Comments on: Good News, Bad News

By: Bryan

Bryan — Mon, 06 Nov 2006 02:40:14 +0000

They are now owned by Gannett, but they have to deal with the military on a daily basis to get the important stuff, like the promotion lists, that keeps them in subscribers. They have a hiring preference for veterans that’s stronger than the Reserves, and every unit PR type has them on speed dial.

If Rummy retaliates and bans the sale of the papers from bases things could get very nasty.

The Military Times wouldn’t even consider publishing this without the approval of the Joint Chiefs and, more importantly, the senior NCOs of the services. The military had to have pushed this, because Gannett doesn’t have the ‘nads.

My newspapers in Rochester, NY, San Diego, CA, and Pensacola, FL are all Gannett puppy trainers, and none of them are crusading newspapers by any stretch of the imagination.

By: Mustang Bobby

Mustang Bobby — Mon, 06 Nov 2006 01:43:26 +0000

There was some hack on CNN who said that the Army Times et al were papers that were run by Gannett and so they take their editorial orders from Gannett, and they’re a liberal media conglomerate… and I missed the rest of it because I was laughing too loudly.

By: Bryan

Bryan — Sun, 05 Nov 2006 17:22:31 +0000

Michael, they went along with him and covered up his screw-ups. While the JAGs were complaining, the four-stars at the top were boot licking. The guys at the top are politicians, not military leaders. The military leaders have retired.

By: Michael

Michael — Sun, 05 Nov 2006 15:08:36 +0000

I dunno. The Pentagon brass have never liked Dumsfeld, primarily because he made it very clear from the start that he was out to shake things up in the armed forces. “Modernizing” and “streamlining” often mean “cutbacks” in bureaucratese, and that makes flag officers nervous, since their prestige isn’t usually measured in terms of gonadal size but more in terms of the forces they have under their command.

Yes, I think it’s significant that the military papers are calling for his ouster. But I don’t think it necessarily signifies a sea change in their opinions about him. They’ve hated him all along: the fact that he’s presided over the biggest clusterfuck since Vietnam is just icing on the cake.