Message for you, sir
Posted on 11/19/2005 12:50:54 AM PST by Former Military Chick
WASHINGTON - The House on Friday overwhelmingly rejected calls for an immediate troop withdrawal from Iraq, a vote engineered by the Republicans that was intended to fail. Democrats derided the vote as a political stunt.
"Our troops have become the enemy. We need to change direction in Iraq," said Rep. John Murtha of Pennsylvania, a Democratic hawk whose call a day earlier for pulling out troops sparked a nasty, personal debate over the war.
The House voted 403-3 to reject a nonbinding resolution calling for an immediate troop withdrawal.
"We want to make sure that we support our troops that are fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. We will not retreat," Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., said as the GOP leadership pushed the issue to a vote over the protest of Democrats.
It was the second time in less than a week that President Bush's Iraq policy stirred heated debate in Congress. On Tuesday, the Senate defeated a Democratic push for Bush to lay out a timetable for withdrawal.
Murtha, a 73-year-old Marine veteran decorated for combat service in Vietnam, issued his call for a troop withdrawal at a news conference on Thursday. In little more than 24 hours, Hastert and Republicans decided to put the question to the House.
Democrats said it was a political move and quickly decided to vote against it in an attempt to drain it of significance.
"A disgrace," declared House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.
"The rankest of politics and the absence of any sense of shame," added Rep. Steny Hoyer of Maryland, the No. 2 House Democrat.
Republicans hoped to place Democrats in an unappealing position - either supporting a withdrawal that critics said would be precipitous or opposing it and angering voters who want an end to the conflict. They also hoped the vote could restore GOP momentum on an issue - the war - that has seen plummeting public support in recent weeks.
Democrats claimed Republicans were changing the meaning of Murtha's withdrawal proposal. He has said a smooth withdrawal would take six months.
At one point in the emotional debate, Rep. Jean Schmidt, R-Ohio, told of a phone call she received from a Marine colonel.
"He asked me to send Congress a message - stay the course. He also asked me to send Congressman Murtha a message - that cowards cut and run, Marines never do," Schmidt said. Murtha is a 37-year Marine veteran.
Democrats booed and shouted her down - causing the House to come to a standstill.
Rep. Harold Ford, D-Tenn., charged across the chamber's center aisle screaming that Republicans were making uncalled-for personal attacks.
"You guys are pathetic! Pathetic!" yelled Rep. Marty Meehan, D-Mass.
Democrats gave Murtha a standing ovation as he entered the chamber and took his customary corner seat.
The fireworks, as lawmakers rushed toward a two-week Thanksgiving break, came just days after the GOP-controlled Senate defeated a Democratic push for Bush to lay out a timetable for withdrawal. Spotlighting questions from both parties about the war, senators approved a statement that 2006 should be a significant year in which conditions are created for the phased withdrawal of U.S. forces.
Murtha has proposed his own resolution, which would force the president to withdraw the nearly 160,000 troops in Iraq "at the earliest practicable date." It would establish a quick-reaction force and a nearby presence of Marines in the region. It also said the U.S. must pursue stability in Iraq through diplomacy.
The Republican alternative simply said: "It is the sense of the House of Representatives that the deployment of United States forces in Iraq be terminated immediately."
"It's just heinous," Rep. Ellen Tauscher, D-Calif., said of the Republican move.
"This is a personal attack on one of the best members, one of the most respected members of this House, and it is outrageous," said Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass.
Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, however, said the resolution vote was not a stunt. "This is not an attack on an individual. This is a legitimate question."
"They've been itching for a fight for a long time," Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., said of the Democrats.
Bush, traveling in Asia, also fired back at his critics, saying a troop withdrawal would be "a recipe for disaster."
Most Republicans oppose Murtha's call for withdrawal, and some Democrats also have been reluctant to back his position.
A growing number of House members and senators, looking ahead to off-year elections next November, are publicly worrying about a quagmire in Iraq. They have been staking out new positions on a war that is increasingly unpopular with the American public, has resulted in more than 2,000 U.S. military deaths and has cost more than $200 billion.
A U.S. field commander in Iraq countered the position of the congressman who usually backs the Pentagon.
"Here on the ground, our job is not done," said Col. James Brown, commander of the 56th Brigade Combat Team, when asked about Murtha's comments during a weekly briefing that American field commanders give to Pentagon reporters.
