"Aggressive Verbal Dominant Top" Seeks Submissive Male Who Can Reinstate White House Press Pass

Today I read a new interview with James Guckert, the gay S/M hooker who changed his name to the more butch “Jeff Gannon,” and posed as a journalist in the White House Press Corps, “reporting” for a fake news site. That rascal!

Gannon got hand-fed by the Bushies like he was their very own pet peacock. One day, some of Jeff's colleagues in the press box finally crawled out of their slumber and said, “Whoa, he's weird— Who is this dude?” 

If I sound disdainful of how the mainstream media is handling Jeff’s expose, perhaps I’m just fed up with being bewildered.

It’s been a good month since anyone with a browser and a minute to spare has been able to see pictures of Gannon’s shaved erection on his live out-call web ad.

But on Sunday the New York Times, continuing the curious timidity of every other paper of record,  played down this man’s true identity once again! In the NYT magazine interview, Deborah Solomon wrote that Gannon “apparently earned [his] living running a gay escort service.”

Apparently? Used to? This is the man’s entire past, present, and future!

As for “running a service,” where’s the reception desk?  Are we supposed to infer that Gannon fills out employee time cards like the Mayflower Madam?  No sirree— Jeff Gannon has been a one-man hot military beat-your-ass stud, and the only thing he runs is a carefully honed sales pitch. He is one discrete, butch, jarhead whore— and  the only thing that is “apparent” is that he is one of the best, according to his customer reviews.

When I talk to my friends, I find that many don't know who Guckert is. Sometimes they've heard that some weirdo infiltrated the White House Press Corps by mistake. Maybe they heard he was right wing, or that he entertained Scott McClellan with sycophant questions that bordered on, "Why is George Bush the greatest president who ever lived?”

But so what? —  Isn’t it just more of the same?  Are we expected to get outraged over every Red State cheerleader?

If you’ve also heard that Gannon is gay, you probably  know that he has written anti-gay marriage material, and smeared John Kerry for trying to be a “gay president.”  Hmm... so he’s a self-hating pathological mutant. We’ve become so accustomed to it—  yawn.  Or maybe we’re just numb since Janet waved her nipple at us. Gosh, the press devoted so much attention to that sex scandal, they’d surely go apeshit if Gay Nazis took over the White House, wouldn't they?  A dormouse has got to get a little shuteye, for god's sake!

The Outing and Democracy-Now-type bloggers have led the way to expose Jeff Guckert’s true identity. I love them without reservation. Who else would have revealed that the civil rights and free speech movement have been turned upside-down head by neocon closet cases?  But even the bloggers have been shy when in comes to understanding the motives and methods of a male prostitute.

If Jeff was a drug dealer (I’ll get to that part later) the investigative reporters would be eager to provide a profile of how drug dealers behave in similar situations. If he was a classical violinist, we’d be hearing about that. It would be part of our understanding of his background, his peers; it would lead to analysis how his social network came to include such powerful men.

Well, this is certainly the case with high class sexual services... and that is why anyone who’s ever done sex work understands that Jeff is not some wacky fluke... that the only way his access happened was because Gannon was dialed in, connected via his cock, to all the right people. The reason he got his little laminated press card was because someone was plying his favors.

Guckert, who went by a street name Bulldog in his sex ads, advertised himself as an ex-Marine, a no-nonsense top, an older but buff dude with a shaved head and a big penis.

At sites where discriminating johns rate their experiences, here’s what one guy had to say about gorgeous Jeff:

"I hired Jeff last winter when I was in Philadelphia on business. I was so pleased with the experience that I recently had him travel with me on a weekend trip to North Carolina.

"I am an active duty senior officer in the US Army. Discretion is of utmost importance to me. Jeff understands that because of his Marine background. He has so many talents besides the bedroom, it was a great experience for me. He is all-man, athletic and self-assured. Great body, he helped me work out twice, one time on base.

"The sex was great, he's a hard core top, verbal and strong, never romantic, but not mean. But there was so much more. He is intelligent, but would not want me to tell you that and very interesting. Being military also, we had much in common. I feel completely at ease that my secret is safe with him.

