Carl Levin says NO to divisive Pentagon shill

He sounds like just the right guy for the job of Pentagon spokesman, doesn't he?

J. Dorrance Smith, the nominee, testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee in a closed session to answer questions about an opinion article in which he accused U.S. television networks of helping terrorists through their partnerships with Al-Jazeera.

But silly Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan is being a liberal obstructionist:

"I have deep concerns about whether or not he should be representing the United States government and the Department of Defense with that kind of attitude and approach," Levin said after Tuesday's hearing.

[...]

Levin called Smith's comments in the article "extreme" and "over the top."

In an opinion piece published in April in The Wall Street Journal, Smith wrote: "Osama bin Laden, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, and al Qaeda have a partner in al-Jazeera and, by extension, most networks in the U.S. This partnership is a powerful tool for the terrorists in the war in Iraq," he wrote.

Smith also singled out U.S. networks, saying "Al-Jazeera has very strong partners in the U.S. _ ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, CNN and MSNBC. Video aired by Al Jazeera ends up on these networks, sometimes within minutes."

Republican Sen. John Warner from Virginia said he would forward Smith's nomination to the full Senate later in the week, but there is no published report of that happening as of yet.

From the administration perspective, of course J. Dorrance Smith is the perfect man for the job. He comes with "liberal media" credibility having worked at the radically progressive ABC, and he did time under L. Paul Bremer, former head of the Iraq Coalition Provisional Authority, so he is probably well-trained in incompetence, which is a must as part of the administration bureaucracy.

I am so tired of the evasion, lying, obfuscating, taunting, deception and misleading that Scott McClellan and his ilk are so good at. The press represent us. They deserve to be treated with respect. The worst is seeing Scott McClellan figuratively spit on Helen Thomas. The woman is 85 years old. Show her some respect. Treat her like she is old enough to be your grandmother, because she is. McClellan repeatedly impugns Helen Thomas's patriotism and infers that she is on the side of the terrorists and stands against the American people. And they actually let him out of that room. He should be locked up in there and forced to apologize to Helen, and that's Mrs. Thomas to you.

So now they want to install someone at the Pentagon who has already publicly stated that not just Helen Thomas but also all of the mainstream media, including Fox (a ringer, I guess) are in league with the enemy. Why not let's just get this over with and impose the state-run news service starting now? Because that's where we are headed with this attitude and approach.

Cheers to Carl Levin for attempting to get a hold on this nominee. After all, Donald Rumsfeld or George W. Bush are not hiring him, WE are, and we are paying his salary. We shouldn't hand over our hard-earned money to someone who is going to LIE to us and tell us how UNPATRIOTIC we are, and ATTACK our democracy by demonizing the press. That's just foolishness.

So here are the members of the Senate Armed Services Committee. You can click here to find your Senator and tell them that we are not going to hire someone whose main job is to lie to us and hide information:

DEMOCRATS

Carl Levin, Ranking Member (Michigan)
Edward M. Kennedy (Massachusetts)
Robert C. Byrd (West Virginia)
Joseph I. Lieberman (Connecticut)
Jack Reed (Rhode Island)
Daniel K. Akaka (Hawaii)
Bill Nelson (Florida)
E. Benjamin Nelson (Nebraska)
Mark Dayton (Minnesota)
Evan Bayh (Indiana)
Hillary Rodham Clinton (New York)

REPUBLICANS

John Warner, Chairman (Virginia)
John McCain (Arizona)
James M. Inhofe (Oklahoma)
Pat Roberts (Kansas)
Jeff Sessions (Alabama)
Susan M. Collins (Maine)
John Ensign (Nevada)
James M. Talent (Missouri)
Saxby Chambliss (Georgia)
Lindsey O. Graham (South Carolina)
Elizabeth Dole (North Carolina)
John Cornyn (Texas)
John Thune (South Dakota)