White House: Armstrong Williams case was isolated incident

[Cocoa]

Scotty also says Williams should have kept his mouth shut about the arrangement...

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=400271

<snip>

"Questions have been raised about that arrangement, it ought to be looked into, and there are ways to look into matters of that nature," McClellan said. The spokesman did not say precisely who should look into it, and stopped short of backing an inquiry by the department's inspector-general, as some lawmakers have sought. He noted that department lawyers have taken up the matter.

McClellan said the news media "ought to be reporting in an objective, unbiased and fair manner."

<snip>

McClellan said he knew of no other contract in the administration like the one Williams had. He also hinted that Williams shared the blame.

"There are also questions about whether or not this commentator should have been disclosing the information publicly," McClellan said.

More…

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. Translation, we now admit to paying the stenographers

to carry our line.

Thanks for the confirmation Scottie

[fertilizeonarbusto]

2. HAHAHAHAHA

Yup, and I'm straight. Thanks for that big faux pas, Armstrong, but, just who else is on the payroll?

[VegasWolf]

3. Getting caught was the isloated incident! n/t

[trotsky]

57. LOL, exactly what popped into my head!! n/t

[UpInArms]

58. here's where they were "caught" before

Education Department Tracked Whether Papers' Coverage Was Pro-Administration

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000663563

Published: October 11, 2004 11:30 AM EDT


WASHINGTON (AP) The Bush administration paid for rankings of newspaper coverage of the No Child Left Behind law, a centerpiece of the president's domestic agenda. Points are awarded for stories that say President Bush and the Republican Party are strong on education, among other factors.

The news ratings also rank individual reporters on how they cover the law, based on the points system set up by Ketchum, a public relations firm hired by the government.

The Eductation Deparment has also promoted its education law with a video that comes across as a news story but fails to make clear the reporter involved was paid with taxpayer money.

The government used a similar approach this year in promoting the new Medicare law and drew a rebuke from the investigative arm of Congress, which found the videos amounted to propaganda in violation of federal law.

The documents and video emerged through a Freedom of Information Act request by People for the American Way, a liberal group that contends the department is spending public money on a political agenda. The group sought details on a $700,000 contract Ketchum received in 2003 from the Education Department.

...more...

The criminal mal-administration has been doing this ever since they stole office.

[Overseas]

67. Kick and raise you one

I remember millions dedicated to TV ads to convince seniors the medicare "reform" was gonna be great ... Those famous reglar folk ads... But perhaps the HMOs privately funded those through the billions they stand to make on the "reform" ?

[UpInArms]

71. you mean these

http://webserve.govst.edu/users/ghrank/Political/Not-So-Great%20Expectations/medicare_ads.htm

WASHINGTON — Mock news reports produced and distributed to local television stations by the Bush administration to promote the Medicare prescription drug program violated a provision of federal law that prohibits the use of taxpayer funds for "covert propaganda," the General Accounting Office determined Wednesday.

The GAO, the investigative arm of Congress, noted that the administration had labeled its entire "video news release" package so that the 126 television stations receiving it would know that it came from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and its parent agency, the Department of Health and Human Services.

But that fact was not apparent to the 41 million senior and disabled Medicare beneficiaries who were the target audience of the "purported news story," which included the voices of off-camera production company employees identifying themselves as Washington reporters, the GAO said in a decision signed by General Counsel Anthony H. Gamboa.

"Nothing in the story packages permit the viewer to know that Karen Ryan and Alberto Garcia were paid with federal funds through a contractor to report the message in the story package," the agency said. "The entire story package was developed with appropriated funds but appears to be an independent news story."

<snip>

The GAO also found that the department had violated a second law, the Antideficiency Act, against using federal money for unauthorized purposes. Since "covert propaganda" is illegal, the GAO said, there were no funds authorized to produce it. The packages cost $43,000 to make.

...more...

[Darknyte7]

4. Suuuuure it was...

[UpInArms]

5. STFU Scottie - you pig

McClellan said the news media "ought to be reporting in an objective, unbiased and fair manner."

and how does that work when you are freakin' buying the whores all over the place?

P.S. Scottie, your further statement that you "don't know" of any other bought and paid for whores only shows how freakin' much of a liar you are.

:argh:

:grr:

[KansDem]

23. Did he really say this?

...the news media "ought to be reporting in an objective, unbiased and fair manner."


