[I wrote (and wrote!) this as a comment responding to Kos's "Pundit Wankery", and decided to diary it.]
I am disgusted and angered to the depth and breadth of my soul about this smear on Kos and Jerome. I think it's just fucking outrageous. I certainly let the WSJ and that turd Suellentrop know the facts, and my opinion.
And when I say "angry" - believe me, I mean it. Geneticists will some day discover that there is a mean gene that rides along with the gene that gave me my fair skin, freckles and red hair, because this redhead has the fabled redheaded temper, and it's been a fight all my life to control it.
I said that by way of emphasizing what I'm going to say next:
Read on!
We say our piece on the correction of the gross factual inaccuracies of the WSJ and Slate, and whoever else spews this. Zephyr too.
Corrections of misstated facts must be made.
And then, we walk away from it. It's hard, God I know it's hard, but we do it.
We must. Why? Because the right wing, Bush, Rove, Novak, et al would like to portray Kos as just like Armstrong Williams, and to minimize the dirtiness of what their administration wrought by suggesting we are also dirty. They'd like to keep the Kos angle of what they see as 'morally equivalent' alive as a red hot story. That would nicely distract from Armstrong Williams and God knows who else got payola like the slime they are.
We can't allow them to have another moment of their frame on this issue. We need a fourfold approach on this.
(1) We redefine Armstrong Williams. He is a whore.
(2) We remind again and again that payment to the whore Williams is a crime, and a crime against our children at that. This crime was driven by Bush's desire to tell lies about NCLB, and to be loved.
(3) We get the facts and keep those facts blazing across the Internet, every day, copied to Olbermann and anyone else who might tell a somewhat fair story.
(4) We make such a racket that a Special Prosecutor is appointed.
First: We have to call Armstrong Williams out as a whore. We have to inquire about O'Reilly. And Novak. And Coulter. We have to see who the other whores are.
Loaded word "whore", isn't it?
When you do for money what you should only do for love, you're a whore.
And that's what Armstrong Williams is. We shouldn't say the name "Armstrong Williams" without adding in the word "whore, prostitute, paid flak, tout, public relations" or something like that. Me, I like calling him a whore.
Second, here's a very strong frame for this: Our public schools were starved of desperately needed money to pay Armstrong Williams for his whoring. Children went without in their learning environment because money was being diverted illegally for public relations. Many of us have kids, grandkids, nieces, nephews, godchildren in public schools. They are the face we put on this. Teachers who struggle on some crappy pay and low benefits are the face we put on this. A school with a leaky roof or no art or music program that could have been funded with $240,000 is the face we put on this. Get creative.
We have to frame this as a crime, not only against public law, but a crime against our children.
And, look at why this was proposed? Why does NCLB need to be publicly embraced? Bush wanted to be loved for it, and Bush wanted us to believe his lies about NCLB. Bush put his need to be adored and loved for NCLB above the needs of the children it was supposed to serve. And he did so criminally. Bush put his ego above the law. Bush is a criminal.
Further, Bush underfunded NCLB, making it an unfunded mandate, and part of the underfunding was so that he could afford $240,000 to put in Armstrong William's whore fund.
NCLB is not a good program, and even if it were, it's grossly underfunded. Bush paid a whore to lie to us that it's a good program.
Third: Information must be gotten. FOIA requests must be filed, hopefully in an organized way. Information must be disseminated in the blogosphere. We document and share everything we find out. We get smart and get medieval on their asses on this. Do what we did with Sinclair, X 100,000.
Fourth: We make such a clamor that a Special Prosecutor is appointed.
This is a crime. Against our children. A crime of Bush's ego and his lies, at the expense of schools.
Bush does not believe in the rule of law.
And I'm sorry that I'm framing this as 'revenge' because revenge is lousy karma, and just lousy, period. But that's what they're seeking on us. We must deny them their revenge by keeping the pressure on the whoring and payola angle. 24/7. No, 25/8.
Let this cool down about Kos. But we keep the heat on the criminal Bush. Which is where the heat has always belonged anyway. Every lie we let him get by with is a shame upon him, and even more of a shame on us.
I do not intend, as a Kos community member, to be shamed as equivalent to Armstrong Williams. And I'm damned if I'll let Kos be shamed either. The real shame would be not in their dirty accusations, but in letting a dirty criminal like Bush off the hook.
We know our job. Get to it.