This is part of the ongoing series I have going on the NY Times article detailing links between the Pentagon and former military news analysts.

I’ve been a little surprised that nobody on the left has been jumping on top of this. Was it because they figured this was no big surprise and not worth remarking on? Was the article poorly written and completely devoid of facts? What was going on here?

Then I came across this on Huffington Post - Rep. Ike Skelton (D-MO) is angry!

Last Sunday, the front page of the New York Times included a story about the efforts of the Pentagon’s public affairs operation to influence retired military officers now working as military analysts for some of our nation’s largest media organizations.

I am very angry about the issues raised by the New York Times’ story, as are many of my colleagues who have called me aside to discuss it. The story does not reflect well on the Pentagon, on the military analysts in question, or on the media organizations that employ them.

Now, by itself, this didn’t seem particularly portentous. Congressfolk spout off on random issues all the time. This one article, however, has proven to be the seed cloud of what could become a rather nasty little tempest… you see, there was one other blog that read that article as well.

Daily Kos.

After the near media blackout of the New York Times report on the Pentagon program designed to blanket the airways with retired military analysts:

…in a campaign to generate favorable news coverage of the administration’s wartime performance…

…[they] represent more than 150 military contractors either as lobbyists, senior executives, board members or consultants.

…you were probably thinking that yet another Bush administration scandal would fall through the cracks. But fear not, Rep. Ike Skelton (D-MO) is all over it. Bypassing the more obvious methods of raising it on the floor of the House of Representatives, or calling a press conference to denounce a program to peddle propaganda to the American people, Ike opted to go 21st century and blog it. And boy, is he angry!

Now, at this point, I’ll point out that, yes, this article does show that DailyKos has been tracking this issue since at least Monday, which means the left hasn’t been entirely ignoring this. However, it’s only a matter of time before this becomes more of an issue - I mean, think about it. This is precisely the sort of thing these guys feed on - intrigue, conspiracy from a right-wing government that manipulates the media to get us into war… seriously, in about a week here, this is going to be all we’re going to hear about.

As I’ve said before, I don’t think this is entirely as bad as it looks. The article focuses around Rumsfeld’s involvement, and, considering how his career ended, it’s not like his tactics are going to be repeated anytime soon. I also think it makes sense for the media to talk to former military personnel, and for those personnel to have some connections with the Pentagon - it makes a heck of a lot more sense than talking to, say, Cindy Sheehan about the war. At least with former Pentagon personnel, you might have a fighting chance of getting some facts with the spin. Asking for information about an ongoing war from anti-war moonbats makes about as much sense as asking for information on the quality of Kobe Beef from a vegan. I’m hoping that’s why this isn’t being bludgeoned to death by every single left-wing blogger, radio host, cable news host, and the like.

We shall see… and I, for one, prefer to be prepared.

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