One of Hillary's Generals is a paid Fox News Pundit, Pentagon Propagandist

[Ichingcarpenter]

From the Hillary Clinton website:

"The Clinton campaign today announded the addition of 36 new co-chairs to the Veterans and Military Retirees for Hillary Committee. Newly edorsing members of the committee include Lt. General Joseph Ballard, Lt. Generl Robert Gard, Lt. General Don Kerrick Major General Paul Eaton, and Major General Robert Scales.

http://www.democrats.org/page/community/post/jacobclark/Cr7W

Now who is this guy?

What the Pentagon Pundits Were Selling on the Side: Propaganda Meets Corporate Lobbying

The Pentagon launched its covert media analyst program in 2002, to sell the Iraq war. Later, it was used to sell an image of progress in Afghanistan, whitewash the U.S. detention center at Guantanamo Bay, and defend the Bush administration's warrantless wiretapping, as David Barstow reported in his New York Times expose.

But the pundits weren't just selling government talking points. As Robert Bevelacqua, William Cowan and Carlton Sherwood enjoyed high-level Pentagon access through the analyst program, their WVC3 Group sought "contracts worth tens of millions to supply body armor and counterintelligence services in Iraq," reported Barstow. Cowan admitted to "push hard" on a WVC3 contract, during a Pentagon-funded trip to Iraq.

Then there's Pentagon pundit Robert H. Scales Jr. The military firm he co-founded in 2003, Colgen, has an interesting range of clients, from the Central Intelligence Agency and U.S. Special Operations Command, to Pfizer and Syracuse University, to Fox News and National Public Radio.

Of the 27 Pentagon pundits named publicly to date, six are registered as federal lobbyists. That's in addition to the less formal -- and less transparent -- boardroom to war-room influence peddling described above. (There are "more than 75 retired officers" who took part in the Pentagon program overall, according to Barstow.)>>>snip

http://www.prwatch.org/node/7282

Pentagon Pundit Scandal Broke the Law

The Pentagon military analyst program unveiled in last week's exposé by David Barstow in the New York Times was not just unethical but illegal. It violates, for starters, specific restrictions that Congress has been placing in its annual appropriation bills every year since 1951. According to those restrictions, "No part of any appropriation contained in this or any other Act shall be used for publicity or propaganda purposes within the United States not heretofore authorized by the Congress."

As explained in a March 21, 2005 report by the Congressional Research Service, "publicity or propaganda" is defined by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) to mean either (1) self-aggrandizement by public officials, (2) purely partisan activity, or (3) "covert propaganda." By covert propaganda, GAO means information which originates from the government but is unattributed and made to appear as though it came from a third party.

These concerns about "covert propaganda" were also the basis for the GAO's strong standard for determining when government-funded video news releases are illegal:

http://www.prwatch.org/node/7261

[cliffordu]

1. Excellent work....

Now we know who we're really up against

[Ichingcarpenter]

3. The CIA and Fox?

Lawbreakers? Propagandist? Lobbyist? Liars? The Military Industrial Complex?

I don't know where to start.

[cliffordu]

6. Eisenhower warned against the military-industrial complex.

You could say that it's any corporate interest with an office on K street

[Texas Hill Country]

55. and worst of all.... NPR!!!!! OMFG@!@@@*@(@(Y*

[davidinalameda]

2. what a surprise

you have to wonder if Hill is the candidate that the Bushies are truly supporting

and only endorsed McCain since Hill won't be getting the nomination

[Ichingcarpenter]

4. I'm sure they go with

what their masters tell them to do.

[Ichingcarpenter]

5. Don't forget to kick and nominate... N/t

[cliffordu]

8. K AND R

:kick:

[Ichingcarpenter]

11. Check out McCain's disclaimer on his youtube commercial

Youtube link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fO18Oap3iqM&eurl=http://swingstateofmind.com/?p=63

[Cali_Democrat]

7. Also take a look at Hillary's chief foreign policy advisor, Richard Holbrooke

He's a Neocon Iraq war hawk. Hillary is surrounding herself with people that were all for the Iraq war and she claims she is going to change things? Put that together with her Iraq war vote and her talk of obliterating Iran. No Hillary 2008.

[KittyWampus]

33. is this guilt by association? Don't bite my head off! Trying to get perspective cause this seems rea

really kind of off-putting.

If we went through Obama's advisors, we might find some rancid nuts.

[Cali_Democrat]

38. The chief foreign policy adviser of a candidate for President is much more relevant

than a candidates pastor or neighbor. Wouldn't you agree?

