I'll go ahead and mention it.

[slugshooter]

Surprisingly, noone has mentioned the fact that the Bush Administration paid Armstrong Williams $240,000 to "sell" the No Child Left Behind Act to the black community and they have paid Maggie Gallagher $21,500 and Mike McManus $10,000 to promote George Bush's beliefs as far as marriage goes. These activities have been ruled as propaganda and are illegal according to our laws to pay for them with our tax dollars, but somehow, the "liberal" media that hates Bush so much has failed to push this to the forefront and I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that none of ya'll heard anything about this on Fox News. Regardless of what you think of Bush, he broke the law.period.

[TreeStandBowHunter]

[ QUOTE ]
Surprisingly, noone has mentioned the fact that the Bush Administration paid Armstrong Williams $240,000 to "sell" the No Child Left Behind Act to the black community and they have paid Maggie Gallagher $21,500 and Mike McManus $10,000 to promote George Bush's beliefs as far as marriage goes. These activities have been ruled as propaganda and are illegal according to our laws to pay for them with our tax dollars, but somehow, the "liberal" media that hates Bush so much has failed to push this to the forefront and I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that none of ya'll heard anything about this on Fox News. Regardless of what you think of Bush, he broke the law.period.

[/ QUOTE ]

You know what, I don't care what political party you are from or who I voted for, they are all crooked one way or another. You do not get to become president without breaking some laws and you do not stay president for a 2nd term without breaking laws. I voted for Bush ONLY and I stress ONLY because I didn't like what Kerry stood for but Bush is just as crooked as Ted Kennedy

[fisherguy]

I saw that on the news and obviously it is not something to be proud of. But hey, i bet ya Clinton, Bush Sr., Reagan, Carter, ....and all the others did the same thing.

[Norm Sauceman]

I wonder what the Dem's did under tha table this past election year too? Two sided coin..they are ALL crooked in one form or another.

[OJR]

Yep, I saw it and don't like it one bit!

But the bottom line is that the world certainly isn't going to end because of it! Yes it was reported on Fox news and I watched the whole thing! Disgusting is what it is!!

[markyj987]

Let me start out by debunking the Maggie Gallagher thing. First of all, she SHOULD have disclosed that she did that type of work. However, she is primarily a marriage expert and not a journalist, though she does write a column. She was hired by the Bush Administration to do consulting work---she was NOT paid to write this or that in her column.

In her own words from the O'Reilly Factor:
"What actually happened is that in 2001, I was approached by HHS officials, who told me, Maggie, we don't have anyone here who's got the expertise. You have on the marriage and social science evidence on its importance. Can you do some brochures for our clients on what parents and why marriage matters? Can you write — help us draft an article for Wade Horn's signature on the social science evidence that marriage matters? And can you attend an in-house meeting with our regional managers..."

As I said, she should have known to disclose it, but she did nothing inherently wrong, so I will take her word for it.

-----------

Mike McManus was paid $10,000 to train marriage counselors. There is nothing wrong with that--or with a private citizen doing consulting work. However, like Gallagher, he SHOULD have disclosed it.

-----------

The two above LOOK bad, but really there is not much to those stories--digging in a little more shows they're barely newsworthy.

However, the Armstrong Williams thing is VERY troubling. They purchased air time during his show and aired propaganda and ads featuring Rod Paige.

His company was paid to produce propaganda ads for the DOE. That doesn't appear ethical at all. But what REALLY crossed the line is that part of the deal included live, on-air time with DOE officials---THAT is what's really wrong about this. Williams' syndicator has fired him.

Bush denied any knowledge of it. I really think Bush is an honest man and did not have any knowledge of it, but anyone in the DOE who did should be fired. Paige is already gone, but any leftover staff that knew should be fired.

Like I said, the Gallagher and McManus were simply poor judgement, but NOTHING blatantly unethical. What Armstrong did WAS unethical--and those responsible on the government side of it need to be axed.

