You're Either With Us Or Against Us

Anyone who thinks General Petraeus, a.k.a. Deity Who Bestrides The Earth Like A Colossus, is going to offer an unbiased assessment of the situation in Iraq come September can end that fantasy right now:

If I were eager to maintain a semblance of military independence from the agenda of extremist, Republican partisans, I wouldn't go on the Hugh Hewitt show, would you? And yet Petraeus has done just that. I think such a decision to cater to one party's propaganda outlet renders Petraeus' military independence moot. I'll wait for the transcript. But Petraeus is either willing to be used by the Republican propaganda machine or he is part of the Republican propaganda machine. I'm beginning to suspect the latter.

I have little need to wait for a transcript. This has become a Defense Department strategy, intentionally reaching out to conservative bloggers and media types in order to get their "unfiltered message" out. They even have a name for it; the "Surrogates Option". Of course, those partisan ideologues that continue to defend the President are all too happy to scrupulously type up military propaganda. Because that's what it is.

This is nothing new in wartime, but it ought to be known that the General leading forces in Iraq is only speaking to partisan ideologues instead of any reporter that would ask a tough question. And Congress should use that as a guide when they take a look at his report in a couple months.

UPDATE: Yglesias sez the transcript is a mixed bag. But he makes the mistake of comparing it to his own experience on the show. David Petraeus didn't book himself on the Hugh Hewitt show. The Pentagon did. This is part of their propaganda operation.