But Democrats aren't the only ones.  Several conservatives are really ticked as well.  As noted yesterday, both Michael King and Booker Rising (they call themselves moderates, but whatever)raised cain about it yesterday.  LaShawn Barber hasn't chimed in on her blog yet, but she did leave a comment on King's blog stating her outrage.  Michelle Malkin called for Rod Paige's head.  After hearing Williams's apology, Booker this morning called for Williams to return the contract money he had been given.

While I definitely understand Tribune's take on the situation, in which they don't appreciate being a vessel for Williams to turn their column into a paid informercial, I think some of the other responses are a bit "extra".

There is no doubt that Williams sullied the reputation of minority conservatives, black or otherwise, by participating in this.  Minority conservatives are constantly being stereotyped as being on the payroll of conservative backers or organizations, exploiting them in order to further their evil message.  Thus, I think King is correct on his outrage.  However, Williams is a grown ass man, who makes his own decisions of which most are unbeknownst to other black conservatives.  What is done between Williams and Paige is between Williams and Paige, not on behalf of the whole black conservative movement.  We need to remember that minority conservatives do not live on some commune, in which all decisions are made with the consent of the group and everyone is affected by a weak link. 

I, for one, am not going to allow Williams's actions - nor any other conservative, for that matter - affect the things I do or the principles I believe in.  I'm not a conservative because I like Bush, or Cheney, or because I think the Republicans and other conservatives are swell people.  I believe in conservative principles - particularly those based on the doctrine of individual liberty as written in the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and the Federalist Papers - and the profound belief that the best government is a smaller and a fiscally sound government.  Those beliefs do not require an alleigance to anyone at any given time.  So let Williams do what he wants to do.

I also don't like to see the gang approach, with everyone jumping on Paige and Williams all at once and blowing it up to a situation more serious than it really is.  Should Paige be fired?  Unless more information comes out in the next few days, no.  I can think of a lot worse incidents involving cabinet members and they only got a slap on the arm.  Should Williams give back the money?  No.  He was paid to do a job, and the job was done.  Just because people didn't like what he was paid to do doesn't mean the government should renege on the contract.  It was the Dept. of Ed's fault that they wasted that money, just like it was the Kerry campaign's fault when they wasted money on Al Sharpton.  In my opinion, the only thing Williams did wrong was in not disclosing that he was paid to speak about the issue.

One thing that should be done is to bar the PR firm Ketchum Inc. from working with any future government agencies or departments.  This is the second time they have been behind questionable PR work on behalf of the government. 

Meanwhile, expect more black conservative bashing like this.  The bigots on the left will continue to rear their ugly heads.

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UPDATE:  Before I have to officiate the warzone that is kids' recreation basketball, let me talk about Payola a bit.

There is a good post up by Instapundit from last night, where he weaved the Williams incident with the controversy over the DaschlevThune blog during the election.  With DaschlevThune and several other blogs covering the elections, they didn't disclose they were being compensated by campaigns of their respective candidates.  In fact, Reynolds co-authored a book, The Appearance of Impropriety, discussing ethics in government.

Once again, disclosure is the key.  I have no problems with Payola as long as you have let it be known that you are being paid for whatever product you are hawking.  In fact, we discussed this in detail within a radio class I was taking last year, and I support it even more there due to the immediate backlash from regular mediums.  If people don't like what's being heard, they'll turn your station off.  It's a little different with political commentators and the like, so disclosure should be mandatory.

Anyway, let me get ready.  I may have more on this later this weekend.

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UPDATE:  Heh.  Booker is on it.  And Michael "Da" King rips Williams a new one.

The Congressional Black Caucus has told Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., that he crossed the line earlier this month when he called Justice Clarence Thomas "an embarrassment to the Supreme Court."

"We wrote a letter to Sen. Reid cautioning him about his comments," incoming CBC Chairman Mel Watt, D-N.C., told radio host Steve Malzberg, who was filling in Wednesday on Bill Bennett's "Morning in America" show. "I think all of us ought to focus more on substance and less on stereotypes and caricatures," Watt said.

Yall, I don't know what's going on, but I'm scared.  Watt actually defending Clarence Thomas?  Did I step into a portal leading into Bizzaro World and didn't realize it?

Also, James Taranto of Best of the Web did a bit of research in response to a follow-up question Reid was asked on CNN show "Inside Politics" on Dec 26th.  Here's how the question went:

Henry: When you were asked on NBC's "Meet the Press" whether or not you could support Justice Thomas to be chief justice you said quote, "I think that he has been an embarrassment to the Supreme Court. I think that his opinions are poorly written." Could you name one of those opinions that you think is poorly written?

Reid: Oh sure, that's easy to do. You take the Hillside Dairy case. In that case you had a dissent written by Scalia and a dissent written by Thomas. There--it's like looking at an eighth-grade dissertation compared to somebody who just graduated from Harvard.

Scalia's is well reasoned. He doesn't want to turn stare decisis precedent on its head. That's what Thomas wants to do. So yes, I think he has written a very poor opinion there and he's written other opinions that are not very good.

Ignore the immature insult by Reid for a minute.  Taranto checked out Hillside Dairy, and found out that Scalia never wrote a dissent on the case.  Therefore, either Reid got the case wrong or he had no clue of what he was talking about.

And judge for yourself whether Thomas's opinion looks like an eighth-grade dissertation (and since when did eighth-graders write dissertations?):

I join Parts I and III of the Court's opinion and respectfully dissent from Part II, which holds that §144 of the Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996, 7 U.S.C. §7254, "does not clearly express an intent to insulate California's pricing and pooling laws from a Commerce Clause challenge." Ante, at 6-7. Although I agree that the Court of Appeals erred in its statutory analysis, I nevertheless would affirm its judgment on this claim because "[t]he negative Commerce Clause has no basis in the text of the Constitution, makes little sense, and has proved virtually unworkable in application," Camps Newfound/Owatonna, Inc. v. Town of Harrison, 520 U.S. 564, 610 (1997) (Thomas, J., dissenting), and, consequently, cannot serve as a basis for striking down a state statute.

I've known eighth-graders who can't even read.  No eighth-grader I've known writes like this.

I'm not going to go as far as Taranto and others who say this is racial bigotry, but I will say Reid would not get away with such comments if it was aimed at a black leftist and not a conservative.  Allowing idiots like Greg Palast and Ted Rall to do it without any repercussions has opened the floodgates to others to make the same stereotypical insults that they would have never gotten away with had they been a Democrat.

I'm home at my mom's right now.  In the morning, I gotta deep fry a turkey, then go to my stepfather's family's house, then take a trip over to my uncle's house and watch a bit of the NBA showdown between Indiana/Detroit, play basketball around 3, go back to my uncle's house after taking a shower and watching some NFL games.

I could care less about presents, or Christmas decorations (although country folk pull out the stops when decorating their yards), or all that other stuff.  This is the time to be around family and friends.  Make the most of it.