"I am versatile, 40+ year old career military man. I am used to being in command, so it was good for me to give control over to someone else for a change. I like to suck a masculine man's dick and get fucked hard. I did all of that several times that weekend. Because of my position I cannot find someone compatible in the usual ways. I am lucky to have found this jarhead."

Here’s another one:

"While earlier reviews may have suggested [Jeff] might be rough, that was not the case. He was caring, assertive, and with stamina that could have gone on all night. While I was expecting a large cock. This was 8, or maybe a 9, and very thick. His technique made this the first time I have ever not been hurt when stretched to the limit when going to first base. First, my legs over his shoulders, then on my back, flipped over and on to doggie style. It was all good. This guy was easily in the top 5% of any escort I've found. While he hasn't had a review in a while and didn't ask for this one. It is well deserved. If you're looking for a hot, hard, large sized, forceful top this man is it. Oh yes and he does kiss. The published picture is not good, he's better than that as well."

Are you getting the picture? This guy is the cream of the crop. He works in the DC/Maryland area. He is a master of protocol and discretion. Look at his interviews! They are a role model of deniability. That’s  "Class A” courtesan for you!  A guy like this is SOUGHT AFTER.

Try to imagine Richard Gere in American Gigolo, and substitute Jeff in the gay version.  He’s professional, he’s smooth, he’s never late, he’s not strung out, his appearance is immaculate. He provides perfect illusion and fantasy.  As any pro will tell you, this is hard to maintain, because it is such an act, and so stressful.

When Guckert was young, he undoubtedly had hair. His handsome face was once darling and cute. Most men don't get into this business as older gents— it’s something you get into when you’re young. It would be a waste to advertise your youth as a Daddy fantasy, when you can make more money being adorable. Becoming a TopMan is what you evolve to when you age gracefully in this business; you become exclusively dominant. After all, there is no demand for submissive middle-aged men.

When you’re a young pro, you do  your turn at submission. You are worshiped and condescended to as pretty boy. You make a lot of money acting like you're a frat kid or a GI, with a “girlfriend” somewhere, who’s "going to school" and partying "for kicks."

Bulldog, if he is anything like other gay hookers, has been at this for years, and has grown into his present persona. He moved up into a position a younger man wouldn’t have, where he learned a lot of dirt about people because he was  fucking them and getting high with them. He advertised that he likes “to party,” which in sex ad jargon  means that he was up for doing speed/ecstasy/cocaine. He would do a little bump with you, or more. This infers he got to know his client’s drug preferences as well as their erotic ones.

A pro like Guckert is going to inevitably have men who want to feel close to him, who wish the fantasy would be “more real,” or at least more frequent. As any pro will tell you, if you want to get closer— if you want them to turn up the volume— an escalating stream of money and presents is how you make that happen.  It is the only way.  They will not fall in love with you— they can’t— but they can be very, very warm for the money. Does everyone have to go watch Sharon Stone in Casino to get a refresher course on this dynamic?

It’s not just some mechanical thing; it taps into a psychological vein. if you meet a hooker as a client, even if you have lovely manners, a great body, and tender  insights, the pro is not going to be able to grow their affection until they see your tribute.

From their perspective, offering your assets is the proof that you’re making a sacrifice, that you have respect for them.  They didn’t meet you as themselves, whoever that is.

Jeff ruminated in the Times that his dog is the only one who really knows him and loves him unconditionally. He’s not being sappy.  He met his high-level political and military johns based on his calling card, which does not include falling in love and becoming a regular guy. 

I am convinced Bulldog got into the press corps because someone was deeply in love with him, i.e, with the fantasy he provides. Others in the game saw what he could be used for.  Jeff's client wanted more of Jeff, he wanted preferential status, he wanted promises.  Gannon, like any pro with a big fish on the line, was growing weary of diamonds and furs.

A mature hooker wants something that will lead to independence; like property, inheritance rights,  or a new career.  The ultimate way to win your hooker’s favors is by offering something that gives them the same kind of independence that you, the civilian, possess.

