And a big fuck you to Paul Begala as well, who obviously has better things to do then, you know, be prepared for his show.
From Crossfire (via Atrios):
NOVAK: Howard Dean is running for Democratic National Chairman the same way he ran for President-- as the squeaky clean candidate. Well, he may have been squeaky, but he wasn't so clean. Zephyr Teachout who was head of internet outreach for the Dean campaign has revealed the campaign hired two political bloggers to say positive things about Dr. Dean at the price of $3,000 a month-- that's play for pay. Meanwhile, one of the great former DNC chairmen, Bob Strauss, has endorsed one of the candidates, and it is indeed former Congressman Martin Frost, who, like Strauss, is a moderate and a Texan. Will the DNC members be that smart?
BEGALA: I don't know. First, if in fact people were paid to flak Howard Dean and didn't disclose it, that's reprehensible. We talked about that earlier with Armstrong Williams, and the same standard should apply to liberals.
Here are Zephyr's two contradictory points:
1. I hired Kos and J. Armstrong so they would write nice things about Dean
2. Kos and Armstrong should have had "better" disclosures
I call bullshit. If she really hired Kos and Armstrong to get good press for Dean, the last thing she would have wanted is for Kos and Armstrong to disclose that fact.
I'll tell you what she's doing. She's making shit up to try and feel morally superior about herself because she's jealous that she's borderline unemployable while Kos and Armstrong are internet legends.
And of cource, as seen above, this stuff gets lapped up by the ignorant, misinformed, geriatric, somonolent, over-the hill right wing corporate so-called liberal media.
[/rant]
Update [2005-1-14 20:31:4 by pontificator]: O'Reilly's doing the story now. Non-stop slam of Kos. He's got the dishonest Hewitt on as well. Unbelievable crap. There are no words about how dishonest this is. O'Reilly called Kos "corrupt" and "on the take."
JekylInHyde has a more detailed summary of the O'Reilly traffic accident.
Update [2005-1-14 21:35:14 by pontificator]: Or, more specifically, what Steve Gilliard says.
Update [2005-1-14 22:28:45 by pontificator]: Here is the O'Reilly transcript. (follow the links). It's worse than you think.
Update [2005-1-14 23:17:48 by pontificator]: Late night slam on Slate. Characterizes Kos' disclosure about working for Dean as "grumpy." The Mighty Wurlitzer has grabbed hold of this bullshit and isn't letting go.
Update [2005-1-14 23:24:13 by pontificator]: I'm too pissed off to keep updating with the latest articles on this crap. If you're a masochist, you can keep up with the latest here.