Bush administration paying independent commentators

Independent
By Andrew Buncombe in Washington
27 January 2005


The controversy over the Bush administration paying money to supposedly independent commentators reignited yesterday when it was revealed that another syndicated columnist had been paid to promote the president's policies.

Maggie Gallagher, a regular media commentator on so-called family values, admitted she had received an undisclosed payment of $21,000 from the Department of Health and Human Services to promote Mr Bush's $300m initiative to encourage marriage. She received a further $20,000 to write a report about the government initiative for a private organisation.

Writing in 2002, for instance, for the right-wing National Review Online, she said: "The Bush marriage initiative would emphasise the importance of marriage to poor couples and educate teens on the value of delaying child-bearing until marriage. carry big payoffs down the road for tax-payers and children."

Last year, in appearances on television, in columns and with newspapers she defended Mr Bush's proposal for a Constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. Her website currently carries an article which claims evidence from Sweden suggests gay and lesbian married couples are more likely to divorce than heterosexual couples.

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/story.jsp?story=604941

Can anyone be held acocuntable? The entire media is OWNED by the white House.

My guy just back from Afghanistan sez Rush is on 3 times a day but more and more troopers are not buying into his crap....