2005-01-13T17:09:01Z2005-01-13T17:09:01ZPayola on my left, payola on my right2005-01-13T17:09:01Z<p>I don’t have anything particularly insightful to add to <a href="http://blog.lordsutch.com/?entryid=2369">Robert’s post</a> on Armstrong Williams below, except to note that everyone’s <a href="http://www.beggingtodiffer.com/archives/2005_01.html#002282" title="KOS ON PAYOLA">now abuzz</a> that America’s favorite lefty blogger-slash-political consultant, Markos Moulitsas Zúniga, was <a href="http://zonkette.blogspot.com/2005/01/financially-interested-blogging.html">on the Dean campaign’s payroll</a>; the <cite>Daily Kos</cite> founder <a href="http://instapundit.com/archives/020436.php">draws distinctions between himself and Williams</a> in an email to InstaPundit, as does Jerome Armstrong of <cite>MyDD</cite> fame. Being on the government’s take and on a campaign’s take are two different things—that said, I’d expect those who condemned the <a href="http://powerlineblog.com/archives/008873.php">Thune v. Daschle guys</a> to also come down hard on Kos and Armstrong for their ties to the now-defunct Dean campaign.</p>
<p>The issue of payola in general is a sticky one; for example, I was asked to review a textbook to give suggested revisions for an upcoming edition a while back, a book I’d planned on using anyway (although I hadn’t placed any orders yet)—but if I hadn’t made that decision before the review, would the $150 they paid me have influenced the adoption decision? I can’t honestly answer that question “no,” although I’ve also reviewed other textbooks that I’d never use in a million years.</p>
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