The American Spectator: Giving New Meaning To the Word "Principled"

The covert infiltration of the Occupy Wall Street protest in Washington DC, and the deliberate provocation of guards at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, by Patrick Howley of the American Spectator, a conservative magazine, has been documented both on the magazine's own website and elsewhere. This was, frankly, a despicable episode, and the fact that Howley then boasted openly about his actions demonstrates the utter lack of ethical standards that this publication operates under.

What is almost as disturbing is this message, from a popup box that appeared when I went to the American Spectator's site to read Howley's account of his undercover exploits:

Did you know? that since 1967 The American Spectator has launched the careers of hundreds of earnest and principled reporters?

This was followed by a request for donations to help fund internships for the development of those "earnest and principled reporters" that the Spectator, a tax-exempt nonprofit organization, is so proud of.

Principled? That has to be one of the most coldly cynical adjectives that I have ever read.