Michelle Malkin: RODNEY PAIGE, ARMSTRONG WILLIAMS, AND THE "PAY TO PANDER" SCANDAL

It stinks. From USA Today:

Seeking to build support among black families for its education reform law, the Bush administration paid a prominent black pundit $240,000 to promote the law on his nationally syndicated television show and to urge other black journalists to do the same.

The campaign, part of an effort to promote No Child Left Behind (NCLB), required commentator Armstrong Williams "to regularly comment on NCLB during the course of his broadcasts," and to interview Education Secretary Rod Paige for TV and radio spots that aired during the show in 2004.

Williams said Thursday he understands that critics could find the arrangement unethical, but "I wanted to do it because it's something I believe in..."

Jonah Goldberg weighed in early here.

I'll add this: Rod Paige should be fired. Those who came up with this disgusting scheme should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Any other pundits who accepted money from the Bush administration, whether from the Education Department or any other bureaucracy, should come forward now and disclose. And then they should immediately return the money.

Grow some principles, for God's sake.

Update: Armstrong Williams revealed on The O'Reilly Factor tonight that Tribune Media Services has dropped his syndicated column.

Now, it's time for someone in the Bush administration to suffer consequences.

You betcha!