Eleanor Clift is a bitter, ignorant, dried up old hag and a nincompoop. Please pay no attention to her.

CNSNews.com brings us the cackling of an ancient battleaxe of the left who, frankly, I thought was long dead by now, as she slanders the folks who keep her fat backside out of the GULAG.

A group that supports the U.S. military is demanding an apology from Newsweek magazine's Eleanor Clift, who recently characterized America's armed forces as a "mercenary Army."

Her comments -- made this past weekend on the syndicated TV program "The McLaughlin Group" -- were "unfounded and grossly inappropriate," said the Freedom Alliance.

In an Aug. 30 letter to Clift, Freedom Alliance President Tom Kilgannon asked her to retract her comment and apologize to the armed forces and their families.

Clift made the comment during a discussion about military recruiting efforts:

"But I think what we're coming to grips with is the fact that we actually have a mercenary Army," Clift said, according to a transcript of "The McLaughlin Group" program.

"And it doesn't have a nice ring to it. We call it 'volunteers,' but we're basically paying people to serve their country. And if you're going to pay people and have a mercenary Army, you're going to have to pay the market rate. And so the bounties are going up -- more money for tuition, higher enlistment bonuses -- and I think it's appropriate."

The Freedom Alliance said it is "wholly inappropriate" to describe America's military men and women as mercenaries."It is a vile and thankless description of those who are responsible for defending your life and right to free expression," Kilgannon wrote in the letter.