I'm busy preparing for an academic conference (which, as a species, share much in common with the old PC game "Monty Python's Complete Waste of Time") so this is brief. Apologies.
The more conspiratorial are doubtlessly agitated by this Wired piece which reveals that military higher-ups (including Gen. St. Petraeus) discussed a plan to "clandestinely recruit or hire bloggers" to "verbally attack a specific person or promote a specific message." Certainly many folks must cast skeptical glances at the month-long mouth-frothing frenzy over the Petraeus/MoveOn advertisement in light of this information. From my perspective, though, I have to think the military considered this briefly before determining that it was a wasteful, redundant use of resources. Have the people who suggested this ever seen Free Republic? Instaputz? Jonah Goldberg? Little Green Footballs? Fox News? Come on. These people need no encouragement and no compensation.
That said, we know that neither the military nor the incumbent administration are above paying right-wing media hacks to try extra-hard to push the faith.
(h/t Left in the West)