Where are the pressure points?

W/ a media blackout, the whole goddam situation goes down the memory hole. The Networks don't deign to respond to the classic sternly worded Congressional letter.

What now? Is there ANYBODY in Congress who cares?

I find myself being torn between being aghast at what moral and legal guidelines the U.S. military was willing to stomp over and being impressed at how well they were able to do it. All this does suggest a level of dedicated competence which we don't normally associate with the Pentagon.

And they did it all for a cowardly "C Plus Augustus" (as Charles Pierce calls him). Would they ever have done this for a Kerry, Clinton, or Gore president? It is hard to imagine it even being possible. The ideological brotherhood of movement conservatives within the ranks of the myopic military and the profit-driven media seems to have been a necessary ingredient for this rancid loaf to rise.

I never miss a GG column.

I find myself being torn between being aghast at what moral and legal guidelines the U.S. military was willing to stomp over and being impressed at how well they were able to do it. All this does suggest a level of dedicated competence which we don't normally associate with the Pentagon.

Yes and no. As a commenter pointed out towards the end of yesterday's thread, it wasn't like they had to overcome some huge resistance on the part of the media in order to ensure that these messages dominated. After all, the establishment press is the establishment press because that's their function. They were almost all even more enthralled to the war machine than usual after 9/11 and with the glory of Shock and Awe and Mission Accomplished Day. They revere military leaders and -- for all sorts of reasons -- excluded any real anti-government and anti-war perspectives anyway.

I'd say that this program simply exploited an opportunity arising from the realities of how these networks function, rather than created any new opportunities. Having said that, you're right in your basic point -- they did do this with more competence than one generally expects, certainly more than was demonstrated by the war managers.

What now? Is there ANYBODY in Congress who cares?

Even the better are ones are calling for an internal investigation by the DOD Inspector General. Are you trying to imply that's not good enough or something?

in Iraq after being told by the corporate media for months, over and over, that indeed there WERE WMD in Iraq, I think a majority instinctively realized they had been propagandized into agreeing to a war of aggression. I truly do not think any effort to do the same with Iran will be met with the same lack of skepticism.

Is this yet Another Serious Issue that, ultimately, is going to go nowhere?

Not to dump on your excellent work Glenn, but is all of your hard work and the hard work of countless others just going to make a headline, have Waxman or Conyers have a hearing, and that's it?

As of today, less than 6-months from the election, no real consequences have been paid from anyone in this administration. Scooter walked and that's as close as we've gotten.

Glenn, do you have a sense or any idea of the urgency of this latest scandal? The other one that has a good shot is the Siegelman case.

We are running out of time.

the Pentagon was limiting access to memorial services for the service men that were being exploited by this propaganda scheme. I found it very striking that after never making a feature out of any particular deaths, the one time the Iranians were supposedly involved, Barbara Starr from CNN did a special report on the 5 soldiers that were casualties of that skirmish, including unique accessed video footage of the remains being returned. Barbara Starr ought to be held just as accountable as any of those analysts for mainlining the Pentagon's Koolaid and trying to elevate the Iranian threat as well.

It will remain a difficult proposition for the American People to expect "truth in media" when it appears that the neo-con agenda, the military, and the MSM are all controlled by the same power brokers. This present day phenomenon of single interest reporting is devastating.

...in how they have failed to mount even the most fleeting of defenses.

they simply don't care. it's business as they are doing it, with an administration they feel very comfortable with.

it's revealing that the last time the nets opposed a republican presidential candidate was 1996, when bob dole was running. he had had the temerity of reminding the country in the run-up to the disastrous telecommunications bill that the broadcast airwaves were still the public's, and that the leases to use them could be revoked if the nets failed to live up to their public interest requirements.

it is to the shame of the clinton administration, actually, that the telecom bill was not less of a giveaway to the media cartel. but that's part of the reality of domestic politics in this country now. give the media giants what they want. and don't EVER call them on their negligence or criminal activity.

The ideological brotherhood of movement conservatives within the ranks of the myopic military and the profit-driven media...

That would be an interesting thing to look at right there. How much of the shoddy journalism associated with the military analysts story is due to:

• Profit motive

• Ideological "alignment"

• Laziness and lack of professionalism

I've been assuming profit and laziness, but when Brian Williams professes himself a Rush Limbaugh fan, I have to wonder.

(I don't count Fox News as a journalistic enterprise here...)

...that this is another opportunity to roll out the plan set in play by Glenn, Jane and others wrt FISA. While FISA has not been entirely knee-capped, that campaign was successful at pushing back at Congress. They now know we are paying attention. Why not let them know we are fully capable of multi-tasking as well?

Glenn, will you and Jane be sending out a call to arms on this? BTW, it is a real pleasure to watch you take an issue like this, sift through the raw material, and day by day winnow it down to the finest points with the most exquisite impact.

(Paul in KY and GC: Glenn's column today is as close as one can get to the sound of neocons "splatting" on the ground like tomato worms!)