As I outlined in the post below, President Obama has every right to sack Gen. Stanley McChrystal.

If that happens, what will be interesting to watch over the next several days and months is how McChrystal is treated by the media.

Take the case of Gen. Eric Shinseki who was made a cause célèbre after he was sidelined after predicting that several hundred thousand troops would be necessary to secure post-war Iraq. I read several hundred thousand as >300,000. At the height of the successful surge, the total number of U.S. forces in Iraq was only about 167,000. So, Shinseki was off by perhaps a factor of 2.

Will McChrystal get the same treatment for complaining about basically the same thing – the fact that he needs more troops?

As William A. Jacobson helpfully notes, the answer is: Not bloody likely.

There is a huge difference between Shinseki and McChrystal. The former was critical of Bush, the latter of Obama.

Drawing that distinction is what's called journalism.

Journalism. Wound. Self-inflicted.