Let The Army Neocon Shit Bags Defend This

[LoungeMachine]

GO AHEAD BBB, ELVIS, CATH, ASSVIBE

SPIN THIS SHIT IN YOUR FAVOR





January 8th, 2005 1:30 pm
U.S. Paid Commentator to Tout School Law


By Ben Feller / Associated Press

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration paid a prominent commentator to promote the No Child Left Behind schools law to fellow blacks and to give the education secretary media time, records show.

A company run by Armstrong Williams, the syndicated commentator, was paid $240,000 by the Education Department. The goal was to deliver positive messages about Bush's education overhaul, using Williams' broad reach with minorities.

The deal, which drew a fast rebuke from Democrats on Capitol Hill, is the latest to put the department on the defensive for the way it has promoted Bush's signature domestic policy.

The contract required Williams' company, the Graham Williams Group, to produce radio and TV ads that feature one-minute "reads" by Education Secretary Rod Paige. The deal also allowed Paige and other department officials to appear as studio guests with Williams.

Williams, one of the leading black conservative voices in the country, was also to use his influence with other black journalists to get them to talk about No Child Left Behind.

The law, a centerpiece of President Bush's domestic agenda, aims to raise achievement among poor and minority children, with penalties for many schools that don't make progress.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Friday that the decisions on the practice were made by the Education Department. He did not directly answer when asked whether the White House approved of the practice, saying it was a department matter.

The Education Department defended its decision as a "permissible use of taxpayer funds under legal government contracting procedures." The point was to help parents, particularly in poor and minority communities, understand the benefits of the law, the department said.

Williams called criticism of his relationship with the department "legitimate."

"It's a fine line," he told The Associated Press on Friday. "Even though I'm not a journalist — I'm a commentator — I feel I should be held to the media ethics standard. My judgment was not the best. I wouldn't do it again, and I learned from it."

Three Democratic senators — Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey, Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts and Harry Reid of Nevada — wrote Bush Friday to demand he recover the money paid to Armstrong. The lawmakers contended that "the act of bribing journalists to bias their news in favor of government policies undermines the integrity of our democracy."

Rep. George Miller of California, the top Democrat on the House education committee, asked for an inspector general investigation into whether the deal was legal and ethical. The Republican chairman of the committee, Rep. John Boehner of Ohio, supported the request.

Miller and other Democrats also wrote Bush to call for an end to "covert propaganda."

The department's contract with Williams, through the public relations firm Ketchum, dates to 2003 and 2004. It follows another recent flap about the agency's publicity efforts.

The Bush administration has promoted No Child Left Behind with a video that comes across as a news story but fails to make clear the reporter involved was paid with taxpayer money. It has also has paid for rankings of newspaper coverage of the law, with points awarded for stories that say Bush and the Republican Party are strong on education. The Government Accountability Office, Congress' auditing arm, is investigating those spending decisions.

The GAO has twice ruled that the Bush administration's use of prepackaged videos — to promote federal drug policy and a new Medicare law — is "covert propaganda" because the videos do not make clear to the public that the government produced the promotional news.

"There is no defense for using taxpayer dollars to pay journalists for 'fake news' and favorable coverage of a federal program," said Ralph Neas, president of People for the American Way, a liberal group that has tracked the department's spending.

Information about the contract with Williams was first reported by USA Today.

[Nickdfresh]

No Child Left Behind is the biggest piece of shit education legislation since "Seperate-but-Equal."

[LoungeMachine]

Originally posted by Nickdfresh
No Child Left Behind is the biggest piece of shit education legislation since "Seperate-but-Equal."

Setting aside for a moment what a crock this "legislation" was.....

THEY FUCKING PAID A QUARTER MILL TO SOMEONE TO SHILL IT FORHEM ON TV !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!



and then had the BALLS to say there wasnt enough money....


FUCK YOU SHRUB:mad:

[Nickdfresh]

Originally posted by LoungeMachine
Setting aside for a moment what a crock this "legislation" was.....

THEY FUCKING PAID A QUARTER MILL TO SOMEONE TO SHILL IT FORHEM ON TV !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!



and then had the BALLS to say there wasnt enough money....