Murtha is a disgrace to his office, to the Marines, to his prior service record and to America.
He should resign.
The press would rather go with headlines that the Republican controlled Congress voted themselves a raise....as if no democrats voted for it. I have not been able to find the vote.
And welcome to Free Republic
With the Dems. giving Murtha his marching orders, the only thing missing here is Edgar Bergen standing beside him. (Tammy Bruce)
Speaking of Imus did you hear how he talked about President Bush the other morning? I was going through the channels during the commercials and Imus was calling Bush a moron and dope etc. This coming from someone who is barely articulate and spent most of his life he says hisself drunk.
HOO Boy.......I missed that? the dem goldenboy walking legend lost it? What wonderful theater there was last night.
Terrific post - - well-written, well-thought-out, and well-posted.
Thank you for your kind response.
Great post.
All this psycho-analyzing of the Democrats makes my head hurt.
They're like some weird alien lifeform.
Hello, AP writer and editor - it was "intended to fail" because the support wasn't there - not even if, gasp, the dims had actually voted their stated convictions - if the words "convictions" and "dims" can be used in the same sentence.
And then of course we have your usual unbiased slant of "intended to fail"?? What about the GOP intending to succeed which they did and then some. A radical and never heard concept for you, I know, but try and understand it.
"The "present" voters represent the worst of the worst of what is wrong with some of the folks in our government."
I've had this theory for some time: The only dims who run for political office are closet bureaucrats. Basically lazy, they want the cushy position, perks etc. and will do/say anything to hold onto it. Achieving any kind of positive change or generating any new ideas simply does not compute.
Many, even most, conservative pols could and have held positions in the private sector and know how to get things done. Most of the dim/lib rage at Cheney for his Halliburton post and subsequent buyout is because they know no one - except maybe a foreign power - would even consider them worth that kind of money.
Wow 403 to 3. LOL, you've got to give those three props for outing themselves as the terrorist huggers they are. Well, okay they only agree with the terrorists much of the time.
The Republicans in the House deserve praise for outing the anti-war nimnals for what they are, loud mouthed propagandists.
I had my doubts about this, but it worked out very well.
You folks will have to forgive me for being a pesimist, when it comes to Republican moves of late. How seldem they show this type of backbone. The Democrats appear to exhibit way too much power IMO. This vote exemplifies what the Republicans should be doing A LOT more often.
Congrats Pubies. When you set your mind to it, you actually can kick liberal ass.
Benedict Arnold was, at one time, considered a patriot. Murtha hasn't finished well.
Democrats have been calling for the withdrawal of US troops in Iraq for quite some time now. The Republicans finally woke up and offered them a chance to ACTUALLY do it.
And because of that, the Democrats cry foul.
It seems that Democratic demands are demands that they themselves do not want, when forced to choose.
John Murtha, Jr. - Democrat - U.S. Representative from Pennsylvania. Implicated in the Abscam sting, in which FBI agents impersonating Arab businessmen offered bribes to political figures; Murtha was cited as an unindicted co-conspirator. In April 1994, Murtha urged the Clinton administration not to use military force to stop the fighting in the former Yugoslavian republics.
Rep. Harold Ford, D-Tenn., charged across the chamber's center aisle screaming...
Message for you, sir
Exactly right: this was only a stunt to the Moveone Quisling fever swamps. They were cornered by their own 4 years of factless, hateful rhetoric against Bush: hate Bush, the military can't win, Iraq is not the place et al. The GOP under Hayworth, Drier, Blunt put this idea together and forced the Dems to vote their rhetoric. The MSM , their willing allies , will try to spin this but after all, as one poster above wrote rightfully, the Dems have posed some propaganda which has shifted polls, made many uninformed American voters nervous, and when you lie day after day, it has weight. I hope the GOP forces the Dems to vote on war issues concerning Islamofascism month after month. Force them to wail and whine so the American voter can see why only Lefist loons like Wexler, McKinney, Serrano, who voted for the measure , are really the real face of the Dem Party.
Lets make a big push.
No they don't. Behind every bunch of dims is a Wellstone memorial moment waiting to emerge.
It is why so many of us have been so frustrated with the White House and GOP lack of offense. The democrats don't play defense well.
I think a nice supplement to this vote would be a complete shake up in the White House communications, starting with a sharp and aggressive spokesman. Surely they have seen the light from this vote.(I Hope)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.