Holbrooke is her CHIEF foreign policy adviser right now. Obama's advisers, especially on foreign policy, aren't nearly as hawkish.

Someone posted an article here from the NY Times about the striking difference between the foreign policy advisers. It basically talked about how Clinton's advisers were supportive of the Iraq war and Obama's were opposed.

I'm too lazy to find the article right now as I'm watching basketball and reading DU, but if I find it I will be sure to send it to you.

[mmonk]

49. Yep. A major reason I'm for Obama.

[Zhade]

9. k/r

NT!

[Duke Newcombe]

10. Proud to k/r into Greatest - eom

Duke

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

12. but he'll sleep soundly in the Lincoln bedroom, you can bet

no conscience, no loss of sleep.

[Ichingcarpenter]

30. What he did is break Federal Law so I think he'll have

another bed to sleep in.

[Cha]

45. Not in Obama's admin

he won't.

[MADem]

13. One of Obama's generals, Merrill McPeak, whose claim to fame was

creating an idiotic Air Force uniform that everyone hated (the doorman suit) and got dumped as soon as he scampered, was a strong Bush supporter and campaigner.

Looks like everyone has an idiot in the 'war chest.'

[Zachstar]

16. Screwing up a Uniform design is much less of an issue than being a paid pundit of the pentagon.

[MADem]

23. You actually think that's all the guy did?

I know that people make fun of the USAF, but that's not all he did.

You don't, apparently, know who the guy was.

[Zachstar]

24. And I don't care because being part of a plan to twist the news is much worse for America.

Screwing up decisions means you get replaced or asked to quit and that is that. Being part of a plan to twist news to help gain support is MUCH worse.

You can't spin this.

[MADem]

56. He's not a pundit only because he sucks on camera, and he had that DUI.

Not because he's "better." He missed the gravy train, because he was a bit of a dipstick.

[Brundle_Fly]

17. I don't care if My Generals don't have a fashion sense.

I do if they are propagating a war machine, and the corporations that are fueled by it.

[MADem]

22. Your assignment

is in post 21. If you really do care about that war machine, that is.

[Cali_Democrat]

18. So fashion sense is more important than being a paid propagandist

for the pentagon war machine that kills hundreds of thousands? :eyes:

[MADem]

21. Who said that? The guy was in the Bush family pocket for years.

He had a hand in all that "war machine" crap you're so HORRIFIED by all of a sudden.

But, ah, you feel McPeak, with all his positions on boards and committees, has somehow "come to Jesus" .... and you believe him?

If fashion were his only sin, that would be one thing. This guy was USAF COS, not a pencil pusher. He studied war, and sent people off to fight, too.

Here are a few things to string together, when you're bored, curious about the war machine and your candidate, and wanting to google: Barack Obama, General Dynamics, Crown family.

General Dynamics, FWIW, is a company whose main business is that WAR MACHINE you're chatting about.

It's all they do.

Enjoy!

You won't be :eyes: if you actually do your homework...

:hi:

[Zachstar]

25. That is NOTHING compared to twisting public opinion.

You can't spin this...

No he is not great but then again there are few generals that do all that well. That is why they get replaced. Its the way things are.

Yet they have views as well.

[MADem]

27. Didn't do that homework. Otherwise you wouldn't say "this is nothing."

[davidinalameda]

32. well, that's completely the same

creating ugly uniforms is exactly the same as going on national television and pretending to be an impartial expert while using DOD talking points to try and convince the public that the war is going fine

[MADem]

37. Jesus, you don't even know what the guy did while on active duty, do you?

Man, the ignorance here is STUNNING.

That guy ran the USAF, and was in Bush's POCKET. But hey, all that matters is the uniforms (which I mention, as an aside, as the STUPID thing he is "remembered" for--but not his fucking job)...because running an AIR WAR doesn't count!

:rofl:

[davidinalameda]

42. I don't care what he did while on active duty

all I care is what he's doing now

your candidate's been busted and this is all you can come up with

no wonder Hill is doing so crappy with supporters like you

[MADem]

43. Yeah, droppiing bombs for Bush and Obama is hunky dory. NT

[davidinalameda]

44. and using DOD talking points to push the war isn't?

give it up

you're almost as pathetic as your candidate

[MADem]

46. See, I didn't say that. You're playing the "two wrongs" game because you

can't justify the fact that BHO has a BushCo stooge on his defense team. Worse, you didn't even KNOW the guy's bona fides.

Put words in my mouth, and then call me pathetic? Yeah, there's pathetic up in here, all right. But it ain't me.

And I won't cast aspersions on your CANDIDATE, either. That's just a childish and angry way of responding when one doesn't have an actual answer.

