"Scotty and friends have thus far attempted to justify Guckert's presence at press briefings by noting that the latter "only" received so-called "day passes," which are allegedly issued to a variety of individuals without the more thorough clearing process (and assigned seat) that come with a "hard pass." One might wonder, indeed, how someone who doesn't work for a news organization at all, but instead a (to put it charitably) right-wing think tank, whose journal (`entry_id`,`time`,`title`,`body`,`topic`,`description`,`delicious`) istic qualifications consist of a $50, 2-day seminar with the right-wing leadership institute, and who hadn't even published any "news" article until about one month beforehand, can manage to get a hard pass to the WH Press Room, while NY Times columnist Maureen Dowd cannot. In any case, C-SPAN's video from the March 3, 2003 press briefing (from which the above stills are taken) proves that Guckert was in the Press Room, with a hard pass, before Talon News was created as a "spinoff" to GOPUSA, Guckert's original employer. Watch the video from the 35:10 mark onward, as it zooms in on the French female reporter. Guckert is visible behind her left shoulder, and as the zoom to her continues, his hard pass is captured in the frame. For those who would argue that we can't be sure it's Guckert, I commend C-SPAN's February 25, 2003 video of the briefing to you. Watch from the 30:11 point onward, as the video zooms in on the same French female reporter. You'll notice, not so coincidentally, that Guckert is visible in the same seat over her left shoulder.