Day: January 7, 2005

Bush Paid Pundit to Shill for Admin Policies

Jon Ponder

Armstong Williams, an arch-conservative African American pundit (who, incidentaly, was outed by David Brock in his book, Blinded by the Right) was paid by the Bushies to shill the No Child Left Behind Act to black people.

USA Today:

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 (NCLB), 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.”

The top Democrat on the House Education Committee, Rep. George Miller of California, called the contract “a very questionable use of taxpayers’ money” that is “probably illegal.” He said he will ask his Republican counterpart to join him in requesting an investigation.

But you have to wonder how anybody – black, white or purple – would give any credence to the likes of this guy. In other words, more tax dollars wasted.

Bush’s 49% Approval Rating Breaks Low End Record

Jon Ponder

How low can it go? If Bush’s second term is like Reagan’s and others, we’re looking at the high end of his approval ratings. Of course, I predicted it would be lower than 49% because of the world-class bungle by the White House over the Christmas tsunami disaster, but according to the AP, he’s still treading water:

Bush’s approval rating is at 49 percent in the AP poll, with 49 percent disapproving. His job approval is in the high 40s in several other recent polls — as low as any job approval rating for a re-elected president at the start of the second term in more than 50 years.

Presidents Reagan and Clinton had job approval ratings near six in 10 just before their inauguration for a second term, according to Gallup polls.

President Nixon’s approval was in the 60s right after his 1972 re-election, slid to about 50 percent right before his inauguration and then moved back over 60 percent. President Eisenhower’s job approval was in the low 70s just before his second inauguration in 1957.

…

People were evenly divided on Bush’s handling of the economy. They take a dim view of his handling of Iraq (news – web sites), with 44 percent approving and 54 percent disapproving, according to the poll of 1,001 adults. It was taken Jan. 3-5 and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

Even on Bush’s strongest area, handling foreign policy and the war on terrorism, people were evenly split — with 50 percent approving and 48 percent disapproving.