FUCK YOU SHRUB:mad:

I'm far too cynical to be shocked Lounge. I'm surprised the cunt did it for less than $300K.

[LoungeMachine]

Originally posted by Nickdfresh
I'm far too cynical to be shocked Lounge. I'm surprised the cunt did it for less than $300K.

GodDAMN this whole fuckin admin.

:mad:

[bueno bob]

I agree. Bush is a tool. In spite of everything, he just keeps on dancin', don't he? lol

[DrMaddVibe]

I guess we should've just got a bunch of businessmen together and boarded a jet around the globe on a "fact finding" mission like the ol' Clinton years. That was acceptable?

It was wrong. Armstrong has admitted it. This will cost him more in the long run like Martha Stewart, except this is a black journalist that the NAACP like to paint as an "Uncle Tom".

[LoungeMachine]

Originally posted by DrMaddVibe
I guess we should've just got a bunch of businessmen together and boarded a jet around the globe on a "fact finding" mission like the ol' Clinton years. That was acceptable?

It was wrong. Armstrong has admitted it. This will cost him more in the long run like Martha Stewart, except this is a black journalist that the NAACP like to paint as an "Uncle Tom".

EXACTLY what one would expect from you and your ilk , ASSVIBE

1- Bring up Clinton to justify your shitness

2- Put the blame on someone else

3 - Accept NO responsibility whatsoever


"It was wrong" "Amstrong damitted it"

HOW COME YOU DONT SAY BUSH/ADMINISTRATION WAS WRONG??

Do you really think it was this fucking Talking Head's idea??????

Once again, Team Bush held unaccountable.

You're just a fucking sheep.

[diamondD]

Did you show this same type of outrage when Clinton did something that isn't 100% correct? Somehow, I doubt it.

[Nickdfresh]

Originally posted by bueno bob
I agree. Bush is a tool. In spite of everything, he just keeps on dancin', don't he? lol

And sitting on Uncle Tricky Dickie's lap:

[DEMON CUNT]

Originally posted by diamondD
Did you show this same type of outrage when Clinton did something that isn't 100% correct? Somehow, I doubt it.

Can you be specific? Which one of Clinton's fuck ups are you talking about?

[Nickdfresh]

Originally posted by diamondD
Did you show this same type of outrage when Clinton did something that isn't 100% correct? Somehow, I doubt it.

Clinton was not saint. But he was the victim of a virtual Neo Con witch hunt of excessive, and continuous investigation and character assassination. I am far more willing to forgive his missteps when he was continually attacked using innuendo driven by people looking to hang him for little more reason than being an elected Democrat. He was hammered on everything from mysterious deaths to fraudulent business dealings and the best they could do was impeach him regarding a blowjob cover-up.

I found it humorous and sad that a lot of you guys constantly bring him up when alcoholic, ex-coke snorter Bush has had virtually none of such scrutiny.

For ex., I can't even imagine what would happen if Clinton's Admin. had released the name of a CIA agent that was married to as critic of his administration. But it's okay for people to act traitorously as long as they proclaim themselves Republicans, eh?

[Viking]

Awwwww, the Republicans just conducted Business As Usual in Sodom-On-The-Potomac, and you congenital losers want to make political hay out of it. Grow up. The only difference is, it wasn't a Democrat who did it this time, and it happens all the time one both sides of the fence. Quit being so naive. And shove your forced indignation up your soft asses. :rolleyes:

[LoungeMachine]

Originally posted by diamondD
Did you show this same type of outrage when Clinton did something that isn't 100% correct? Somehow, I doubt it.

"...isn't 100% correct ...."

You sheep can't even bring yourselves to say the words.......

Bush and Co. ws wrong.


Say it.

I dare you.:D

[Nickdfresh]

Originally posted by Viking
Awwwww, the Republicans just conducted Business As Usual in Sodom-On-The-Potomac, and you congenital losers want to make political hay out of it. Grow up. The only difference is, it wasn't a Democrat who did it this time, and it happens all the time one both sides of the fence. Quit being so naive. And shove your forced indignation up your soft asses. :rolleyes:

Bush's oil war will be the Republocants down fall.

