It’s nothing new that the American news media, complete with starry-eyed ideologues, want to be a part of the possible history a Barack Obama presidency would be. They see it as a national historical vindication, an erasure of racism past, and it would be a damn good story.

Thus, the media has been correctly accused of being in the tank for the Obama campaign, lobbing him softball questions, and overlooking questionable comments made by the candidate, his wife, his acquaintances, and his staff. However, the latest tactic implemented by ABC News is nothing less than shameless, and this with an agenda-driven story offered up by those who have no shame.

ABC News reporterette Martha Raddatz, in her latest column “Surprising Political Endorsements By U.S. Troops”, exploits a traditional practice of the soldier: complaining.

This is not meant as a diss, but anyone who’s served knows that soldiers complain about everything. While on the USS Midway, we complained about the banning of Playboy magazine from the base Exchange, the length of yet another deployment, our battle group admiral, our captain, our department head, and our immediate petty officer supervisors. We complained about the chow, how short our next port visit would be, the at-sea duration between mail calls, our daily chores, another watch, etc.

“Though the military is not supposed to engage in partisan political activity, these soldiers spoke out about their personal endorsements, and their opinions are likely to matter. In 2004, 73 percent of the U.S. military voted for a presidential candidate, and officials believe it may be even higher this time around.”

The difference was, we would never complain and moan publicly, especially to the press. In fact, unless given permission from (and pre-briefed by) the public affairs office, we weren’t allowed to speak to the media.  Continued...