Liberal "Rush Limbaugh" Took Armstrong Williams Style Payoff

This doesn't excuse the egregious journalistic sin of Armstrong Williams, of course. The poor man has basically thrown his career away, and he'll likely never work in the media again (at least not much, and never again prominently). And that's probably well-deserved, alas.

But it is always interesting to note how the legacy media is supremely interested in conservative scandals. In similar liberal scandals-- not so much:

News that radio host/columnist Armstrong Williams was on the Bush administration payroll had liberals and even a few conservatives outraged last week, with critics saying there's no way they can trust that the pro-Republican commentator's comments hadn't been bought and paid for.

So we're wondering where their outrage was last year when radio host Ed Schultz - the much celebrated "liberal Rush Limbaugh" - admitted he was on the air thanks to the generosity of the Democratic Party.

Here's the March 2, 2004 exchange between Schultz and "Today Show" interviewer Jamie Gangel - which seems to have escaped the notice of media critics everywhere.

GANGEL: It is no secret that you are on the air for the next two years because Democratic donors have put up $2 million to launch this. Can you really say what you think?

SCHULTZ: Well, I had it written in our agreement that I'm not beholden to anybody.

Oh, well, it was "written" in their "agreement." Case closed.

I'm just hearing about this now, of course. I wonder why. And I don't wonder at all why this will be the last time I hear about this.

Question: Will Oliver Willis accuse Schultz of "shucking and jiving" at the behest of "massively-funded organizations"? (See the comments for his quote, and my rebuttal.)

posted by Ace at 01:39 PM

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