marriages by ridding our country of the radical homosexual agenda that seeks to pervert the minds of our children? President Bush promised to avidly pursue a pro-family and anti-gay agenda that included bringing a Federal Marriage Amendment to ban gay marriage before the Congress.

So why is there so little outrage from the White House that a homosexual prostitute infiltrated the Press Corps? Why are liberals, who support gay rights, being accused by GOP media shills of making this about Gannon’s sexuality, when clearly it is in conflict with the administration’s espoused moral values, not ours?

I thought…

…that President Bush didn’t want taxpayer money used to promote administration policies.

"I expect my Cabinet secretaries to make sure that that practice doesn't go forward," he said at a White House news conference.

So why isn’t the White House interested in pursuing the main source of Jeff Gannon’s income, which is not immediately clear? Do the President and his Cabinet secretaries not want to make sure that Gannon hasn’t been receiving payments similar to that received by Armstrong Williams, Maggie Gallagher, and Michael McManus?

I thought…

…that George Bush and Dick Cheney were men of integrity, who were meant to bring a new era of accountability to the White House. I thought they were men of strength.

So why are they cowering like pussies and issuing canned platitudes about this whole fucking mess through their spokespeople instead of demanding within their own ranks a rigorous investigation into what really happened here?