MURTHA BREAKS (Dreher, The Corner)

The Corner ^ | Nov 17 05 | Rod Dreher

[churchillbuff]

Don't know how many of you caught Rep. John Murtha's very angry, very moving speech just now in which he called on the White House to institute an immediate withdrawal of US troops from Iraq. CNN didn't air the entire thing, but as I listened to it, I could feel the ground shift. Murtha, as you know, is not a Pelosi-style Chardonnay Democrat; he's a crusty retired career Marine who reminds me of the kinds of beer-slugging Democrats we used to have before the cultural left took over the party. Murtha, a conservative Dem who voted for the war, talked in detail about the sacrifices being borne by our soldiers and their families, and about his visits out to Walter Reed to look after the maimed, and how we've had enough, it's time to come home. He was hell on the president too.

If tough, non-effete guys like Murtha are willing to go this far, and can make the case in ways that Red America can relate to -- and listening to him talk was like listening to my dad, who's about the same age, and his hunting buddies -- then the president is in big trouble. I'm sure there's going to be an anti-Murtha pile-on in the conservative blogosphere, but from where I sit, conservatives would be fools not to take this man seriously.

[Eva]

I think that I might have known his son, if it's the same guy, Murtha is a career politician, starting first in state gov't.

[RobbyS]

I think you forget that the Vietnamese War was thirty years long. By 1975, all the Vietnamese were pretty sick of war, but the North Vietnamese army was intact. In the case of S. Vietnam, the line was not held. In Korea it was, and as a result authoritarian government has been allowed to develop into democracy. Perhaps if we had done something like the enclaves that Jim Gavin proposed, the line might have been held. If we had pulled out of Korea after the Armistice, do you think that the ROK forces could have held off the North?

[youthgonewild]

Just like the Japs resorting to kamikaze tactics.

Thank you for posting here, Senator Byrd.

[sarasmom]

I said once!
Back in the old pre 1990s days!
(And so they were, once upon a time,way back then)

[dancusa]

Do you think Pres Bush will go by Iraq on the way home to show how safe it is there and to encourage the voting coming up. It would sure be a big lift to the troops and something he should do more often.

It would be a nice gesture for the President to visit the troops in Iraq. Remember Thanksgiving two years ago.

The dems would be in high dungeon screaming about this. Photo ops! Liar, liar and using the troops as political pawns would be their main talking points.

[fish hawk]

Murtha was a tough hero once but in his old age has turned into a "little old lady in tennis shoes". A term we used to use during the Viet Nam war.

[Sun Soldier]

"If we had pulled out of Korea after the Armistice, do you think that the ROK forces could have held off the North?"

No, absolutely not. In fact, I think if we pulled pulled out now and completely washed our hands of Korea, South Korea would be hard pressed to hold them off today. But we've never washed our hands of Korea as we did with Vietnam. My point is it was a national decision, not a party one. The same Democratic Congress decided to hold the line in Korea while they abandoned Vietnam. Call it politics but I believe they represented the will of the people at the time. By then we were sick of war too.

[woofie]

What war do you like? War is hell. It is the most miserable, horrific event imagineable, unless you haven't been in a war, in which case you can't imagine it. Sometimes it's necessary. But only a psychotic would "like" it.

Fine ...but you know my point...Churchillbuff and others hate the Iraq War but do they equally hate WWI, WWII, the Korean war, etc etc etc ?....You want to say no war ever I will give you some respect as a principled pacifist...but that is not what is going on here

[woofie]

Who in their right mind would 'like' a war, any war? Some wars are necessary, some are optional. Some we have been told in the past were necessary, only to find out at a later date they were not necessary and in the end made conditions on a worldwide basis worse than before. I suppose this is a bad optional war ? See my response in 228

[cookcounty]

I tried twice to call his office. Both Pennsylavania and DC numbers were busy.

[Tribune7]

Here's something else to consider and not just about Murtha.

Iraq's Mahdi sees partial US troop pullout in 2006

Now, if the pullout happens as planed, will Murtha and a whole lot of other bozos take credit for it? Bet the farm.

I was led to the link via The Mudville Gazette

[cookcounty]

" Hey, the Democrats have always been the cut and run party.

Yep. They are still the party of slavery. They kinda like freedom and liberty some, but not if anybody's going to have to bleed.

-----Father of a US Army soldier currently in Iraq.

[antisocialista]

Amen, brother.

I wish Muther would make a visit to the troops in field and see personally how they like his idea of "cut and run - while your winning."

I also wish - someone on the GOP side would lay some smack down on these jamokes.

[woofie]

Yep its called "Cover your Ass" A politician can be for the War , Against the War and somewhere in the middle...and like Woody Allen said of bisexuals ...they are sure to have a date on Saturday night

[cookcounty]

The Harris poll on approval ratings is pretty funny when you look at it closely. Yes Bush's approval, per Harris, has fallen to 34%. But look again, and you will see that Democrats in Congress have fallen even faster. Their approval rating is now at 25%. Everybody outside of moveon.org knows that they are raving, chair-chewing lunatic freaks. On the positive side, they are entertaining in a way.

[DarthVader]

What does Senator Byrd have do with the discussion?

[RobbyS]

One further reason for sticking in Korea was, of course, the need to maintain our position in East Asia. Japan had to be defended; China and The Soviet Union, opposed. South Korea was a forward position in our defence of that region. There is a tendency on the part of many, including this guy, to focus in Iraq, not noticing that the MSM is now starting to play up the uncertainties in Afghanistan. They have an ingained dislike of any use of military power .Even if it is vital to our national security, they don't want it used, except in the half-ass way that Bill Clinton did, something at the disposal of the "international community."or as part of a kind of chess game, where you move it around to overawe people, not understanding how this"video-game" stuff corrodes the efficiency of a military force. We see what this has done to the once excellent Canadian military. Clinton and his ilk have exactly the same mind-set as Trudeau.

[PhiKapMom]

You are AWESOME and thanks for your service in the Marine Corps.

[antisocialista]

John Murtha has two wars as a Marine under his belt - Korea and Vietnam. He can say whatever he damn well pleases.

You know, your right. - But so do I (even and especially as a civi). And this guy, hero et al, is waaay outta line. He's playing politics with our boys and girls over there and over here.

This issue was settled after he pulled this $#!+ over a year ago. America voted - his ideas lost.

[PhiKapMom]

You just made me burst out laughing! What a post!