Rereading the Times on US confidence in the military

Quite a few bloggers commented on this morning's NY Times cover article, but what just struck me after I finally got around to reading the whole thing was what was buried inside. While the front page cites Gallup poll results showing an increase from 58 to 79% between 1975 and 2002 in Americans expressing high confidence in the military, the Harris poll shown inside (and not mentioned in the text, but presented only in chart form) shows an increase from under 25% to over 75% in Americans expressing "a great deal of confidence in the people running the military".

That's a much more dramatic increase, and a much more pointed expression of approval. "Confidence in the military" can be explained away in terms of supporting the troops and faith in their professional competence, not having to be read as a vote of confidence in Bush, Powell, Rumsfeld, et al. by those who do not share that confidence. The phrasing, "confidence in the people running the military", though, makes that vote explicit, however objectionable it may be to many Times staffers.

Posted by David on May 27, 2003 11:58 PM