Armstrong Williams: CCWB

USA Today broke the story of conservative black pundit and PR agency owner Armstrong Williams being paid $250,000 to promote the No Child Left Behind Act. It's a big deal to them: They've got a black conservative in their net and they're hoping to filet him soon, and take the administration with him.

Good luck.

Here's the lead of their initial story, on Jan. 6:

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.

Saying "the Bush administration" paid Williams is a huge stretch, an attempt by USA Today to broaden their net. In fact, the PR firm Ketcham paid Armstrong's PR firm the money out of its contract with the Department of Education. So let's see:

Armstrong to Ketcham account person - Ketcham account person to Bureau of Ed functionary -- functionary to Bureau of Ed superior ... and there it stops. The prospects that anyone in the White House, let alone the president, knew of the deal are miniscule. But still, "the Bush administration" is named.

On Fox News this morning, and in earlier print interviews, Williams said (and I'm paraphrasing here), "I was an idiot." His honesty in saying that he should have drawn a solid line between his PR firm and his pundit biz is refreshing, given what we've grown to expect from MSM. Rathergate and Jason Blair come to mind.

All he had to do is acknowledge his contract and he would have been above reproach. But he didn't, and now Williams is busted of that most dreaded of crimes: CCWB -- Commenting Conservatively While Black.