[LeFleur1]

35. Yabbut

We try to keep the Obama affiliates in the closet. Wright, Rezko, Farrakhan...etc.

Outta sight, outta mind until he goes up against the Republicans...and loses because of it.

[druidity33]

41. sorry MAD

he doesn't sound at all like an idiot to me.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Merrill_A._McPeak


sounds like a former Rethug who is anti-stupidwars.


:shrug:

[MADem]

48. Reread what I wrote.

His idiocy had to do with his effort to create a failed new USAF uniform. He was hanging curtains while the house was on fire.

Between his undiplomatic, intemperate, and pretty stupid foreign policy remarks, and the fact that the guy is apparently unschooled on the simple rule that you don't drive under the influence of alcohol (I wonder how many ART 15s he oversaw for subordinates who did the same thing over his career?), old Merrill is hardly a shining example of a military mind. And in that context, he is not helpful to ANY politician, no matter what side of the aisle the plonk their ass down on. Look at his track record--Bob Dole, Howard Dean, John Kerry--his only "winner" so far is George Bush--and what a "winner" he picked. What does that say about him?

[druidity33]

53. yeah but

he hasn't made millions selling the American public on the war. He was AGAINST the war, and despite what you say (with the exception of the Uniform debacle), he is WELL respected among Military personnel. One of the VERY FEW Air Force officers who was not an Armageddon freak.

I saw no mention of inartful foreign policy remarks in the 3 articles i read, just a general disapproval of the new "uniform". I don't know why they gave him that job anyway, what kind of Military officer designs clothes?

As for the DWI, well, we all make mistakes... and though it's abhorrent, I WILL NOT discount this man's opinion solely because he has made mistakes.


i think you're grasping straws here...

[MADem]

54. He hasn't made millions because no one is "sold" by him. His reputation

precedes him. And not in a terribly good way. When he flipped from GOP to D, it didn't help our team. He's not well respected, even if you say so. He's well "tolerated," as anyone at his paygrade is. I was around when he was COS. He wasn't quite a laughingstock, but he was viewed as a bit of dipshit.

You apparently don't understand that his "job" was that he was in charge of the USAF. All of it. The entire organization. As the operational commander, he took it upon HIMSELF to design a new uniform. Why? Because he COULD. No one GAVE him that job--that was a job he should have given over to someone ELSE, while he was worrying about things like getting aircraft on station and convincing Congress to fund his operational priorities. Never mind a Uniform Board, or delegating that crap to the senior enlisted leadership--he "dabbled" himself. Like a petty dictator. And that SAYS something about him.

I'm not "grasping straws." I'm simply making a point. It's one point of many to be made during the campaign season.

[TexanDem]

14. Wow! What a surprise! K&R

[Zachstar]

15. Whopps!

[liberaldem4ever]

19. K&R

[WillyT]

20. Big K & R !!!

:kick:

[goletian]

26. does this actually surprise anyone? shes a far right plant. - nt

[TragedyandHope]

28. When will this end?

When is enough enough?

:kick:

[Window]

29. K/R.

:kick:

[Scurrilous]

31. K & R

:thumbsup:

[catgirl]

34. K & R

[Ichingcarpenter]

36. You realize this guy is PAID BY THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION to support WAR?

And what he does is illegal?

[blm]

39. Why the surprise - the most famous cheerleader Bush had on Iraq war was BILL CLINTON

and he used his powers of persuasion to convince other Dem lawmakers to support Bush and defended Bush's Iraq strategy publicly in all his high profile interviews throughout his summer 2004 book tour, defending Bush from the very criticisms being leveld at him by OUR DEM NOMINEE.

When, in the history of elections, has the last Dem president so publicly defended the GOP president from the criticisms of the Dem nominee?

[TBF]

40. K&R

[Vinca]

47. Curious the Pentagon Propagandist story never made it to MSM

other than a one line blurb. Guess it's more important to pastorbate.

[MADem]

50. Probably for the same reason that Senator Obama's favorite general

and campaign co-chair, Merrill McPeak, was never covered by the MSM after he got bagged for driving under the influence.

The country just doesn't follow the activities of flag and general officers like retired military personnel sometimes do.

[Vinca]

51. Or good ole Hilbot Sid Blumenthal in NH. Glass houses and all that.

http://wbztv.com/local/sidney.blumenthal.dwi.2.699991.html

[MADem]

52. I wonder how many Article Fifteens old Sid conducted.

The military, particularly the SENIOR LEADER of the USAF, are held to a higher standard.

Or they used to be.