And his tongue didn't fly right out of his mouth?

[KittyWampus]

29. McClellan Is Correct. The News Media SHOULD Be Reporting In An

objective, unbiased and fair manner...

Since they're overwhelmingly corporate whores giving the Neo Cons a free pass I absolutely agree.

[coreystone]

63. No! You Have It All Wrong!!!....

Scott's nose is supposed to get longer. Don't you understand anything!!!

:silly:

[Name removed]

6. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[lalajohns]

61. lol

very funny

[The Backlash Cometh]

66. How much do you want to bet that Armstrong is going to be the new

David Brock?

[wicket]

7. I bet they are lying...

...but that really goes without saying.

[cruadin]

8. Not according to this article at the Nation......

http://www.thenation.com/capitalgames/index.mhtml?bid=3&pid=2114

[0007]

45. I indeed enjoy reading David Corn. Thank you for the link!

[Name removed]

9. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Cocoa]

11. Armstrong will "clarify" his remarks

he's now negotiating his fee for doing so...

[shanti]

37. ahhhh

so he wants to take others down with him in his fall? whatta guy. :eyes:

[fob]

10. UH OH! Someone's off script - Armstrong says different...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x2931027


Edit: Damn it! I was having cut and paste problems so I ended up THIRD with the wittiest retort of the day!

[qanda]

38. You have to read into what Scotty really said...

McClellan said he knew of no other contract in the administration like the one Williams had.

In other words, there may be others and he just doesn't know about them.

[fob]

60. The ABC has determined "The White House" is McClellan?

Title of story at link;

White House: Williams Case Was Isolated

[prodigal_green]

12. God, you don't need to be a semiotics expert

to parse everything he said. He doesn't know about any other contract LIKE the one Williams has means there are dozens of contracts out there with slight variations.

There are also questions about whether or not this commentator...means that the commentator will be brought up on charges of disclosing state secrets, as everything the chimpministration does is secret.

And uh, when are our tax dollars going to be refunded?

[goclark]

21. Refund with interest and jail time

is needed for Armweak Williams and the other crooks.

Surprise, surprise -- O'Liely, Novak ,Russet, Mitchell, Woodruff, Scareborough and on and on.


Let's get ready to rumble!

[medeak]

13. Is there any self awareness at all?

There are also questions about whether or not this commentator should have been disclosing the information publicly," McClellan said.

Jeeessuuuuus...doesn't he see the irony?

[ohtransplant]

14. "Armstrong's wrong.

No One else took the money...Really...It's the truth...I swear. You know me...What are you looking at? Do I have a booger?

Any way, he wasn't supposed to tell you. He 's a very bad man and we're gooood, very, very gooood...

Now why don't you run along and report what we tell you to."




On edit; sp

:crazy: :crazy: :crazy: :crazy:

[Democrats_win]

15. What about Novak and the Medicare propaganda campaign too?

[Just Me]

27. What about all the HOs HOing WMDs and "terra, terra, terra" and SS

and the great economy and the "CLEAN Air act" and on and on and on?

[sam sarrha]

16. whoever signed the check and whoever OKed it should lose their jobs.PERIOD

[fob]

17. And Scotty's way behind too. Check out this thread for Rummy's comment

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x2930713

[brentspeak]

18. Note the hidden message directed at other, as-yet unnamed, paid-off shills

Hidden message -- or veiled threat?

[Journeyman]

19. Abu Ghraib was an isolated incident, too. . .

(except for all those other times and places we tortured people).

[htuttle]

20. "Paid Liar Swears They Do Not Pay People To Lie"

Honest.

[mountainvue]

22. Bullshit. We need someone to investigate this guy hard and

see how far the money trail goes.

[sniffa]

24. sure it was

you fiLthy suck whores

[WMliberal]

25. Hah, so McClellan believes he should have continued lying about it then?

By isolated, he means Williams and several others. Only a few million of our dollars, right? :argh: :puke: :argh: :puke: :argh: :puke: :argh: :puke: :argh: :puke: :argh: :puke:

[davidinalameda]

26. bribes should be kept quiet

what an asshole

both of them

[Bouncy Ball]

28. WHERE IS THE OUTRAGE????

Get little Scotty's smarmy ass over here, I want to smack up that bitch.

