I was reviewing some of the news stories I missed last week and this one caught my eye. The General Accounting Office, the nonpartisan investigative arm of Congress, found that Department of Education violated federal by paying Armstrong Williams and Ketchum, Inc., a PR firm, to tout the No Child Left Behind Act.
Dignity and honor echo in my mind from a 2000 presidential candidate, but these tactics are hardly either. Rather than let its agenda "stand on its two feet", an ex post facto salvo by Bush this year, the government, with our tax dollars, created what appeared to be news segments to praise NCLB and also analyzing whether the public made the association of GOP/Education/Good.
I'm not interested in hearing whether Clinton did this or worse, former President Clinton is that, former, as in no longer in office and what did then is done. Regardless of who does it, it is wrong and deceitful. With such strong backing from a bevy of News Corp entities willing to sing along, it's really sad that the DOE had to pay to get good coverage. But then again this administration tries to control/script everything so this just seemed natural.
Al
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