No, secret payoffs that deceive the public aren't OK (USA Today editorial)

[huckleberry]

Posted 1/9/2005 7:53 PM

President Bush is an eloquent advocate of his 2001 education overhaul known as the No Child Left Behind Act.

snip

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.

snip

Williams now says he used poor judgment. The Bush administration, however, has shown not even a hint of remorse.

snip

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."

more at

http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2005-01-09-williams-edit_x.htm

[MichiganVote]

1. Bush? Eloquent? Remorse? HAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!

[bunkerbuster1]

3. When Bush reads the script

he can be eloquent.

Of course, that's with a three-man team of speechwriters making him sound like he's actually thought about something for longer than a nanosecond.

[MasonJar]

2. Bush cannot even forge together a sentence. Eloquence is la

la land for him.

[sadiesworld]

4. "...similar to some used by the Clinton administration..."

Anyone have some info on this allegation?

[Technocrat058]

5. Even more proof

The White House, and its policies, have come to be run like a corporation. The only problem is the Chairman of that corp. Someone forgot to tell him that he CAN'T actually run a corp. All his attempts have led to failures!