And while we're at it, HEY BUSH you DICKHEAD!!! THAT MONEY ISN'T YOURS TO GIVE OUT AS PAYOLA TO JOURNALISTS TO FORWARD YOUR PROPAGANDA!!!!

If this isn't BLATANTLY wrong on so many levels, I don't know what is.

Fucking disgusting. The only way they must sleep at night is by not having a SHRED of a conscience or any sense of decency.

I will laugh my ass off the day I see these fuckers all get what's coming to them.

Karma's a BITCH.

[leftchick]

44. "where is the outrage?"... you must be joking!

The administration lies Daily, about Everything! Hell we are in a WAR because of Lies! There is no outrage in this country over any of their crimes! None!

:grr:

[Bouncy Ball]

50. THERE SHOULD BE!!!!!!!!!!

THERE SHOULD BE!!!!!!!

Take it to the highest rooftop, fuck the media, let's figure out a way to get the outrage OUT THERE.

So many people agree, but they look around and they see no reaction.

Reactions fuel reactions.

Let's start some.

[Skittles]

73. currently the "outrage" is being expressed over 4 CBS employees

nt

[LibDemAlways]

30. If the WH presstitutes had even a shred of

integrity the room would have exploded in laughter when McClellan let loose with the "objective, unbiased and fair" bullshit. As it is, they probably all line up with their hands out when the cameras are turned off.

[flordehinojos]

31. The sad thing is that the full story of who is getting paid will never

see the light of day...unless the journalists themselves turn on each other, or on GWB.

You keep a dog belly's full of food and beer and he will never turn against you.

[ihelpu2see]

32. normal operating procedure, lie, cheat and steal just dont tell

anyone..... So, who would be on the hook for this one. The ex-Education czar or Karl Rove maybe.... I want some heads to roll in this POS admin.!

[Tempest]

33. BUSH IS A FARKEN LIAR

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 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 since called the ads illegal)
http://www.cnn.com/2005/ALLPOLITICS/01/07/bush.journalist.ap/

[havocmom]

34. They only paid Williams off? Some sort of affirmative action thing the WH

is doing to encourage more pundits of color? :eyes:

Hey, did Williams claim the bribe $$ on his tax return? Is there a special line on the form for bribes and illegal payoffs? Any chance we could pressure the IRS into more audits for pundits?

Audits for Pundits
would make a great bumper sticker.

[Cats Against Frist]

35. It seems like there's an element of this story that people are overlooking

If it's criminal, it's criminal -- let them prosecute the fuckers. But part of the success of the Bush administration, and Republicans in general, is that they distance themselves, to an extent from some of the right-wing pundits. Kind of like the Swift-Boat vets -- "that's a terrible thing they did to John Kerry, but we didn't pay them to do it (only our big donore did..yuk yuk)."

I think there is an angle to this that needs to be boosted -- what exactly is the relationship between right-wing pundits and the administration, and the Republican party? I mean -- we can use their "style-over-substance" attacks, right back at them. This is a way to pin the Bush administration with the "loony right," as being responsible for its message, and the success of the Republican party, due to daily trashing, ridiculing, appeals to emotion, lies, distortions and sensationalism.

Just pull some of the most hateful quotes from the right-wing pundits and say: "Is this the official opinion of the White House?"

The Republicans would have the balls to do it, if the situation were reversed.

It's a bad enough story, by itself -- but it can get a hell of a lot worse if we can publicize some of Rush's, Hannity's -- and especially Coulter's -- comments, et. al., and ask the question: "Is this the official opinion of the Bush administration?"

And if they say no -- how can we be sure?

[Overseas]

69. Kick-- interesting approach !!

Did they pay this guy? Did they pay that guy? Did they pay that poisonous gal?

Sure they deny it, but... We heard Scott say Armstrong should not have talked about his contract...

[Liberal Veteran]

36. And there are WMD in Iraq!

:eyes:

[Ganja Ninja]

39. "Williams is to blame" "He should have kept his mouth shut."

There ought to be an independent investigation and even a special prosecutor to look into this and determine what laws have been broken. Who else has been paid and have the spokes-whores in question been claiming their ill gotten gains on their income taxes?

It's clear to me that the Bush's would like to pin the whole thing on Williams and let it go at that. That seems to be what the media would like as well. This is just the tip of the iceberg and the Democrats should be all over this. Oh, and don't be surprised if a few of them aren't on the payroll too. The name Zell comes to mind.

