This past weekend FOX “News” presented a biographical special, “American Commander: Gen. David Petraeus”. The introduction on it’s website reads: “Today’s conflicts require that a modern American general be a student of history. Join us for this special look at the life and times of General David Petraeus from his childhood in Cornwall, New York to his historic mission in Iraq”
The slant is clear and as one would expect from this source. It can be taken as the latest shot in the controversy ignited by Moveon.org’s now famous NY Times ad of September 10th.
On Thursday, the good general received some defense from an unexpected source.
Keith Olbermann, in his closing remarks directed, as they often are, to the current White House resident on his MSNBC show “Countdown” suggested that bush had “… inappropriately interjected General Petraeus into the political dialogue of this nation in the first place, deliberately, premeditatedly and virtually without precedent. You Shanghaied a military man as your personal spokesman…
Mr. Bush, you had no right to order General Petraeus to become your front man. And he obviously should have refused that order, and resigned rather than ruin his military career. The upshot is, and contrary it is to the MoveOn advertisement, he betrayed himself more than he did us. But there has been in his action a sort of reflective courage, some twisted vision of duty at a time much crisis.
The man does not understand that serving officers cannot double as serving political ops is not so much his fault as it is your good exploitable fortune.”
Perhaps in his zeal to attack bush, Olbermann’s defense of Petraeus was inadvertent. His enmity towards bush is palpable, especially to those of us who share the feeling.
Be that as it may, is that defense appropriate, or ill-placed? (more…)