There is no way that Gannon has retired from Bulldoggin’. Sure, his cover was blown, but now all the closet stud chasers in DC know how tight he lap-danced in the seats of power. He must be busy. You’re not going to be able to reach him by his web site anymore, because Jeff's little black book is  completely filled by word of mouth. There’s gotta be a waiting list and a velvet rope as thick as his dick.

I was reading some new posts on AmericaBlog, which is systemically outing every bigoted closet case, and fag-bashing fag in the GOP. You may know from their work, that Ken Mehlman, the chair of the Republican National Committee, is one of these gay-men-against-gay-men, the paradox of our age.

I know he isn’t a household name yet, but one day Mehlman and his brethren will be understood on the same level as Roy Cohn, or J. Edgar Hoover: classist, misogynist, elitist power whores who may be Kinsey 6 homosexuals, but who look in the mirror and whisper this:

“ Mirror mirror on the wall, I am special and above it all.”

The Kinky Fascists feel entitled to fuck who they want and ruin who they want, because they  believe they are a unique breed of men above other men. They say  “to hell with gay marriage,” because they’d never do something that “weak.” Hate crimes are something that happens to nelly queens who deserve it. And women are bitches from hell that need to be kept on a leash until you need their venom for your enemies.

Sure, the hypocrites have deep-seated self loathing, but  they’re in the driver’s seat of American conservative politics, baby! Power is better than a line of cocaine up their ass for that all-important self esteem buzz.

That’s why Bulldog has a breezy air of superiority... he reminds himself every single day that some of the most important men in the nation are paying him cash to suck his cock and worship his commands. That is all his self-esteem is based on, and he’ll be damned if any stupid ugly pen-pushing journalist is going to disturb it.

Gannon has nothing to worry about unless his clients turn on him, like they did on Richard Gere in American Gigolo. Boy, was that upsetting!  But that won’t happen as long as Jeff has something  juicy on his admirers. When you think about it, Jeff Bulldog Gannon is in the Juice Business, the mother’s milk of journalism.  I say, give the guy his press pass back, and let him go gonzo.

Comments

[Orange]

Ooh, nice post. Thanks for the cogent explanation of Gankert/Gucknon/whateverhisnameis's deal. Maybe it's all mere supposition, but it seems like an utterly rational analysis to me.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to post a link to this over at my blog!

[Crosley Bendix]

Thanks for the information. I am completely ignorant about the sex business, so these insights are valuable to me.

[jessica_deva]

You know what, Susie? You are a damned good writer. Very perceptive - I'll be linking to this piece as well.

[sexyrepublican]

That was spectacular. Brilliantly and passionately explained. Obviously we differ significantly in our politics, but who can argue with your description of how sex workers evolve and how Guckert came to his current place.

Great stuff.

[susie]

thanks to all of you who have linked to, or spoken about this piece, b/c I was hoping it circulate quickly beyond my little bubble.

[Anthony Kennerson]

Outstanding piece, Susie...one of your finest dissections ever.

What really kills me about Gung 'Ho Guckert/"ConservativeGuy"Gannon and his new allies on the Right is how they have all of a sudden discovered a tolerance of sexual diversity...while continuing to beat down the rest of us in their sexual fascism. Hearing the likes of Ann Coulter attempt triple somersaults in defending Gannon's legitimacy as a White House reporter while glossing over his private life as a pro dicksman (Hmmmmmm....I wonder if Anne could use some of his services?? LOL) absolutely makes me laugh out loud of the utter hypocrisy.

But I'm sure that after the bigwigs have used Guckert up for their purposes, they will be the quickest to dump him like a concrete suit. If he's as nimble with his brain as he apparently is with his dick, he'll be keeping notes for his memoirs...his list of johns should be...ummm..quite interesting indeed.

Consider yourself and this essay duly racked, dear Susie (as in, saved for all posterity). May I seek your permission to reprint this entry at my groups and sites??

:-)

Anthony

[Susie]

Thanks, Anthony... as far as turning others onto the story, I'd appreciate it if you didn't reprint the whole enchilada, but rather just linked to it, with a a little excerpt, or your own comments. That way people will come here and can be further cast under my spell...

