 |
 |
 |
| ||
 |
|
|
| ||
 |
|
|
|
||
 |
Recent Columns |
|
| ||
 |
|
|
| ||
 |
Pictures |
|
| ||
 |
Events |
|
|
||
 |
Links |
|
|
||
 |
|
|
|
||
|
||
 |
Main Page |
|
| ||
BY RAYNARD JACKSON
BV Views columnist
The Wrong Side of the Right Side
By Raynard Jackson, BV Views columnist
Any good PR person or political operative knows that during any controversy, get the truth out fast!
Unfortunately for him, Armstrong Williams didn't follow this simple rule. He runs his own PR firm. How could he not follow the advice he surely would give a client found in a similar situation?
The way Mr. Williams conducted himself with the $240,000 contract from the Department of Education to plug its policies gives the perception that he was trying to hide this relationship.
I know Mr. Williams and he is know him to be a decent fellow, but in watching and reading his responses to his most recent controversy, I think he has done more damage to himself than good. Consider this exchange last Friday with Bob Novak of CNN's 'Crossfire.'
NOVAK: "Now, having said that, if you had it all to do over again, this whole situation, what would you do differently, or would you do anything differently?" WILLIAMS: "Well, I wouldn't have the experience I've had today if I didn’t have this experience."
Huh?????
NOVAK: "Now, I just want to add, one other thing is that you are not a member of the congressional daily press gallery, periodical press gallery or radio/TV press gallery. So, you are not officially a journalist and you are not bound by some of the requirements on journalists." WILLIAMS: "You know, that's a good point. Actually, today I was speaking to Anne Applebaum from "The Washington Post," and she was telling me about the rules and guidelines. And I had to say to her, I never knew about the rules and guidelines. They never considered us as serious press and media. I'm a pundit. We syndicate this program.
"But you know something? Let me tell you something. This has been a great lesson for me. I apologize to my audience. I regret the fact that people are impugning my character on an issue that is legitimate. I should be criticized and I crossed some ethical lines. I've learned from this. It will never happen again. But this is a great lesson to me that we are serious journalists. Even though I'm a commentator, I'm not a journalist, I should be held to the same standards, because it impugns the institution that we're so closely associated with."
Impugning his character? It's amazing how things come full circle. The recent flap over Armstrong Williams is enlightening because what goes around, comes around.
Just over two years ago, my good friend, Sen. Trent Lott of Mississippi, made some unfortunate comments that were taken way out of context, and guess who jumped all over him? Armstrong Williams. You can disagree on an issue, but to personalize it like Williams did was unnecessary.
In his column at the time, Williams said, "Then, as now, there was scarcely little condemnation amongst Mr. Lott's colleagues. This needs to change. Our Republican leaders cannot keep squinching their eyes to Lott’s racial insensitivity. As congressmen, they bear a dual responsibility to represent the nation's conscience and to act as respectable faceplates for the party. By giving Lott a pass on his racist-seeming remarks, they've suggested the worst kind of stereotype: that lurking beneath the Republican Party is a private identity that harkens back to a time when blacks were valued only as a cheap source of labor."
He was later quoted in a newspaper story during the same time. Sen. Lott's comments "sent chills down my spine. I thought it was very inappropriate. The room gasped when he said it... I don't see how anyone else can defend it. I am not going to defend it. Republicans cannot run around trying to defend Trent Lott. He should apologize and explain what he tried to say instead of some two- sentence terse statement that he sent out... He has some ignorance that he has to overcome. He has his own issues when it comes to this issue of race."
I don't think what Mr. Williams did was illegal or unethical; it was just plain stupid! Not because he violated this non-existing "journalistic standard," but because he put himself in this compromising position with his explanation. Remember the "Watergate" principle: The cover-up is worse than the crime.
He is on the wrong side of the right side. I hate to see Mr. Williams go
through this, but maybe this is his "Lott" in life.
Reach Raynard Jackson at
raynardjackson@aol.com
Published: 1/12/05