HOTLINE's blogometer gave prominent coverage to the brewing controversy over the letter to the Washington Post from the Joint Chiefs, which they noted has not received coverage in the traditional media:
WASHINGTON POST: We Assume The Letter Was Delivered By An Acme Corp. Brand Mile-Long Accordion-Collapsible Hand
On 1/31 the JCS has sent a letter to the Washington Post protesting the 1/29 editorial cartoon by the Post's Tom Toles. Available at Post.com here, the cartoon features a quadruple amputee soldier in a hospital bed next to a diagnosing "Dr. Rumsfeld," who says, "I'm listing your condition as 'battle hardened.'" Editor & Publisher and AMERICAblog received a copy more or less simultaneously, and once the former had confirmed its veracity, the latter posted it in PDF format.
The letter describes JCS as "extremely disappointed" by the Post's decision to run the "beyond tasteless" cartoon. More: "While you or some of your readers may not agree with the war or its conduct, we believe you owe the men and women and their families who so selflessly serve our country the decency not to make light of their tremendous physical sacrifices."
AMERICAblog's liberal John Aravosis describes the letter as a "threat": "I have no problem with citizens speaking out about political cartoons they find offensive ... But when the government does it, that's a whole other story that smacks of censorship, especially when that government is the Pentagon threatening you during wartime." So does Seeing the Forest's Dave Johnson: "This is THE MILITARY DIRECTLY THREATENING A NEWSPAPER on behalf of the Republican Party. This is WAYYYY beyond unprecedented. This is past "find a safe refuge in Canada" time. This is a serious WATCH YOUR BACKS!!!!" Atrios: "The central theme of the cartoon is that Rumsfeld is an asshole, which he is. They repeatedly deflect criticism of the civilian leadership by implying it's a criticism of the troops."
