Bush aide Dan Bartlett is known for trying to spin his way out of a jam, but I’m pretty sure he slipped yesterday on Meet the Press.
Russert brought up the still-entertaining Armstrong Williams scandal (Armstrong-Gate? Hmm…) and the fact that the taxpayer-financed propaganda may go even further.
Russert: Mr. Williams said that other journalists have also received money to promote administration policies. Will there be an investigation by you or will you be willing to present to the American people any other journalists who have received money?
Bartlett: I’m sure there is a review going on within the administration to determine just that.
Russert: There is?
Bartlett: I believe there to be.
If true, Bartlett would have been making news with such an admission. Williams got paid and says others were too. The president has said he doesn’t want to see his administration use similar tactics in the future. But an administration-wide review? If this were truly underway, why has there been no announcement?
Naturally, an inquisitive press should follow-up with requests for far more information. If there is a review going on within the administration, which Bartlett suggested is already underway, who’s heading up this review? When was it initiated? If this went to cabinet agencies, what, exactly, were they instructed to find out? Will the results of this review be released to the public?
As a factual matter, I suspect Bartlett was trying to bypass Williams-related questions altogether. In all likelihood, there is, in fact, no administration review to determine anything. Indeed, Bartlett was hedging literally seconds after making the claim, going from being “sure” about the review to saying he “believes” one is underway.
Sounds like Freedom-of-Information-Act requests will still be the only way to know who’s getting paid to say what.