Someone did.
General Officers are political animals. This guy is following orders.
Absolutely he was - otherwise his remarks would have mentioned that these officers are retired and exercising their First Amendment rights. He's smart enough to know that is the right response - he consciously decided to be political for the sake of his own career.
Yup, you don’t get stars by being a rebel and bucking the system. These guys have whored themselves for an entire career, it’s not like they’re going to stop once they’ve got their stars (unless they intentionally get fired like Gen. Patreus).