Sometimes, just sometimes, justice is swift

USA Today reported on Friday that conservative black columnist Armstrong Williams had been paid $240,000 by the Shrub administration to promote the so-called No Child Left Behind program on his nationally syndicated TV show and to urge other black journalists to do the same.

That same evening, after it was learned that Williams had also promoted the program in his syndicated newspaper column, Tribune Media Services, which distributed the column, terminated its contract with him, effective immediately. Apparently, there are still outposts of something like journalistic integrity.

The incident is a third known case of illegal use of public money to advance White House propaganda. Back in May, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) ruled that the use of so-called "video news releases" (VNR) to promote Shrub's Medicare drug plan had "violated the restriction on using appropriated funds for publicity or propaganda purposes."

Then second came just Tuesday when the GAO said that VNRs distributed by the Office of Drug Control Policy "constitute covert propaganda and violated the publicity or propaganda prohibition" of federal law.

And now comes Williams.

In response, several senior Dums, lead by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA, 8), have written to the White House demanding an end to the practice of covert propaganda. Fat chance, but at least they said something.

Footnote: Williams claims of his profitable arrangement "I wanted to do it because it's something I believe in."

If it's something you believe in, why did someone have to pay you a quarter-million dollars to get you to say it? Or, put another way, since someone paid you a quarter-million dollars to say it, why should we believe you when you say you really believe it?

Oh, wait, I get it: It's not the program he believes in, it's getting paid big bucks to be someone's mouthpiece. Now it makes sense.