Developing disloyalty?

I saw this last week and wondered why would anybody do this? Why would their editor approve this? And for God’s sake why would any US military organ choose sides in US  politics?

Once again, the widely-read Military Times is deliberately attempting to accentuate the perceived rift between the military and the incoming Obama administration by promoting an amateurish, unscientific survey called the “2008 Military Times Poll.” Here’s the headline for the main article:

2008 Military Times poll: Wary about Obama
Troops cite inexperience, Iraq timetable

I think this is just crap.

The Military Times  implies that the military does not support the President-elect because of his positions on foreign affairs. How disgusting. The military may influence foreign policy but the paper should not project a partsian approach.  

There is a lot of crap that the author works thru but I will cite only this: 

Let’s start with the main piece. It begins this way:

When asked how they feel about President-elect Barack Obama as commander in chief, six out of 10 active-duty service members say they are uncertain or pessimistic, according to a Military Times survey.This is dishonesty right off the bat. By saying “six out of 10 active-duty service members,” the Times is implying that they’ve randomly selected active duty members of the military for the survey — and that their sample is representative of the entire military. They’re implying this because that’s how professional, credible polling companies conduct surveys. Unfortunately, the Military Times is either too cheap or too daft to do a poll the right way. So naturally, I looked for an explanation. At the very bottom of the page, I found a link with the fine print:

Although public opinion pollsters use random selection to survey the general public, the Military Times survey is based on responses from those who chose to participate. That means it is impossible to calculate statistical margins of error commonly reported in opinion surveys, because those calculations depend on random sampling techniques.
The voluntary nature of the survey, the dependence on e-mail and the characteristics of Military Times readers could affect the results.

Please read it all.  The Military Times approach  is offensive to any veteran. Especially me.

Last July , Obama met with the editorial board of the Military Times.  It appears they are now using their pulpit to drive a wedge between the military and the Obama administration…which has not yet been in place, has made no decisions, and could not possibly have offended anyone ..unless the MT harbors a partisan hatred. (A democrat detestation,  if you will.)

 Disgusting editorial board. Who would think of such a thing, launch a survey, and then craft the survey reply in such negative tones?

It’s crap.