3/30/2005 11:01:00 AM|||Mike|||Previously, on whatever the heck this is...

There was a Presidential press conference. A reporter nobody recognized asked a kiss-ass question. So what else is new?

Well, it turns out that this guy is under a pseudonym, which is a major protocol/security violation. But what the heck. Next, it turns out his entire journalist training consists of a two-day seminar on how to be a conservative reporter. And his journalist career consists of a very small number of news stories on a conservative "news" web site. So basically, he's a fake journalist that somebody in the White House has been giving day-passes to so he can ask the questions the President wants to answer if the real journalists are asking him too many hard questions.

But wait, there's more...

This guy owns a bunch of web domain names and possibly sites for guys who like to play soldier in bed. And he's posted nude pictures of himself, and a price list for his services. It would appear that this guy's real job is that he's a prostitute specializing in fantasies about military men. Not women's fantasies, either. So it appears that someone in the White House went out of his way (bypassing background checking) to bring in a gay hooker. Bush promised to bring dignity into the White House. Some people have a bit of cognitive dissonance here, but I don't: gay hookers are closer to dignity than what's happening in Iraq is to making Americans safer, or Iraq a democracy, or whatever the reason for the war is this week.

This story was broken by bloggers. Repeatedly, as it became more and more absurd.

Anyway, the National Press Club is doing a show about about bloggers and journalists. They have invited some journalists, a blogger, and this guy. The letter at the link explains NPC thing pretty well. I don't share the sense of outrage at the inclusion of the guy - I think he's there as a freak to gawk at, not to represent bloggers or journalists. I could be wrong about that. But the panel has a very serious lack of balance. Read the letter.|||111220400577389870|||Open letter to the National Press Club