Demagogue

This editorial in today's Washington Post criticizes the Bush administration for offering no apology for paying a columnist to say good things about its No Child Left Behind program. Buried within the editorial was this related tidbit, which was news to me:

This week Ayad Allawi, the interim Iraqi prime minister, was caught handing out cash to Iraqi journalists to ensure coverage of his news conferences.

Some of the journalists said afterward that the gesture reminded them of Saddam Hussein's regime, which also bribed journalists. Maybe Mr. Allawi was not relying on advice from old Baathists, but from the U.S. Education Department.