The Sludge Report has a story posted that says the soldier who asked Rummy the Q about their inadequate armor situation was coached by Chattanooga Times Free Press reporter Edward Lee Pitts. I have two immediate thoughts:

1: This is Matt Drudge we’re talking about, and the story uses this phrase: “Pitts claims in a purported email…” Right. So I’ll be waiting to make sure this is real before getting too exercised.

2: If it did go down this way, here’s my one and only question: is the “hillbilly armor” situation accurate? (And it does appear to be, from what I can tell.)

If it is, let’s give Pitts the Pulitzer. It’s about time somebody started acting in the best interests of our soldiers, and those who know a thing or two about the history of the American system will recall that the reason we have that “free press” thing is for the explicit purpose of holding government officials accountable. A lot of people will get their journalistic ethics panties in a twist because this isn’t “objective.” If not, it’s just one more example of why Hunter Thompson and others are right about how objectivity enables official corruption….