The shill.
By trevino Posted in Elections — Comments (2) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
The news that columnist Maggie Gallagher was on the government payroll while she was engaged in punditry at once is and is not comparable to the Armstrong Williams case. It is not comparable inasmuch as, unlike Williams, she has a solid claim to state that she was not paid to promote Administration policies in the course of her punditry; rather, she produced literature and unspecified research for the HHS Administration for Children and Families. On the other hand, it is comparable because this claim is rather disingenuous. Note that the receipt of government funds is not ipso facto unethical: the failure to disclose them in the course of closely related work is. In her rather strange explanation for her failure to disclose her Federal employment to any of her other employers, Gallagher states that the notion simply "never occurred to me." Possibly true; but if so, shockingly naive for a purportedly seasoned social researcher, political writer and policy analyst.
The broader problem here is an apparent emerging pattern of opinionmakers financially engaged by the Administration in ways that have the appearance of impropriety (which, as anyone having sat through Federal appointee ethics lectures knows, is impropriety) and are apparently hidden from the public. It's not merely shady -- it's also inefficient and dumb. What significant demographic was influenced on the Administration's behalf by Williams? By Gallagher? Is there really a shortage of hacks and their betters willing to perform these services for free? The mind rebels at the notion. Coming on the heels of Williams' declaration that he's not the only pundit-recipient of Administration largesse, the question becomes whether the case of Maggie Gallagher is coincidence -- or just the tip of the iceberg.
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The shill. 2 Comments (0 topical, 2 editorial, 0 hidden) Post a comment »
Please, don't delude yourself into thinking that the Administration embodies conservatism, or that its fate is intertwined with that ideology.
This, along with the thousand other mendacious and unnecessary failings of Bush's administration, could end up being one more agonizing gong in the death knell of conservatism. We're talking about something here which could be the equivalent of the Ministry of Information and Enlightenment for crying out loud. Come on; does anyone here really believe that this -- Armstrong Williams and Maggie Gallagher -- is the end of the story?
Believe what you will about the incompetence of the CPA or some of the Administration's flunkies. But would they really be so stupid as to hire just TWO second-rate shills? Of course there are more, and their stories will be yet more mendacious and disgusting.
Oh, the low moaning groan emitted by Lincoln's body spinning in its grave.