[Sandro]

I will never be able to understand how a gay man could be republican. Why would you be part of a party that hates you? It's like being a Jewish Nazi.

I guess what I was missing is that these gay republicans like Jeff Guckert are in a such deep state of denial. They hate themselves so much that they could not ever hope to accept that they are gay. They must think that because they are doing the fucking, they are not gay. Only “bottoms” are gay. I am a “top!”

This is another reason why conservatives are against sex education. If these self-deluding gays were in better touch with their feelings and were in a position to accept them without all the psychological maneuvers and contortions, they would be well adjusted, happy gay men instead of self-hating, republican, zombies.

[Tiny Tyrant]

Linked.

Great post.

Me, personally, I've been feeling sorry for the guy. Especially after reading his answer to the gay marriage question;

"My position is that I can't imagine that gay marriage would be something that I would be interested in in the first place. I actually like being alone. I have decided that is how I want to live. I have a dog named Winston. I am still the same to Winston, no matter what, and there is comfort in that. Winston doesn't watch the news."

Then again, rather than being a tragically insane self-loather, perhaps he is just in it for the money and is maintaining his Republican sourced earning capability?

[Susie]

"Tragically insane self-loather"
"Just in it for the money"

Often one and the same!

[boxster]

Susie,

I became aware of your site a while ago when Anthony Kennerson mentioned it on Nina Hartley's forum.

I am under your spell!

Don

[Provincial]

This is a great post Susie.... May I post a link to it on my blog? I read the entire thing to my husband and he listened to it in rapt attention... my 19 yr old son, Jefferson, heard it as well and came out of his room to comment on it. EXCELLENT - it is a very rare occurance for something to capture that kind of attention in this house. ! Thank You. - Provincial

[Big Brother]

I'm not one to overlook very speculative situations so I ask you to research the Franklin Savings story from '89 and see if you begin to see the connections that I am hazily detecting but unsure of. Seems that homosexuality in the whitehouse is nothing new. This leads me to wonder if it's that ancient greek/roman attitude that homosexuality was for boys and soldiers.

[susie]

I would love people to link to this story, on their blog-- thanks for spreading the word.

Of course being gay, anywhere, is nothing new, but the weird twists and turns that the closet/denial atmosphere will take you are truly monstrous. When the leadership of the GOP has made a scapegoat out of gay civil rights while hiding their own sexual preferences, it just makes for a very creepy soup.

[alan]

Provincial wrote:

"This leads me to wonder if it's that ancient greek/roman attitude that homosexuality was for boys and soldiers."

GOT THAT RIGHT! gay is one thing but these guys go way over the edge. look futher and you will find pedophillia, the worship of moloch, and his demand of child sacrifice. The truth is stranger than any fiction i could make up. Goes for both dems and repubs and media leaders. Why do you think they are so quite on these subjects.

[Christian]

That is a fascinating story that has been uncovered, and while much of what's been written here is highly speculative, much of it's the same speculation I would make.

[Alan Cabal]

Great work, Susie!

For some reason, I found it impossible not to think of Karl Rove as I read it. A truly horrible visual of Rove on all fours, nude, Jeff's piss streaming into his gaping maw...

It'll take some kind of serious psychic enema to banish THAT image. I wonder where I hid that acid.

[Fat Tony]

Fantastic post. Well written, well reasoned, insightful, educational, emotionally intelligent.

Thanks to Avedon Carol for supplying the link.

[Ken - A SF refugee]

Bravo!

You can't tell the players without a program and there's no way to understand 20th and 21st century American history without a least a passing acquaintance with the 'underworld.'

With this article, Susie calls to mind another Bay Area-based chronicler of
reality, Peter Dale Scott whose work demonstrates how deeply entwined US politics is with the illegal drug industry.

Encore!

Ken

[S Ty]

From what I gather you're saying, Gannon is a kind of a gay American version of Harry Flashman. Why, after this latest outrage, let's have the rascal sent to Afghanistan! What harm could he get into there? ;)

Great insightful writing, thanks!

