So, there’s this Armstrong Williams thing, where he was paid nearly a quarter-million dollars to shill for the No Child Left Behind thing. Pretty egregious, right? But at least you can say, well, minority conservative, paid to sell privileged white boy’s policy to people who aren’t quite as likely to just take everything privileged white boy says on faith. So you figure, at least they’re getting something for their, I mean our, money.

But then there’s this thing that this pundit Maggie Gallagher got paid by Health and Human Services to push Bush administration marriage and family policy. Link here.

Now, it’s much less money we’re talking about, but Josh Marshall brings up the point that this really doesn’t *do* anything. These aren’t people who are likely to push competing policy, and that this really just looks like a make-work thing, where the administration just hands out cash to people they like, and keep them employed. So that’s weird, right? Or is it?

I mean, let’s say there’s no other payola out there – that we’re just talking journalists, at this point, and there’s not egregious amounts of money changing hands. I know it’s unlikely, but it’s not necessary for the point. Let’s say that you’re a journalist. A conservative-leaning journalist, but a journalist nonetheless. Now, let’s say the Bush administration thinks maybe, since you’ve got a head on your shoulders, there’s some chance you’ll actually put 2 and 2 together and come up with 4. They, of course, want you to say 80 million.

Well, maybe it’s just that the public’s gotten lazy, or maybe it’s that Karl Rove is way more of a mastermind than I’d ever conceived. But basically, let’s say he’s instituted a tremendous program that our national media buys into, where conservative journalists, and even marginally conservative-leaning people are essentially told that they don’t have to actually do any work, but they’ll still be kept on the payroll, and to just kick back, relax, and let the cash roll in. Don’t worry about the journalism bit. We’ll tell you what to say – all you need to do is say it, and we’ll take care of all the work that you do. Oh, you’ll still have to print your name at the top of your column, and in some cases, you might even still have to write it yourself. But we’ll take care of the research, and we’ll take care of the fact checking. We’ll even brief you on the specific terms to use, so you won’t even have to come up with the language yourself.

Instead of working, go play a game of golf. Spend time with the kids. You won’t lose your job, because this is really how the institution works, now. Just come in after lunch, and you can have your weekly column banged out by 2:30, out of the office in time to catch a matinee with the kids. Or get high on Oxycontin. Or have phone sex with your producer. Whatever. No problem.

We’ve made the institution such that not only will no one care, all you have to do is ask whether they’re impugning your integrity when they call you on your bullshit. And your defense? “Everyone does it.” Don’t worry – they all do. We own *everyone*.

In essence, I’m saying that I think the *entire* right wing of “journalism” is in on this cash-for-hucksterism scheme. I don’t think they’re getting checks from the government, necessarily (though I’m sure that there will be many, many more that are discovered), but I do think that the government is basically doing their “work” for them, and that these so-called “journalists” are perfectly content to chill out, say what they’re told, and live the high life.