'Bulldog' Gannon's Book a Bomb?
Oct. 27 2008, Published 7:07 a.m. ET
FLACCID SALES Gannon
Even another gay Republican sex scandal couldn't save Jeff Gannon's new book, The Great Media War, which promised a "behind the scenes look at the White House Press Corps and the Bush Administration."
However, only three weeks since its release, the book is ranked in the 780,000 range on amazon.com. By comparison, Robert Draper's Dead Certain, which was released the same week as Gannon's tome, currently stands at 62.
Gannon, of course, was outed as a former male escort in 2005 and was forced to resign from the conservative Talon News service, for which he had covered the White House since 2003. His male clients knew him as "Bulldog."
Bulldog couldn't have asked for better timing with his tome. Through some tawdry twist of fate, The Great Media War hit during the height of the Sen. Larry Craig's bathroom follies—a coincidence that even Gannon (born James Dale Guckert) thought might propel sales. Gannon expected a best-seller, according to his pals.
So, why the flop? Mike Rogers, the blogger who first outed Sen. Craig back in October, and former New York Times fabulist Jayson Blair have some ideas.