[amberlynne]

Fantastic entry, Susie! I got here via twistedchick and I was pleasantly surprised by your original take on the issue. So much so, I just pimped you in my only little corner of the Web. Excellent stuff!

[Helga Fremlin]

Great piece, Susie! Linked from Avedon Carol's site.
Funny, informative and well-written - have let some people know about this 'find' already.

Cheers,
Helga from Australia

[Jay]

Got here via Americablog. This story fascinates me and I've become something a junkie for it, but Susie provides the first insight that may go towards explaining the missing year in Jim Guckert's life. Dailykos published a time line from Jim Guckert's high school graduation at Conneaut Lake High School in 1975 to his "detached from reality" comment on January 26, 2005. In late 2001 Jim Guckert left his job as an office manager at an auto body shop in West Chester, Pennsylvania and announced he was moving to Washington DC. Guckert was out enough to have played softball for Woodie's, a gay nightclub in Philadelphia back in the mid-1980s, and his military-themed male escort websites had been up for a few years, but his coworkers were apparently unaware of his side business. At this point Guckert vanishes for the next 12 months. His address trail runs cold and he doesn't appear to have worked on the books in the Washington DC area. Suddenly in early 2003 he reappeared in the White House Press Corps under the name Jeff Gannon. The one connection to his previous life was his website which remained up this whole time period.

What Susie posts may be speculative, but it is so far the only explanation as to why an auto body shop office manager with no journalism experience got into the White House Press Corps in twelve months. He apparently met one or closeted queers on Capitol Hill and was given his White House shill position as a legitimate job.

For what it's worth, Guckert advertised himself as a former Marine (one of his websites was USMCPT.com which someone deleted on Valentine's Day and it went down for good on February 23rd). Dailykos was unable to find any record of Guckert's military service.

The two biggest questions I have on the whole matter are

1)It is illegal to be a hooker except in certain counties in Nevada, so why has Guckert not been charged with anything?

and

2) The mainstream and rightwing media have been almost completely silent on this. When Bill Clinton was fellated by Monica Lewinsky the media coverage was nonstop 24/7 and he was almost removed from office for it. So why does Bush get a pass on having ties to gay prostitution, which would have gotten any other President lynched?

[Arco man]

If Suzie's account is more or less correct, that Guckert moved up in exchange for sex, then the number of suspects are fairly limited.

However, if Guckert was hired--as bait, as part of a blackmail scheme, as a distraction, or whatever--by a third party then a wide range of Texas political mafia, WH operators, spies, etc. are suspects for the prime mover's role.

It's worth noting that while Suzie accounts for gifts _to_ Guckert, she doesn't really outline the motivation for Guckerts gifts--those softball questions, for example--to Bush, McClellan, Rove, and Co.

And it's worth mentioning, if you are going to discuss Guckert's peers, that the black holes in Guckert's story are similar to the black holes in the Gov. McGreevy/Golan Cipel story. In addition to a mysterious year or two just before heading to the, ahem, top, Cipel worked in a Talon-like agency before landing in McGreevy's lap and somehow bypassed various security checks. And, speaking of spies, it's worth noting that paid gay sex is right up there with massive secret debt as a common technique for blackmailing intellegence targets.

[Susie]

I just read some of the "trackback" links to this story, and I'd like to especially draw your attention to the "Reading A1" blog, and the "Pandagon" posting by Amanda. They both offer some more insightful thoughts and speculations.

The "A1" writer is brilliant about the whole smalltimer and grifter cesspool that's settled at the bottom end of the GOP nutjob cesspool.

However, A1(sorry, I don't know his real name) disputes my notion that Gannon was All That, because he had a day job and a mediocre apartment for so many previous years of his life. This writer says, "Hookers don't have day jobs." I don't agree with that at all! Most of the sex workers I know are trying to "do something else." They dont' have the grandest of dwellings. They are really torn back and forth between doing sex work fulltime and trying to get back in school, get another business thriving, do something else that would allow them to flourish and not deal with so much secrecy in their lives.