No tragedy is too large for Bill Frist to exploit...
In related news (same article), the administration is backing down from earlier reports that the Social Security Administration is being used to promote Bush's Social Security "reform" proposals. They're backing down as in they're saying that's not what they meant, not as in actually not doing what they're being accused of doing. You know... backing down, Republican-style.
The marketing plan came to light after another agency, the Education Department, confirmed that it had paid a conservative commentator, Armstrong Williams, to promote Mr. Bush's main education initiative, known as No Child Left Behind.
Mr. Bartlett said the administration was conducting a review to see if other journalists had been paid to promote administration policies. "The president has made very clear that there ought to be a bright line between journalism and advocacy," he said.
Mr. Bartlett added, "We do believe we shouldn't be doing these things in the future because for appearance' sake, it does leave a cloud or a distinction over whether somebody is being a journalist or an advocate."
That last quote is just brilliant: "We do believe we shouldn't be doing these things in the future because for appearance' sake, it does leave a cloud or a distinction..."
Outstanding. It's good that they at least believe that they shouldn't be doing what they're doing. Admitting you have a problem is the first step. Not because it's wrong, of course, but because it looks bad.
The print edition of the Times carried a significantly more critical piece, detailing how the administration is using the supposedly independent SSA as an arm of their propaganda machine using - get this - the Social Security trust fund itself to fund the effort. That story has been mostly disappeared from the website, replaced with the more wishy-washy version more than halfway down the page.
As a side note, Jared Diamond has a new book out, Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed. Might want to give that a read while there's still time.
