Hey, I’m a member of the media! Pay me $240,000 and I’ll say damn near anything. Except that would be wrong. Damn principles and ethics and stuff!
There’s nothing wrong with a pundit taking a stand on an issue. That’s what pundits do. Where Mr. Williams went wrong was taking taxpayer money and not disclosing that. His credibility as a serious pundit is now in question. I’m wondering if he took money from other groups to say good things about them.
I know I’m asking for the moon, sun, stars, and a pony, but the Bush administration should be ashamed of itself for even considering this. But shame isn’t an emotion that comes easily to them.
Interesting issue. And there are two sides to this argument. Anyone interested in having my support on their side should email me with a bid. At the close of business on 1-10-2005, I will join this debate and will offer my full support to the highest bidder.
I am also accepting special bonus incentives for any or all of the following: the posting of spurious data which supports your position; complimentary remarks about you in which I praise your insight and wit; flame posts directing abuse towards your opponents; opening of a second thread if this one dies too soon; and/or inclusion of attributed excerpts from your posts as my sigline.
This is one of those moments in which its just plain tragic that there’s no such thing as a time machine. If so, we could truly go back in time, meddle with history so that it is a Democratic administration that does something like this, and see what wonderful things conservatives on this board would actually have to say about the practice, if they weren’t called to be so defensive of virtually everything their favored administration is up to (albiet, this isn’t entirely their fault: SOMEONE has to prevent the boards from becoming non-stop dreary pile-ons).
Oh, we howled and cryed for 8 years and learned our lesson: Howling and crying doesn’t matter as much as winning elections. You guys will learn too. (Not too quickly, I hope.)
Williams is a B-level pundit and got paid $240,000. I wonder what the A-list guys are making. For that matter, if they are going all the way down to Williams, I wonder who else is on the payroll…
