Possibly New Breaking Story

Check out this breaking story on Daily Kos: Plame Leaked by Fake News Source? This is a very interesting and exciting read -- This is true democracy in action -- the progressive response to the Republican Noise Machine.

This started with Propaganda-Gate -- the Armstrong Williams story, and the No Pundit Left Behind Project. If this story breaks, it could be huge -- the Bush Administration using a Fake News Organization to leak the cover of a secret agent in order to punish Joseph Wilson's refusal to keep quite about the lies spread by the Bush Administration. There is no way the mainstream media would let the Bush Administration get away with this level of arrogance and disrespect for the American Public.

The thread is a basic act of journalism in progress - with each post in the thread building on what others have so far dug up. The picture is far from complete, but many interesting details have been discovered. This summary, provided by BaltimoreTime, provides a good background into some of the information dug up on the story so far:

With an introduction that summarizes everything we know so far, and documents the source.

Here's what I would take from this thread (there's surely more that I'm missing; add to this list in reply):

"Jeff Gannon," employed by Talon News, Inc., joins the White House Press Corps and begins asking suspiciously pro-administration questions.

"Jeff Gannon" is a pseudonym (from atrios's unnamed sources).

Talon News is a small, web-based, Republican propaganda outfit (talonnews.com, navyseals.com, others). Talon News is closely associated with gopusa, through the CEO of both companies, Bobby Eberle.

Bobby Eberle is a conservative activist from the Texas Republican Party. GOPUSA.com

"Jeff Gannon," according to his Talon News bio got an education degree from some public college/university in Pennsylvania. His journalism "credentials" come from a two-day seminar at the Leadership Institute Broadcast School of Journalism (LIBSJ).

The LIBSJ is a Republican-run nonprofit dedicated to placing conservative kids in the policy-making process. It is run by a Who's Who of Republican fund-and muckrakers. The President is Morton C. Blackwell, Reagan flack and friend of Karl Rove. Mr. Blackwell was responsible for the purple heart band-aids at the Republican National Convention 2004.

"Jeff Gannon" seems to implicate himself in the Valerie Plame coverup here.