Pundit payola

My gut tells me that the public sector media payola scandal is only the tip of the iceberg. The Bushists paid Armstrong Williams, Maggie Gallagher, and Michael McManus to shill for their programs. They continue to use outreach money to sell their programs to unwary recipients.

Where did they get the model for pundit payola? The kleptocrats in charge of the government think they own it and can do what they want with it, but their mantra of many generations is that government should be run like a business. How about Richard Mellon Scaife's Arkansas Project? He gave the American Expectorator piles of money to dig up or make up dirt about Bill Clinton. Is there any reason whatsoever to think the subsidy of wingnuts stopped there?

Are there a thousand right-wing pundits and reporters who matter? Subsidizing all of them to the tune of $1000 a month would cost only $12,000,000 a year - chump change for the ultraconservative foundation mafia.

Originally posted on DailyKos.