Salon.com's Justin Elliot has a good piece about media adoration for the Navy SEALs, focusing on an NBC report.

Lest anyone think that report is a weird outlier, here are some quotes from the May 3 broadcast of ABC World News (you can watch it here, if you must):

DIANE SAWYER: Tonight, details are surfacing about that super-human force that took down bin Laden, the Navy SEALs known as Team Six. A force so elite you cannot apply to join their ranks, you are just silently recruited.

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CHRIS CUOMO: You know, Diane, as impressive as the details of the bin Laden operation are, you really start to appreciate how special these SEALs are, when you learn that taking out bin Laden was just another day at the office.

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CUOMO: A superhero has nothing on these guys.

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CUOMO: The only thing missing seems to be the ability to leap a building in a single bound.

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CUOMO: But for all their physical abilities, what Marcinko says really sets a SEAL apart, their most deadly weapon is their mind.

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CUOMO: You know, we keep comparing them to superheroes, but they're different from superheroes in a very important way. They're subtle. They're known for their reserved, unassuming nature. So, they carry out missions with calm. Now, Diane, why? Well one big reason is that so the enemy does not know what it's up against until it's too late.