[Phil theStalker]

Originally posted by Nickdfresh
No Child Left Behind is the biggest piece of shit education legislation since "Seperate-but-Equal."
Propaganda either way.

I've got to take a mean shit.


P

[Nickdfresh]

Originally posted by Viking
Awwwww, the Republicans just conducted Business As Usual in Sodom-On-The-Potomac...

Translation: So ethics and corruption really doesn't matter. As long as it is Republicants, the party of Religious zealots and so-called morality, that are the ones in power, they get a free pass illegally paying ministers of propaganda.

How many talking heads like this fool are spinning bullshit about Iraq?

[diamondD]

Originally posted by LoungeMachine
"...isn't 100% correct ...."

You sheep can't even bring yourselves to say the words.......

Bush and Co. ws wrong.


Say it.

I dare you.:D

It's actually not that hard. Bush and Co do some things I don't agree with. And yes, they have done some things the wrong way. It still doesn't mean he wasn't the better choice last Nov. ;)

[ODShowtime]

Repubs expect things like this. They want the world to function like this. Approved propaganda only please :)

[FORD]

Originally posted by diamondD
It's actually not that hard. Bush and Co do some things I don't agree with. And yes, they have done some things the wrong way. It still doesn't mean he wasn't the better choice last Nov. ;)

Spare a thought for the stay-at-home voter
His empty eyes gaze at strange beauty shows
And a parade of the gray suited grafters
A choice of cancer or polio :(

[ODShowtime]

Armstrong Williams: I Am Not Alone

1 hour, 18 minutes ago

David Corn

It was a rare moment of talk-show unanimity. On the set of the Fox News Washington bureau, host Tony Snow, fellow guest Linda Chavez (a conservative pundit), and I were slamming Armstrong Williams, a rightwing columnist and talk show host. USA Today had reported--as you probably know--that Williams had been paid nearly a quarter of a million dollars by the Bush administration to promote its No Child Left Behind education bill. And Williams, who supported the legislation in his column and as a cable news talking head, had not bothered to inform his audiences or the folks who book him at CNN, Fox, and MSNBC that he was a shill on the Bush payroll.

Snow was shaking his head at Williams' indiscretion, and Chavez was upset and joked that she had received bupkis from the White House. Prior to going on air, she had complained that ArmstrongGate had caused some people to assume that she and other conservative commentators were also riding this gravy train. Since the story broke on Friday, she said, several people had asked her how much she had received from the Bush administration. She was pissed at Williams for conduct that was raising questions about the whole cadre of rightwing pundits. During our non-debate on Williams, I noted that it was a waste of taxpayer money to pay Williams for supporting the Bush administration, which he seemed quite willing to do for free. And I wondered aloud how this contract had come to be.

After our segment finished, Chavez and I headed to the green room, and there he was: Armstrong Williams. He was waiting to go on air to defend himself. I've known him a long time; we've often sparred, in friendly fashion, on these shouting-head shows. I shook my head and said, "Armstrong, Armstrong, Armstrong...." He was quick with his main talking point: "It was bad judgment, Dave. Bad judgment." His phone rang. He answered it, said hello, and then told the person on the other end, "It was bad judgment. You know, just bad judgment." I was reminded that in addition to being a pundit, Williams, a leading African-American conservative and Clarence Thomas (news - web sites) protege, is a PR specialist with his own firm. Not too long ago, Michael Jackson called him for advice. Now he had himself for a client, and, heeding conventional crisis-management strategy, he was practicing strict message discipline: bad judgment, bad judgment, bad judgment.

As we chatted, Chavez politely expressed her anger at Williams. This scandal, she noted, would provide ammunition to those who dismiss minority conservatives as race sellouts who have been bought off by the Republicans. (She is Mexican-American.) Williams absorbed her point, acting contrite.

I asked if Williams had yet been conducted by the inspector general at the Education Department, the agency that had awarded the contract that supplied him $241,000 for promoting the NCLB measure within the African-American community. Representative George Miller, the ranking Democrat on the education committee, and other House Democrats had already called for an investigation. Why should the IG contact me? Williams replied, noting he had been merely a subcontractor. Any thorough investigation, I remarked, would include questioning the subcontractor. He scratched his head. "Funny," he said. "I thought this [contract] was a blessing at the time."

