Conduct Unbecoming an Officer

This whole exchange creeps me out.

One of the cornerstones of our country is that the military stays on the sidelines of politics. Bush has as little respect for this cornerstone as he does for the Constitution, and has never hesitated to use the military for a wrong-headed photo-op (Mission Accomplished?) or even a fabricated neo-con war. But all Presidents have used the troops as a patriotic photographic background, and the military has a proud history of accomplishing missions without questioning their wisdom.

It took Bush, though, to apply litmus tests to his senior command. He has rid our military leadership of those whose loyalty to the President can be questioned, and, as a result, we have a military command structure that resembles a rightwing blogger convention. The line between being a gung-ho soldier and a rabid rightwing partisan has been erased, and one of the first challenges for President Dodd or Clinton or Obama or Edwards will be to restore the dignity and political independence of the military. Col. Steven A. Boylan may be looking for a job - perhaps he can get a job as Drudge's security chief.