It's the new Watergate

[Syrinx]

Follow the Armstrong Williams case. Close.

[Merlot]

1. Any good links to fill me in?

[Syrinx]

2. no

But I just mean that this revelation reverberates Watergate. :hi:

Williams' work is the breakin... Look higher.

[bluestateguy]

3. It'll be like every other Bush scandal

Enron, Abu Grahib, Plame, the missing explosives, the August 6th memo, No WMD's, the Medicare bill, and more...

A few days of damaging news coverage, a lot of smoke blowing by penis-deficient Democrats, counterattacks on the accusers by Fox News and the Republican Noise Machine, and then the story just kind of goes away.

[Syrinx]

4. yes

We must strangle it. :)

[shraby]

5. Josh Marshall of Talking Points

is on the story. Finding out a bit too.

[Stand and Fight]

6. Yep...

That is unless we speak up. The events of the 6th prove that we can make a difference. I say we begin to wield that power extensively. After all, many define power as the ability to have influence over individuals or organizations. The piss-poor attitude of rolling-over must cease NOW.

[CubsFan1982]

8. Think Trent Lott and Thurmond-gate in late '02

No one would've heard a peep about it if the blogs hadn't exposed the story. We should keep talking about it and talking about it until it becomes an issue, just like Thurmond-gate.

[pa28]

7. It should be.

Then you consider the way Plame, Enron/Energy task force, torture, Weapons of Mass Destruction, etc. etc. slipped through the media cracks short of actual accountability.

This is a new paradigm. At the risk of sounding like I'm simplifying too much I really think that only the dead girl/live boy scenario would turn into a media scandal with Bush.

The Armstrong Williams case is a complete outrage. But, like the others I'm afraid this will suffer the one news cycle treatment and then disappear.

[bobbieinok]

9. but this time an expendable black man is involved....so he will

get the blame, be the scapegoat

Blackwell was also expendable....but bushco could not afford loss of OH votes, so he didn't have to 'take one for the gipper'

[radfringe]

10. Williams is just one of many

who probably took money or at the very least took "dictation" from the bushies.

Face it folks - just like there isn't any free lunch -- there isn't any free press either.

So where does it go from here? If it was illegal for bushies to pay someone to push the propaganda -- was it also illegal for Williams to take the money? Will there be formal charges or just a slap on the hand.

Currently, the bush* mis-adminstration is passing the blame onto the Education Department, and will pass the blame onto other departments that also went the "PAID-PROPAGANDA" route. No Surprise here that bush* is ducking responsibility and doing their best to avoid accountablility. Ron Paige will probably be given the Medal of Freedom, and the new Education Secretary - Margaret Spellings, will make some "promise" not to repeat Paiges mistake of paying for propaganda -- or at least doing a better job of NOT getting caught for paid-propaganda.

Also no surprise will the when this story fades from the news line-up -- the lap-dogs don't want to viewed as lap-dogs -- they'll bury this story under the bushes. At the moment I'd bet a bag of doggie treats that they have their pencils ready to take dictation on how to report this story.

my predictions: IF it makes it to the Sunday talking-head shows -- it will be blown off. There will be a couple of statements with the mandatory "echo phrases" which "rightously" condemns the practice.

The PAID-PROPAGANDISTS will spin the story as an ISOLATED INCIDENT done by ONE PERSON. Much like Abu-Ghraib was spun when that hit the papers.

If that fails then someone will start blaming Clinton for it all.

[rhino47]

11. You are so right

Its all the fault of that evil clinton penis again.

[radfringe]

12. There ain't no such thing as a Free Press

Over the past few years we've seen stories "break" about various journalists "making-up" stories. This is usually followed by an "apology" from the publications.

Most recently, the New York Times "apologized" for not doing better reporting on WMDs in the run-up to invading Iraq.

And now we have Armstrong Williams. (Williams is not the only one - he's just the one that got caught.)

All this gives the impression it's the work of a "few isolated" people, and it's not a wide-spread practice.

many of us hold the view of the media as being lap-dogs taking dictation or just doing a cut/paste job on a white house "talking-point" memo. Of course the media denies this.

What the "williams" incident reveals is a lack of credibility in today's media. Flashback to an old commercial -- "is it real or is it Memorex?"

What can we believe? Who is just making things up, who is taking dictation and who is getting money for PAID-PROPAGANDA?

From the posts - some are expecting that this will evolve into a "Watergate". Sorry for the snort -- but I don't see this going any further than Williams being "fired". Not only do the bushies have to protect their butts, but the Media also has a stake in protecting their butts. The will probably be a couple of "apologies" - but that's as far as it will go.

The "Free Press" isn't free anymore. There is no credibility remaining in the "Free Press". The NEWS media as we thought we knew it has died. All we have left is the Propaganda Press and lap-dogs who take dictation.

Send the "woofies" a biscuit.