And then Williams violated a PR rule: he got off-point. "This happens all the time," he told me. "There are others." Really? I said. Other conservative commentators accept money from the Bush administration? I asked Williams for names. "I'm not going to defend myself that way," he said. The issue right now, he explained, was his own mistake. Well, I said, what if I call you up in a few weeks, after this blows over, and then ask you? No, he said.

Does Williams really know something about other rightwing pundits? Or was he only trying to minimize his own screw-up with a momentary embrace of a trumped-up everybody-does-it defense? I could not tell. But if the IG at the Department of Education or any other official questions Williams, I suggest he or she ask what Williams meant by this comment. And if Williams is really sorry for this act of "bad judgment" and for besmirching the profession of rightwing punditry, shouldn't he do what he can to guarantee that those who watch pundits on the cable news networks and read political columnists receive conservative views that are independent and untainted by payoffs from the Bush administration or other political outfits?

Armstrong, please, help us all protect the independence of the conservative commentariat. If you are not alone, tell us who else has yielded to bad judgment.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/thenation/20050110/cm_thenation/32114&e=2

[ODShowtime]

No, secret payoffs that deceive the public aren't OK

Mon Jan 10, 8:32 AM ET Op/Ed - USATODAY.com

President Bush is an eloquent advocate of his 2001 education overhaul known as the No Child Left Behind Act. He calls it the "most dramatic reform in public education in a generation" and a powerful remedy for "the soft bigotry of low expectations."

But lately his administration apparently has concluded that the law needs a harder sell based on deceptive practices. Last week, USA TODAY disclosed that the Department of Education had paid conservative pundit Armstrong Williams $240,000 to tout the measure on his syndicated talk show and to periodically interview Education Secretary Rod Paige.

Williams promptly received a harsh education in the propriety of taking the government's money while feigning independence. He was widely criticized, and the syndicate that distributes his newspaper column dropped him. (USA TODAY does not carry the syndicated column but has published two commentaries by him in the past five years, neither about education.)

Williams now says he used poor judgment. The Bush administration, however, has shown not even a hint of remorse. The White House referred questions to the Department of Education, which argued that it did nothing wrong in making clandestine payments.

The department called the contract with Williams a "straightforward distribution of information about the department's mission and (the education law) - a permissible use of taxpayer funds."

In fact, there is nothing straightforward or appropriate about using taxpayer money to make secret payments for the purpose of manipulating the public. And it is not straightforward or appropriate to use taxpayer money to reward a friend of the administration.

The administration can and should advocate its policies. It has capable spokesmen in Bush and Paige. Both are passionate advocates of the education law.

But by paying off Williams, the administration chose a different course: opting to advance its policies through deception, rather than illumination.

The Williams episode is just the latest of many efforts throughout the administration to use trickery in pursuit of policy goals. To announce a new anti-drug campaign last year, the Office of National Drug Control Policy sent out video news releases designed to look like independently produced news reports.

The Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, concluded that these bogus news reports - which were similar to some used by the Clinton administration - constituted illegal "covert propaganda."

The office reached a similar conclusion about spots created in 2003 by the Department of Health and Human Services (news - web sites) to promote the new Medicare drug law.

These campaigns raise a disturbing question: How can the public be confident in policies the administration feels compelled to sell on the basis of deception? The best answer from the administration would come in the form of an admission of its errors, a scolding of the Education Department for its tactics, and a promise to reform its ways.


http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=679&ncid=742&e=2&u=/usatoday/20050110/cm_usatoday/nosecretpayoffsthatdeceivethepublicarentok

[ODShowtime]

So... who else is on the payroll?

[BigBadBrian]

Originally posted by ODShowtime
So... who else is on the payroll?

http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/msnbc/Sections/Newsweek/Components/Photos/Mag/050117_Issue/050108_periscope_hu.hsmall.jpg

[ODShowtime]

most likely. funny point.

luckily I never advocated for him or his policies so I don't give a shit.

