New anti-Obama Smear

They're coming pretty fast and furious now - a new one each day, it seems.

TPM catches the latest anti-Obama smear - that the U.S. military is, according to the Washington Times, afraid of him.

Military Fears "Unknown Quantity"

Members of Washington's military and defense establishment are expressing trepidation about Sen. Barack Obama, as the Illinois senator comes closer to winning the Democratic presidential nomination and leads in national polls to become commander in chief.

Guess how many "members of Washington's military and defense establishment" are quoted saying that they fear this "unknown quantity":

Exactly one. And that one person is a retired Air Force Lieutenant General who doubles as a Fox News analyst.

The cutest thing about this little attack is that it is impossible to disprove.

You see, active-duty military personnel are prohibited from speaking out on political matters. So, nobody can say, "not so! We feel just fine about Barack Obama!"

UPDATE

Steve Benen examines the source of the Moonie Times article.

The article quoted exactly one — one — Obama critic in the military, which doesn’t exactly speak to widespread fears. And who is retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Thomas McInerney?

In 2006, it was McInerney who insisted that Russian Special Forces entered Iraq before the invasion and moved Saddam’s WMD to Syria.

In 2002, McInerney assured Americans the war in Iraq “will be a war that is shorter than” the 1991 Gulf War, which lasted 42 days.

In 2005, McInerney insisted that terrorists no longer feel the need to attack inside the United States because we have “leftists in America who have aided and abetted the enemy more than Tokyo Rose did in World War II.”

The man is a sad, right-wing, unhinged activist. That the Washington Times could only quote one retired military official, and they dug up McInerney to smear Obama, suggests Obama is in pretty good shape.

As for the stable members of the military, retired Air Force Gen. Merrill A. McPeak, who campaigned for Bob Dole in 1996 and George W. Bush in 2000, recently concluded that Obama is “what the joint chiefs want to see — somebody they can rely and depend on.”

McPeak told the Times, “I think Obama is going to be an outstanding commander in chief, not just an ordinary commander in chief. He has the potential to be one of the all-time greats. I think the senior military will learn that about him starting from the first minute he occupies the Oval Office.”

He doesn’t sound especially “fearful.”