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02/23/2005

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Dave M

Mark,

Texas is a big enough place that it can have several only tangentially related pools of rich people willing to fund political slurs. It's my understanding, though I can't recall the cite, that the GOPUSA draws on the Swift Boats funding rather than the Delay funding - primarily the homebuilders, tort reform advocates, and anti-tax crowds. It's another Perry - Bob, I think - that funded Swift Boats; as a shoddy home builder (who would no doubt sue me for saying that, if he read the Decembrist), he has drizzled millions of dollars throughout texas politics to innure himself from lawsuits from his customers. Much like the bigger "green canary" corporations, I suppose...

Zach

Ronnie Earle is the Austin, TX DA isn't he?

Patrick

Ditto what Zach said...he's the D.A. of Travis County which is mostly Austin, TX.

It's an honest mistake if you're not from here!

Bruce

Well, GOPUSA is run by Bobby Eberle, as I'm sure you all know. This guy is not a middle class GOP supporter, but a very wealthy political hack. He surely has enough money on hand to retain as many whores as he needs.

I'm guessing that GOPUSA was not highly funded, as that would not be necessary to run an operation like that. I'm thinking no more than a hundred grand, max. According to its website, it is staffed mostly by volunteers. The people there are looking out for other interests that do pay well, and GOPUSA is merely a conduit for that, not an end in itself.

Bruce

To continue, the real question is not really who funded GOPUSA, but why. I'd like to know if Bobby Eberle stands to profit from GOP legislation or some other GOP related activity.

cafl

Josh Marshall, by way of a reader, sheds some light on the matter, at least by association.

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2005_02_20.php#004877

downtown

Billmon, someone else inclined
to follow the money, has an item worth noting.
It refers to an interesting Houston Chronicle
piece I first saw mentioned in a comment
in another blog that's pursuing the story
closely. Bruce Eberle seems to be hardly
a distant relative of the "Texas branch
of the family," as he implied.

Zelph

A wealthy Washington socialite is offering a $10,000 reward for proof that Jeff Gannon (pictured), an allegedly gay kinky-sex prostitute / escort / white house reporter / GOP operative, has had sexual relations with top-ranking government officials.

http://kellyanncollins.com/2005/02/reward-jeff-gannon-information.html

grover

I have to agree with Bruce. I can't see any evidence that GOPUSA.com is funded based on their site. The web is cheap, and the site is cheap, too. Perhaps I am missing something, but nothing there leads me to believe these guys needed any outside funding to create their little e-zine, if you want to call it that.

Zelph

But was Gannon boinking McClellan to get a WH press pass, that's what high minded folks like me want to know.

susan

"...was Gannon boinking McClellan..."

How's about boinking Bush?

Another high minded reader wants to know!

Zelph

Could that be what Bush meant when he said he had a man-date?!!

Ethical Werewolf

maybe they made enough money selling GOPUSA-logo t-shirts and trucker caps to pay Gannon and maintain Talon News.

While we're being high-minded here in the comments thread, we should remember that at least one Talon employee was experienced in a higher-margin business than GOPUSA apparel. Perhaps Talon did make all that money by, um, accepting contributions from members.

eb

The web is cheap, and the [GOPUSA] site is cheap, too. Perhaps I am missing something, but nothing there leads me to believe these guys needed any outside funding to create their little e-zine

Rent and living expenses on Capitol Hill, though...

Still, Bruce and Grover may be right. It's entirely possible that "savings" from the escort business were enough to fund Guckert. Beyond him and a cheesy website, there doesn't seem to be much to it that costs money. But I'm open to learning otherwise.

To me, the story is how G. came to be allowed to show up day after day, and the use of the fake news org as part of the smear and dirty tricks transmission belt (Thune, Plame, Mapes as recipient of CBS forged docs).

Swan

The people there are looking out for other interests that do pay well, and GOPUSA is merely a conduit for that, not an end in itself.


I'm really beginning to think that Guckert's #1 purpose for being where he was, was to be a prostitute for someone in the Administration. I'm thinking that the tossing-softballs thing was purely cover-up, not the end at all- purely just camoflage to have this guy coming into the WH all the time, and not have people ask questions & wonder who he is.

GOPUSA may have it's own ends, but w/ regard to the Gannon thing, they were just doing someone else a favor by providing this spot for Gannon, and may not have even known that he was a prostitute.

malanois

>

When? In early 2003, when we commenced the unjustified war in Iraq and the foreign press had the caligones to question it. Which (not so) coincidentally is around the same time
GG got his WHPC gig.

Fred

If this is just speculation, why write an article ? when we don't know, we dont talk or it is misleading people with false information that could just be wrong.

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