Not on newsstands. On its cover.

That’s the front cover of the July 25, 2011 edition of the Weekly Standard.

Except it’s not.

It’s actually an ad for an outfit called Main Street Fairness, an Astroturf front group backed by Wal-Mart, Target, Best Buy, Home Depot, and Barnes & Noble – all lobbying for a sales tax on e-commerce.

Sure, the Weakly Standard cover is labeled “Advertisement,” but that’s beside the point.

The real issue is this:

When your banner is for sale, readers gotta wonder: What else is?

P.S. The Weekly Standard’s real cover: