Add columnist Mike McManus to the list of commentators who received money from the Bush administration - $10,000 to train marriage counsellors.

But apparently there's been a massive misunderstanding. Here's an excerpt from an Associated Press story on Yahoo! News:

"There's a growing misperception that taxpayers' money is being used to pay columnists to use their position in the media to portray the administration in a positive light. I felt a compelling need to draw a bright line in order to restore the public's confidence that we are not doing that."

That was Wade Horn, assistant secretary for children and families in the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services.

The story made this observation: McManus has written supportively about the HHS marriage initiative in many of his columns since the consulting work began in January 2003.

His column appears in about 50 newspapers.

Previously it came to light that Maggie Gallagher had a $21,500 US contract with HHS to promote its marriage initiative.

Earlier in January, it was disclosed that black conservative commentator Armstrong Williams had been paid $240,000 US to produce radio and TV ads promoting the No Child Left Behind Act (he also owns a PR company).

The contract required him to use former Education Secretary Rod Paige and to talk up the act amongst black journalists.

None of the three had disclosed they had contracts with the federal government.

For a satirical take on all of this, here's Maureen Dowd's NYT column:

I'm herewith resigning as a member of the liberal media elite.

I'm joining up with the conservative media elite. They get paid better.

First comes news that Armstrong Williams got $240,000 from the Education Department to plug the No Child Left Behind Act.

The families of soldiers killed in Iraq get a paltry $12,000. But good publicity? Priceless. ...

I still have many Christmas bills to pay. So I'd like to send a message to the administration: THIS SPACE AVAILABLE.

I could write about the strong dollar and the shrinking deficit. Or defend Torture Boy, I mean, the esteemed and sage Alberto Gonzales. Or remind readers of the terrific job Condi Rice did coordinating national security before 9/11 - who could have interpreted a memo titled "Bin Laden Determined to Attack Inside the United States" as a credible threat? - not to mention her indefatigable energy obscuring information that undercut the vice president's dementia on Iraq.