"Williams. . . instead offering a patronizing little lecture about how Williams himself had developed what he called "a close friendship" with both McCaffrey and Downing, and could therefore assure us that "these men are passionate patriots" who would never offer anything but the most honest and forthright assessments."

THIS IS WHAT A GOVERNMENT CONTROLLED PRESS LOOKS LIKE!

I think by now it goes without saying - don't trust any story broadcast on ANY American TV network (yes that includes CNN and MSNBC too - seen Rachel Maddow's militaristic opening credits?). And tread cautiously even with the foreign media.

Interesting overview, Glenn; and thx for the "The Nation" story link from 2003. Wow.

I would point out that PBS has been unfairly excluded from this discussion. PBS NewsHour had a 12-minute discussion on the Pentagon media program the DAY after the Sunday NYT piece in April.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/media/jan-june08/tvgenerals_04-24.html

(Of course, the commercial networks were invited to the NewsHour segment, but they, ahem, "declined.")

I'm unfamiliar w/ Tina Brown. Do you think she has any "clout"? I liked this bit, right before she went all ga-ga over Rachel

The Meet the Press panel...

...needs fewer "Washington insiders" and more genuinely informed outsiders. ...And for the top spot, how about going way outside the box? How about bringing in the cool forensic skills of a David Boies? Or the fresh intelligence of a web star like Josh Marshall or Glenn Greenwald? Or the political/policy smarts of a journalistic intellectual like the Guardian’s Michael Tomasky?

General McCaffrey has been absolutely committed to objective, non-partisan public commentary on national security issues since "911". He is proud of his association with NBC. His on-air commentary is based solely on his personal convictions and experience.

Check Google for the association of Rumsfeld and McCaffrey. You will find 14,000 hits nearly all hostile to the arrogance and mismanagement of the Rumsfeld War on Terror. Hardly the stuff of someone "shilling" for the Pentagon. Hardly the actions of someone trying to ingratiate himself with DOD contracting authorities on behalf of his business interests. General McCaffrey is not a lobbyist. His focus in business is on understanding and explaining the national policy environment. When he sees a concept that would support military interests - he does, of course, recommend it to national defense leaders. General McCaffrey is an expert on national security.

He is not a reporter. He is an American war hero from Vietnam (where he was wounded in combat three times) - and the first war with Iraq during Desert Storm. Both his son and daughter served as Army officers.

He routinely is invited to testify to Congress on national security issues. He interacts with the intelligence community, foreign governments, academia, the defense industry, and all elements of the US Armed Forces. He is widely respected as a public commentator of great integrity and balanced views. Mr. Barstow has tried to create a false picture.

The real General McCaffrey is explained by his 37 years of public service to include four combat tours - which he continues now as a businessman, academic lecturer and writer, and media national security expert.

sysprog already found, virtually verbatim, your "facts" on McCaffrey's website.

Per chance, is this you?

http://www.weinerpublic.com/

Your 'confusion' comes from the part that sysprog didn't quote:

Statement BR McCaffrey Associates, LLC in response to New York Times article by reporter David Barstow 30 Nov 08.

Contact: Robert Weiner Associates ATTN Bob Weiner Email weinerpublic@comcast.net weinerpublic@comcast.net Tel. 301-283-0821 or Cell 202-329-1700

What is it like being a propagandist whore for the Military Industrial Complex and the drug warriors?

Is it hard to sleep at night being the mouthpiece for everything that Eisenhower warned us against?

Several hits there state that GE left the nuclear biz years ago. They have scaled down their energy holdings as well.

My point wasn't to defend GE. My point is to suggest that it is probably not so simple as GE being a defense contractor. From what I've seen, their defense contracts have been for non-combat military planes. They're recent focus has been the locomotive industry. They have been known in the past as a solid investment and economic indicator because of the diversity of their holdings; some fear they are ready to tank. The company made very little money off the war--especially when compared to proper defense contractors. They actually lost money in the first quarter following the Iraq war, which again suggests a really crappy business model, or very little activity in it when compared to its other holdings.

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D06E5DF1239F931A15752C1A9649C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=1

The paradigm--NBC protects its parent company's military holdings--is probably not enough to explain either its pro-Iraq cheerleading, or, indeed, its cable network leftism.

http://weinerpublic.com/

ROBERT WEINER ASSOCIATES
PUBLIC AFFAIRS AND ISSUE STRATEGIES
PO Box 28271
1750 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, DC 20038-8271

* * * * *

http://weinerpublic.com/Radio_Introduction.htm

Bob Weiner, a national issues and public affairs strategist, has been spokesman for and directed the public affairs offices of White House Drug Czar and Four Star General Barry McCaffrey, the House Government Operations Committee and Chairman John Conyers (D-MI), Congressman Charles Rangel (D-NY) and the House Narcotics Committee, and was Chief of Staff for the House Aging Committee and Chairman Claude Pepper (D-FL). He also was Legislative Assistant to Ed Koch of New York and a political aide to Ted Kennedy (D-MA) for his Presidential and Senate races. Bob worked at the Democratic National Committee at the Watergate as youth voter registration director in 1971-1972 when the constitution was amended to allow 18-year olds the vote.

Since he left the White House in 2001, Bob heads up a public affairs and issue strategies company, Robert Weiner Associates. He is a regular political analyst on Radio America, Westwood One, and XM and has appeared on Bill Maher, CNN Crossfire, Today, Good Morning America, and the CBS, NBC, and ABC evening news. He is widely published in columns he writes on national issues in major papers throughout the country including recently the Miami Herald, Christian Science Monitor, New York Daily News, Baltimore Sun, Cleveland Plain Dealer, Atlanta Constitution, New York Post, Washington Times, Sacramento Bee, Palm Beach Post, Salt Lake Tribune, Minneapolis Star Tribune, and Adweek. He is also regularly quoted in key media coast-to-coast, including the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, USA Today, AP and Reuters, concerning the presidential campaign and national issues.

* * * * *

I smell panic.

McCaffrey is vulnerable, and Capus has a problem which is also an opportunity. (Capus can claim, "Hey, I'm shocked, shocked!")