[Texan_Til_I_Die]

I'm still uncertain if what Williams did was actually illegal. As to unethical, why would it be unethical to get paid to promote something that you actually believed in and supported? Seems to me it would be unethical if you were paid to promote something you DID NOT believe in??? Isn't this just another form of lobbying or advertising?

I'm open to arguments here if there's some flaw in my logic...

[ruttinbuc]

Speaking of DOE marky, did you attempt to shoot any?

[wtnhunt]

I did see something on this on the news not too longback. Pretty sure Mark is again right on track with what I heard. Dont think there was any laws broken in regards to this, just some attempts to make the situation look bad in an attempt to draw negative attention towards this administration.

[ParrotHead]

I'm still wondering exactly which law Bush broke????

[wtnhunt]

[ QUOTE ]
I'm still wondering exactly which law Bush broke????

[/ QUOTE ]

About the only laws I think he himself broke were back in his younger years, which he has admitted to.

[LifeNRA]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Surprisingly, noone has mentioned the fact that the Bush Administration paid Armstrong Williams $240,000 to "sell" the No Child Left Behind Act to the black community and they have paid Maggie Gallagher $21,500 and Mike McManus $10,000 to promote George Bush's beliefs as far as marriage goes. These activities have been ruled as propaganda and are illegal according to our laws to pay for them with our tax dollars, but somehow, the "liberal" media that hates Bush so much has failed to push this to the forefront and I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that none of ya'll heard anything about this on Fox News. Regardless of what you think of Bush, he broke the law.period.

[/ QUOTE ]

You know what, I don't care what political party you are from or who I voted for, they are all crooked one way or another. You do not get to become president without breaking some laws and you do not stay president for a 2nd term without breaking laws. I voted for Bush ONLY and I stress ONLY because I didn't like what Kerry stood for but Bush is just as crooked as Ted Kennedy

[/ QUOTE ]

What about the 14 million Kerry still has from his campain???? Hmmmmmmmmmmm, wonder what he will be doing with this money??? I wish now I would have not deleted that email! GRRRRRRRRRRRRR


Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

[slugshooter]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I'm still wondering exactly which law Bush broke????

[/ QUOTE ]

About the only laws I think he himself broke were back in his younger years, which he has admitted to.

[/ QUOTE ]

Bush's admissions went something along the lines of this " When I was young and foolish I did young and foolish things." Well, you know what, I did foolish things when I was young and so did everyone else, that admission is more along the lines of " I tried it and didn't like it. And I didn't inhale." That was a political admission. An admission would be " Yes, I did snort cocaine, I got high as a kite, but I wouldn't recommend it and I know I was wrong for doing it." or even better " Yes, I was a lush and got a DUI in Maine but it was covered up. " Saying you did foolish things when you were young is an admission of having a normal childhood.

[markyj987]

[ QUOTE ]
I'm still uncertain if what Williams did was actually illegal. As to unethical, why would it be unethical to get paid to promote something that you actually believed in and supported? Seems to me it would be unethical if you were paid to promote something you DID NOT believe in??? Isn't this just another form of lobbying or advertising?

I'm open to arguments here if there's some flaw in my logic...

[/ QUOTE ]

What Williams did was not illegal at all. It was unethical because he was paid to interview certain individuals by the DOE and did NOT disclose that to his listeners. I don't offend easily, but as someone who listens to a TON of talk radio, I'm very upset and think it was a betrayal of his listeners' trust.

I'm honestly not sure if the Department of Education broke any laws, but I do not think they did. If what they did is not illegal, it SHOULD be. The government should NOT be in the business of peddling ideas using our tax dollars--whether or not the ideas are right in my opinion. Government play a vital role in giving information to the public, even rightfully so in some cases. However, to use the air waves as they did with Armstrong Williams was an abuse of power.

Democrat or Republican, I don't care....heads should roll for what happened with this.

[markyj987]

[ QUOTE ]
Speaking of DOE marky, did you attempt to shoot any?

[/ QUOTE ]

The only two I saw were borderline for range and uphill from me and wouldn't be a safe shot. In a word, my season....sucked. At least the weather was nice though...lol