Speaks in code. Almost as if hiding something. No matter. Must trust him. Blindly.

Glenn, you do know that most of us haven't watched the corporatist media to get our news for years and years, right?

Do people outside the Beltway really trust any of these celebrity talking heads anyway?

I think the vast majority of Americans have grown to assume there's a conflict of interest in all of these "news" shows. Whether NBC explicitly acknowledges the conflicts is almost irrelevant.

I would like to see some of these jokers get tried under a War Profiteering act, if congress can get set aside their priority task of renaming federal buildings for a moment, that is.

How is it disqualified. Everyone here wants those same democratic relationships to be equally disclosed. Is any of your thinking based on solving problems? Or is it all just an excuse to critique the efforts of others? I've never seen you offer even one idea or solution. You are bereft of ideas.

A seller of death and suffering.

A dealer for misery and harm to humanity.

A fucking sorry excuse for a man.

And it is all bought and paid for by NBC.

I'm really glad Brian Williams says "We" when he talks about the American people. After all, he is just like us.

After I wrote that, I went back and read the first paragraph of Glenn's article and like in the first sentence he mentioned "trustworthy source". I wanted to clarify the difference of the word as used by Glenn. Obviously, if a source of information, especially documents, has been historically accurate, works in a certain position or agency, and discloses their conflicts and motives--and if when examined the documents survive scrutiny--then the source of the information can be said to be trustworthy.

But one can never implicitly trust a source based on their own characterization of themselves, as NBC seems to claim they are required to do as a basic tenet of journalism. That's just the most asinine thing that I've ever heard. You wouldn't even use that kind of logic to buy a used car.

NBC, as quoted by Mr. Greenwald in yesterday's post:

We have clear policies in place to assure that the people who appear on our air have been appropriately vetted and that nothing in their profile would lead to even a perception of a conflict of interest

NBC, as quoted by Mr. Greenwald in this post:

We've yet to see concrete proof of a correlation between any of his outside business interests and his statements made on our air

Hmmm... as of yesterday, merely "a perception of a conflict of interest" would be a problem. Today, they require "concrete proof" in order to take any action.

I wonder what tomorrow's winds might bring...

Dear Glenn,

You're a real sweet kid but it's probably time to take the candle out of the window on your Meet the Press dream. Whatever shame NBC has, they are probably feeling it now that you continue to beat them over the head with this McCaffrey debacle.

The essence of the story falls somewhere near Nader's lament that the country has been overrun by corporate interests and our congress, executive, press, etc. Couldn't be more obvious or baldfaced than in the example here unless maybe the FISA thing has not completely slipped from your conciousness.

Look at the public officials forced to resign in India for mismanaging the Mumbai attacks, look at the protester takeover of the airports in Thailand, or if you are sitting down, that the Iraq parliament actually had a public debate about the troop status agreement and then pushed it off to a public referendum. What you will see the ingredient missing is the citizen response. If we could somehow harness that enthusiasm and commitment which gives abortion clinic bombings and apply it to democratic ideals well just think what we could accomplish here in the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Keep up the good work; you're not alone,

Conrad C. Elledge

Barry McCaffrey is partly the creation of the reefer madness maniacs in the Clinton administration.

They helped raise him up to national prominence. Clinton made him the Drug Czar and the media treated every word that came out of his lying mouth as gospel moral truth.

Because drugs are bad -- therefore Barry McCaffrey must be good, right?

So this man is their shame too. Shame on them. And shame on their future influence in the Obama administration as well.

I hope Obama doesn't end up creating his own Barry McCaffrey. Only time will tell. Right now the signs are not looking so good.

surely they've seen the story.

is it simply beltway protecting the beltway again because they're all culpable in this mess?

Maybe we could convince Klattu and Gort to modify their technology to shut off all TVs and talk radio for a long time.

"The year the TV news stood still"

Hell - I'd pay admission price to see that movie.

The use of Military hero or POW as character defense shall be automatically immune from the limitations of non sequitur.

I wrote an e-mail back in April to Bob Steele to ask him if he had read Glenn's page at Salon. He replied that he had read a few pieces and would read more. I'd like to hear from The Poynter Institute as well as Jay Rosen on the McCaffrey situation.

S&P 500 closing price Jan. 19, 2001

1342.54

Bush inaugurated Jan. 20, 2001

S&P close today

816.21

DOWN 39.2% (after nearly 8 years, mind you).

Hooray Republicans! More tax cuts! Woohoo!!

How dare anyone question General McCaffrey? He is a war hero, and war heroes are above any possible reproach.

Benedict Arnold V (January 14 1741 [O.S. January 3, 1740] – June 14, 1801) was a general during the American Revolutionary War . . . Arnold is considered by many to be the best general and most accomplished leader in the Continental Army. Without Arnold's earlier contributions to their cause, the American Revolution might well have been lost. . . Arnold distinguished himself early in the war through acts of cunning and bravery. His many successful campaigns included the Capture of Fort Ticonderoga (1775), victory at the Battle of Valcour Island on Lake Champlain in 1776, the battles of Danbury and Ridgefield in Connecticut (after which he was promoted to Major General) and the Battle of Saratoga in 1777.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benedict_Arnold

Once someone is known as a military hero, it becomes impossible to question any of their motivations.