Cal Thomas expanded upon Blankley's "cabal" of generals theory

Summary: On Fox News Watch, Cal Thomas repeated a theory -- first proposed by Washington Times editorial page editor Tony Blankley -- that the retired generals who have recently called for Donald Rumsfeld's ouster are part of a "cabal." Thomas, however, expanded upon Blankley's original theory and claimed that the alleged cabal is "possibly assisted by Democrats for political advantage."

On the April 22 edition of Fox News Watch, co-host and nationally syndicated columnist Cal Thomas repeated a theory -- first proposed by Washington Times editorial page editor Tony Blankley -- that the retired generals who have recently called for the ouster of Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld are part of a "cabal." Thomas, however, expanded upon Blankley's original theory and claimed that the alleged cabal is "possibly assisted by Democrats for political advantage."

As with Blankley, Thomas's only evidence of this so-called "cabal" was an April 16 Washington Post op-ed by former Clinton ambassador to the United Nations Richard Holbrooke, in which Holbrooke wrote: "If more angry generals emerge -- and they will -- if some of them are on active duty, as seems probable ... then this storm will continue until finally it consumes not only Donald Rumsfeld."

From the April 22 edition of Fox News Watch:

ERIC BURNS (co-host): And Cal, do we know that? Do we know enough about these generals to know whether the media should be giving them a lot of credence?

THOMAS: I think the inside dirty little secret on this is the amazing media war that is being fought over these generals. Immediately after they came out, there were another group of generals who wrote for The Wall Street Journal and who otherwise issued statements supporting Rumsfeld. There was an incredible column that Tony Blankley took note of -- the editorial page editor of The Washington Times -- written by Richard Holbrooke, the former Clinton top assistant in the -- in The Washington Post, in which Holbrooke predicted -- predicted that other generals -- retired and active -- would be coming forward. And Blankley said, "How did he knows -- know this?" This suggests that some kind of cabal may be in the works, possibly assisted by Democrats for political advantage.

—S.S.M.