Armstrong Williams

Conservative pundit Armstrong Williams:

Seeking to build support among black families for its education reform law, the Bush administration paid a prominent black pundit $240,000 to promote the law on his nationally syndicated television show and to urge other black journalists to do the same.

The campaign, part of an effort to promote No Child Left Behind, required commentator Armstrong Williams “to regularly comment on NCLB during the course of his broadcasts,” and to interview Education Secretary Rod Paige for TV and radio spots that aired during the show in 2004.

Williams said Thursday he understands that critics could find the arrangement unethical, but “I wanted to do it because it’s something I believe in.”

I’m pretty sure that when he refers to “something I believe in,” Williams means sucking $240,000 off the government’s teat, not NCLB. After all, if he liked NCLB so much, there would be no need to pay him to shill for it.

I wonder who paid him, and how much, for this piece of crap?

AB