The New York Times, in its last Thursday editions, reported how, at a recent Howard University forum on the future of blacks in the Democratic Party, embattled conservative commentator Armstrong Williams “had to take a few licks at the start. The Rev. Al Sharpton cracked the first Armstrong Williams joke, reminding Mr. Williams to disclose that ‘you get paid for being here.’

“'I get paid for being here,’ Mr. Williams replied ruefully. ‘Thank you very much.’" 

Such barbs are now characteristic and unsurprising, considering the uproar sparked by the Jan. 7 revelation by USA Today that Williams, a one-time nationally syndicated columnist and staple on political affairs shows, had accepted $241,000 from the U.S. Department of Education to promote the No Child Left Behind Act and solicit interviews with former Secretary of Education Rod Paige among black punditry.     more >>