Magicians use something called "the diversion" to make their magic. So do people trained in PR.
In the wake of Armstrong Williams' surprising revelations about taxpayer money, there has to be a diversion, a blurring of what we saw and what we think we saw.
Update [2005-1-15 23:47:11 by kiwifruit]: changed name to "Journalgate"
This is an old, old PR tactic - when you want to draw attention away from a mistake your client has made, flood your media with a similar but harmless story. Here's my prediction:
The Kosgate story is going to clear Kos, at least with the reality-based community. This is as it should be.
However, people have funny, blurry memories for details. Kos' "clear" status and Williams' corruption are going to get mixed up. That's the point of breaking the Kosgate at this time: to blur what we saw with what we think we saw.
So while clearing Kos' good name is important, it's also important to keep the Williams ball in play, and keep poking to see who the other pundits are in Williams' hint that he wasn't the only one.