This is perhaps the most corrupt administration since Warren Harding, maybe since Ulysses S. Grant. President Bush has proved that graft isn't dead. Tonight's news, however unsurprising, shows once again that there are no limits this administration's malfeasance.

Word leaked out this month that the administration bribed conservative commentator Armsrong Williams to promote its No Child Left Behind law. When pressed by a reporter, then-Secretary of Education Rod Paige admitted that this practice was standard. Howard Kurtz breaks a story in Wednesday's Washington Post which indicates that Bush's payola -- secretly paying members of the media for coverage -- is more widespread than previously believed. In "Columnist Backing Bush Plan Had Federal Contract", Kurtz leads:

In 2002, syndicated columnist Maggie Gallagher repeatedly defended President Bush's push for a $300 million initiative encouraging marriage as a way of strengthening families.

"The Bush marriage initiative would emphasize the importance of marriage to poor couples" and "educate teens on the value of delaying childbearing until marriage," she wrote in National Review Online, for example, adding that this could "carry big payoffs down the road for taxpayers and children."

But Gallagher failed to mention that she had a $21,500 contract with the Department of Health and Human Services to help promote the president's proposal. Her work under the contract, which ran from January through October 2002, included drafting a magazine article for the HHS official overseeing the initiative, writing brochures for the program and conducting a briefing for department officials.

This activity by the Bush administration is worse than unconscionable; it's illegal. Kudos to Kurtz for outing this portion of the scandal, but more must be done. The American people must know exactly how many people were paid for favorable coverage. My guess is that when they do find out the staggering amount of bribery that has taken place, a mere apology -- which we have yet to receive -- will not be sufficient.