[mtnester]

40. As I sit here and pick a flying pig out of my tangled hair

I just had a huge power surge at my desk...

must have been that heavy duty shredder kicking on in DC.

[murray hill farm]

41. Was what Armstrong did illegal? Or just unethical?

it is being treated as an ethics issue..but is it illegal? If it is, what is the discussion about? If it is illegal, why discuss "if" he should be indicted..and "if" whoever arranged for and paid for the service, should be indicted as well. i don't understand why this administration can commit crimes..and when caught, have a discussion about ethics.

[Cocoa]

43. more likely the Education Dept. violated the law

just a guess, this is similar to the Novak situation, in that the journalist (loosely in both cases) isn't the one committing the crime, but the goverment agents are the ones in the wrong.

[murray hill farm]

47. In the wrong,criminally...or ethically!

If criminally in the wrong...why are they not indicted?

[Cocoa]

48. criminally

and if they're not indicted it's because we don't have a real Atty General.

[murray hill farm]

51. Where is the outrage??????????

We as a people..we have let this happen to us..and continue to watch it happen in front of us..like it is some bad movie and not our lives and our country.

[Cocoa]

52. People for the American way is organizing action

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=109x17214

[murray hill farm]

54. Thanks, Cocoa!!

apprediate that info!!

[wildwww2]

59. Because this is not a Democratic administration. We can only indict

criminals if they are non GOP.
Peace
Wildman
Al Gore is My President

[realFedUp]

42. likely more weapons of media deception

why are we surprised.

[ninkasi]

46. Lying is apparently a prerequisite to being in the Bush administration

OK, it's been obvious from the beginning to us here on DU how sleazy the neocons are. This is proof, and I certainly don't think Williams is the first journalist who takes bribes from them. Remember Karen Ryan, who posed as a journalist to promote the Medicare drug plan? She's the owner of a PR firm, hired by the administration to gain acceptance of the plan.

http://www.disinfopedia.org/wiki.phtml?title=Karen_Ryan

These people will lie, cheat, steal, and kill to stay in power. For those who voted for the little snot because they think he has superior values, and is oh, so moral, my advise is to wake up.

[sjgman9]

49. Scotty, your'e full of shit

your'e damn right he should be disclosing information. I dont want my taxpayer dollars going to conservative propaganda at home. or a halliburton blank check

[Skidmore]

53. My hubby's hiney...

how transparent can you get?

[mattclearing]

55. Hahaha...What an ass.

Non-disclosure agreements don't apply to illegal practices.

[gatorboy]

56. Best way to find who else is on the payroll....

Check how much their opinion of Bush policies have changed in a short time. I found one of William's earlier column's from 2002 where he's pretty critical of Bush's education policy:

http://groups-beta.google.com/group/soc.culture.cuba/browse_thread/thread/2d0a488fc66daac1/2969a408345bd77e?q=%22Armstrong+Williams%22&_done=%2Fgroups%3Fq%3D%22Armstrong+Williams%22%26start%3D30%26num%3D10%26hl%3Den%26ie%3DUTF-8%26lr%3D%26as_qdr%3D%26as_drrb%3Db%26as_mind%3D1%26as_minm%3D1%26as_miny%3D1981%26as_maxd%3D31%26as_maxm%3D12%26as_maxy%3D2004%26safe%3Doff%26&_doneTitle=Back+to+Search&&d#2969a408345bd77e

But a nice chunk of taxpayer dough seem to fix that pretty quick!

[rodeodance]

62. NOW-scotty wants a media that is unbiased, etc. etc!!! what a bunch

of crapo!

....McClellan said the news media "ought to be reporting in an objective, unbiased and fair manner......

[eek MD]

64. How long till this is forgotten?

Yet another CRIME.....and i'd be willing to bet that nobody will be punished for it. In a week it'll probably be off the radar. Ahh, it must be nice to have total immunity....*sigh*

[Overseas]

68. CBS CBS CBS --- oooh --- EOM.

[The Backlash Cometh]

65. Good. They're on record.

[Skittles]

70. NOTHING TO SEE HERE, MOVE ALONG

LYING BASTARDS

[JerseygirlCT]

72. And the torture in Iraq was just a few bad eggs....