Some attempted smears are so special in their inanity, it’s tempting to pause to appreciate just how stupid they are. They’re almost impressive in their idiocy, so you want to treasure it as an example of what a determined far-right news outlet is capable of.
Take this fine example from the far-right Washington Times, by way of Greg Sargent.
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. […]
Still, the mostly conservative retired officers, industry executives and current defense officials interviewed by The Washington Times cite Mr. Obama’s lack of experience in national security. They also point to his determination to pull American combat units from Iraq at a time when a troop surge has reduced violence, damaged al Qaeda and allowed the Iraqi government to progress toward Sunni-Shia-Kurd reconciliation.
“We’re very concerned about his apparent lack of understanding on the threat of radical Islam to the United States,” said retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Thomas McInerney, who is pro-Iraq war and a Fox News analyst. “A lot of retired senior officers feel the same way.”
The article in the right wing paper went on to argue that Obama has been “privately derided” for his stated belief about pursuing high-value terrorist targets in Pakistan, which the Times suggests the Pentagon rejects. (It’s an especially odd claim, given that Obama’s position is the same as the Pentagon’s, and the Pentagon has recently taken advantage of the policy to launch a successful attack on Abu Laith al-Libi last month.)
But given that the Washington Times, a project of cult-leader Sun Myung Moon, suggests military concerns about Obama are widespread, we should probably take a closer look at who, exactly, has these fears.
The article quoted exactly one — one — Obama critic in the military, which doesn’t exactly speak to widespread fears. And who is retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Thomas McInerney?
In 2006, it was McInerney who insisted that Russian Special Forces entered Iraq before the invasion and moved Saddam’s WMD to Syria.
In 2002, McInerney assured Americans the war in Iraq “will be a war that is shorter than” the 1991 Gulf War, which lasted 42 days.
In 2005, McInerney insisted that terrorists no longer feel the need to attack inside the United States because we have “leftists in America who have aided and abetted the enemy more than Tokyo Rose did in World War II.”
The man is a sad, right-wing, unhinged activist. That the Washington Times could only quote one retired military official, and they dug up McInerney to smear Obama, suggests Obama is in pretty good shape.
As for the stable members of the military, retired Air Force Gen. Merrill A. McPeak, who campaigned for Bob Dole in 1996 and George W. Bush in 2000, recently concluded that Obama is “what the joint chiefs want to see — somebody they can rely and depend on.”
McPeak told the Times, “I think Obama is going to be an outstanding commander in chief, not just an ordinary commander in chief. He has the potential to be one of the all-time greats. I think the senior military will learn that about him starting from the first minute he occupies the Oval Office.”
He doesn’t sound especially “fearful.”