John Solomon's Washington Times Presents The Next Obama Smear: Military "Fears" Him
February 26, 2008 -- 12:57 PM EST // //
Updated below.
Here's some more proof, as if you needed it, that our old pal John Solomon isn't exactly having a salutary impact on the journalism at The Washington Times, as his former colleagues assured us he would.
Today's edition of WashTimes rolls out a fresh and newly-minted Obama smear, one we haven't seen before:
Military Fears "Unknown Quantity"Guess how many "members of Washington's military and defense establishment" are quoted saying that they fear this "unknown quantity":Members of Washington's military and defense establishment are expressing trepidation about Sen. Barack Obama, as the Illinois senator comes closer to winning the Democratic presidential nomination and leads in national polls to become commander in chief.
Exactly one. And that one person is a retired Air Force Lieutenant General who doubles as a Fox News analyst.
The piece does quote an Obama ally conceding that senior officers view him "skeptically," and for all I know maybe some members of the military establishment somewhere do view Obama with trepidation. But this piece falls far short of demonstrating anything like the "fear" that it claims military members are experiencing.
What's more, this suggestion in the hed that he's widely feared as an "unknown quantity" comes from a single anonymous source. And it gets even worse than this. The piece quotes a Pentagon official saying anonymously that an Obama win in November "will give the Arab street the final victory, the best optics, and the ultimate in bragging rights. They win. We lose."
Doesn't get much lower than that.
Is it really possible that such gutter journalism tactics would be signed off on by such a great journalist, as Beltway types keep calling Solomon? Shocking, I tell you.
Update: The irrepressible Instaputz has a truly hilarious Solomon memo. And Media Matters nails the above story for another bit of clownish misleading.
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