Payola hits the blogosphere

If you were running a political blog, it'd be pretty devious to take cash from a candidate and then write nice things about him without telling your readers, right? If you let them know about the relationship, readers would be able to judge your posts on their merits, fully aware of potential bias.

There have been cases where prominent bloggers go on hiatus to work for a campaign, but what about bloggers who keep posting while working for a politician? The man behind the unfortunately-named right-wing blog 'Ankle Biting Pundits' accused Markos Moulitsas of doing just that. Calling the story a "scandal" equal to the Armstrong Williams affair and Moulitsas a "paid shill" for Howard Dean, he failed to note that the Kos proprietor had clearly posted on the front page that he was doing some work for Dean. A disclaimer visible to all readers.

You can probably already see it coming. The reactionary blogger in question has now been revealed to be on the payroll of John McCain's PAC while he was writing favorable pieces about McCain. Without informing his readers.

It was actually the National Review Online that took the blogger to task. Unfortunately, they didn't mention his hypocritical and dishonest attacks on Moulitsas. It is the National Review, after all.