Friday, January 07, 2005
Who Else?
It was revealed today that the Bush administration had paid popular radio host Armstrong Williams almost a quarter of a million dollars of taxpayer money to speak positively about its No Child Left Behind act. While I'm not surprised that the White House would stoop to such a low level in order to promote itself, it does make me wonder: Who else is getting paid?
Really, is it beyond the realm of possibility that if they did it once that they would be willing to do it again. Or is it possible that this is not the first time that this has happened? We already know about the fake new reports that were issued to promote their Medicare prescription plan, so could it be that these are not isolated incidents but parts of a much wider plan? Knowing this administration's penchant for misleading, I would say that the odds are pretty good.
It all seems so Orwellian doesn't it? A government that controls the flow of information. A government that controls the flow of truth. We've already witnessed the Bush administration's revisionist approach to history: Iraq possessed WMD - no wait, we were freeing the Iraqi people from an evil dictator, yeah that's it. Now we're witnessing their control of the news. What we're dealing with here is real life Ministry of Truth (or MiniTru for you newspeakers out there). Basically, the government tells us what to believe.
So I ask again: Who else is getting paid? Could it be Rush? Or O'Reilly? What about Novak? Or maybe Hannity? The next time you see someone on television promoting a Bush administration idea like social security reform, tax reform, or tort reform, will you wonder? Will you question their motivation? Their honesty? I know I will.
Really, is it beyond the realm of possibility that if they did it once that they would be willing to do it again. Or is it possible that this is not the first time that this has happened? We already know about the fake new reports that were issued to promote their Medicare prescription plan, so could it be that these are not isolated incidents but parts of a much wider plan? Knowing this administration's penchant for misleading, I would say that the odds are pretty good.
It all seems so Orwellian doesn't it? A government that controls the flow of information. A government that controls the flow of truth. We've already witnessed the Bush administration's revisionist approach to history: Iraq possessed WMD - no wait, we were freeing the Iraqi people from an evil dictator, yeah that's it. Now we're witnessing their control of the news. What we're dealing with here is real life Ministry of Truth (or MiniTru for you newspeakers out there). Basically, the government tells us what to believe.
So I ask again: Who else is getting paid? Could it be Rush? Or O'Reilly? What about Novak? Or maybe Hannity? The next time you see someone on television promoting a Bush administration idea like social security reform, tax reform, or tort reform, will you wonder? Will you question their motivation? Their honesty? I know I will.