[DrMaddVibe]

Originally posted by DEMON CUNT
Can you be specific? Which one of Clinton's fuck ups are you talking about?

Here, try this dumbass cunt!

http://www.papillonsartpalace.com/facts.htm

[FORD]

Originally posted by BigBadBrian
http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/msnbc/Sections/Newsweek/Components/Photos/Mag/050117_Issue/050108_periscope_hu.hsmall.jpg

You better hope not..... Because if Clinton were BCE, that would mean the last real President was Jimmy Carter, and that we've been under a dictatorship for a quarter-century instead of just the last 4 years :(

[ODShowtime]

Clinton just got on the payroll recently it seems.

[diamondD]

Originally posted by FORD
You better hope not..... Because if Clinton were BCE, that would mean the last real President was Jimmy Carter, and that we've been under a dictatorship for a quarter-century instead of just the last 4 years :(

At least you finally acknowledge that we weren't under one during Reagan and Bush 1. Maybe the meds are starting to take effect. :)

[DEMON CUNT]

Originally posted by DrMaddVibe
Here, try this dumbass cunt!

http://www.papillonsartpalace.com/facts.htm

Good God Almighty!?! That's your mom's "art" site blaming Clinton for 911. That's a laugh! Do you blame Clinton for your speeding tickets too?

Can you go ahead point me to a more legitimate news source?

[DEMON CUNT]

Originally posted by diamondD
At least you finally acknowledge that we weren't under one during Reagan and Bush 1. Maybe the meds are starting to take effect. :)

Huh? Better check your timeline, jesusbitch!

[ODShowtime]

FCC Member Urges Armstrong Williams Probe

Thu Jan 13, 3:06 PM ET U.S. Government - AP

By GENARO ARMAS, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - A member of the Federal Communications Commission said Thursday the agency should investigate whether conservative commentator Armstrong Williams broke the law by failing to disclose that the Bush administration paid him $240,000 to plug its education policies.

Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein, a Democrat, said the agency has received about a dozen complaints against Williams.

"I certainly hope the FCC will take action and fully investigate whether any laws have been broken," Adelstein said at the commission's regular monthly meeting.

Williams said that neither he nor any of the stations that carried his syndicated program violated the law because two one-minute ads that aired during the show, and that also promoted the law, specifically stated they were paid for by the Education Department.

"I was not engaged in any public relations in this campaign. It was strictly advertising," Williams said by phone. "I'm not concerned about this witchhunt because I know that I've done nothing wrong, nothing illegal."

None of the other commissioners responded to Adelstein's statement during the meeting. Afterward, both FCC Chairman Michael Powell, a Republican, and David Solomon, who heads the agency's enforcement bureau, declined to comment.

Generally, the FCC reviews letters and complaints before determining if there should be an investigation. Powell said he had not seen the complaints filed against Williams.

Williams, a nationally syndicated radio, print and television personality, was paid by the Education Department to promote the No Child Left Behind Act. The contract required Williams' company to produce radio and TV ads that promote the controversial law and feature one-minute "reads" by Education Secretary Rod Paige.

The deal also allowed Paige and other department officials to appear as studio guests with Williams.

Adelstein also called on the FCC to investigate a radio station programmer in Buffalo, N.Y. who was fired by Entercom Communications Corp. for breaking the station's rules against taking gifts from business contacts. He said it may be part of a recent increase in so-called "payola" violations.

Specifically, Adelstein said the Buffalo case and Williams' contract could be possible violations of federal telecommunication law that requires disclosure of any payment or gift for airing any material for broadcast, like a radio disc jockey being paid to play a particular recording.

An investigation could also extend to the stations that carried the program if the broadcaster knew in advance of Williams' arrangement but did not make that clear to viewers, aides to Adelstein said.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=513&ncid=691&e=4&u=/ap/20050113/ap_on_go_ot/fcc_williams


It would be so great if the FCC has to turn around and bite it's own ass! This needs to be fully investigated so we can who else on BBB's reading list is on the dole.

[DrMaddVibe]

Dean Campaign Made Payments To Two Bloggers

By WILLIAM M. BULKELEY and JAMES BANDLER
Staff Reporters of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
January 14, 2005; Page B2

Howard Dean's presidential campaign hired two Internet political "bloggers" as consultants so that they would say positive things about the former governor's campaign in their online journals, according to a former high-profile Dean aide.

Zephyr Teachout, the former head of Internet outreach for Mr. Dean's campaign, made the disclosure earlier this week in her own Web log, Zonkette. She said "to be very clear, they never committed to supporting Dean for the payment -- but it was very clearly, internally, our goal." The hiring of the consultants was noted in several publications at the time.

The issue of political payments to commentators has become hot following disclosures that the Bush administration paid a conservative radio and newspaper pundit, Armstrong Williams, $240,000 to plug its "No Child Left Behind" education policy.

With the growing importance of blogs -- short for Web logs -- Ms. Teachout said she thinks bloggers need to rethink their attitudes toward ethics. A blog is an online personal journal or series of postings, dealing with just about anything. Millions of people use blogs to post diatribes, rants, links to other sites and erudite analyses hourly, daily or sporadically. Some make a little money by selling ads. The Dean campaign's adroit use of the Internet helped make its long-shot effort credible.

Ms. Teachout's posting shook the confidence of many people in the blogosphere, as many bloggers like to call the online community. Bloggers have been quick to criticize the unspoken biases of mainstream media, and they helped expose the questionable documents used by CBS News in a report about President Bush's National Guard experience.

The partisan Democratic political bloggers who were hired by the Dean campaign were Jerome Armstrong, who publishes the blog MyDD, and Markos Zuniga, who publishes DailyKos. DailyKos is the ninth most linked blog on the Internet, according to Technorati, a measurement service, and in October, at the height of the presidential campaign, it received as many as one million daily visits.

The two men, who jointly operated a small political consulting firm, said they didn't believe the Dean campaign had been trying to buy their influence. Both men noted that they had promoted Mr. Dean's campaign long before they were hired and continued to do so after their contract with the campaign ended.

Mr. Zuniga said they were paid $3,000 a month for four months and he noted that he had posted a disclosure near the top of his daily blog that he worked for the Dean campaign doing "technical consulting." Mr. Armstrong said he shut down his site when he went to work for the campaign, then resumed posting after his contract ended.

A spokeswoman for Mr. Dean said the two bloggers hired by the campaign did nothing unethical because both disclosed their connection to the Dean operation.

Ms. Teachout said the campaign never explicitly asked the bloggers to promote Mr. Dean. But she said the Dean campaign wanted to keep them from shifting to rivals. Ms. Teachout said she has been raising the issue as part of a broader push on her part to get bloggers who are also consultants to publish their client lists. She said that as more people have turned to bloggers for news, she came to the conclusion that bloggers "have an active responsibility to be absolutely transparent."

--Jeanne Cummings contributed to this article.

Write to William M. Bulkeley at bill.bulkeley@wsj.com and James Bandler at james.bandler@wsj.com

[ODShowtime]

Originally posted by DrMaddVibe
Mr. Zuniga said they were paid $3,000 a month for four months and he noted that he had posted a disclosure near the top of his daily blog that he worked for the Dean campaign doing "technical consulting." Mr. Armstrong said he shut down his site when he went to work for the campaign, then resumed posting after his contract ended.

A spokeswoman for Mr. Dean said the two bloggers hired by the campaign did nothing unethical because both disclosed their connection to the Dean operation.


and that's why it's ok

[DrMaddVibe]

I smell hypocrisy!

[Nickdfresh]

Originally posted by DrMaddVibe
I smell hypocrisy!

I think this is far more common place than one might suspect. At least they admitted it! Political operatives have way overemphasized the power of the blog.

[ODShowtime]

Originally posted by DrMaddVibe
I smell hypocrisy!

There's a big difference between whether you admit your compromise clearly to your audience or not. That said, it's a shame anyone needs to be paid to shill policies. That said, there's also a big difference between when candidates do it and when president's administrations do it.

Let get back to the main point: Both of these fellows clearly disclosed their ties, Armstrong did not.