Posted on 12/05/2005 7:41:51 AM PST by ncountylee
One of the mysteries these days is the about-face of a supposed Democrat war hawk, Representative John Murtha of Pennsylvania. Considered a supporter of the Iraq conflict, the decorated former Marine suddenly came out with statements calling for the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq and that the war is not winnable. After the liberal media feasted on his sudden burst on the national scene, Murtha became the new lightning rod for the antiwar, anti-American movement. Recently, he said that the US military was worn out and unable to protect Americans should a security crisis emerge. And the media again jumped all over the Murtha comments. John Murtha replaced Wesley Clark and John Kerry as the left's favorite veteran since they only love warriors opposed to war. Murtha is someone few Americans knew let alone cared about until he became the big thing in the media's relentless goal of undermining "Bush's war."
Meanwhile, another Democrat, Senator Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, a respected member of the US Senate and a former vice presidential candidate, returned from a fact-finding mission in Iraq. He told of the progress he had seen and wrote a column in the Wall Street Journal about his positive view of US operations in Iraq. Other than some radio talk shows, Senator Lieberman was all but ignored by the mainstream news media, preferring to run Murtha quotes or air Murtha soundbites.
(Excerpt) Read more at sierratimes.com ...
Then he discovered he liked the taste of his 15 minutes of fame and has been trying to extend it.
It's a Main Stream Mejhedia myth that he ever was a hawk. He advised the Klintoon administration to pull out of Somalia as soon as our boys got shot at. ... and Klintoon did. Bin Laden took note that we cut and ran at the first sign of casualties, and the rest, as they say, is history.
In earlier more frank, non-PC times, Murtha would be denounced and shamed publicly for what he is, a traitor.
Ah yes, the "Culture of Hypocrisy" rears its ugly head again.
Murtha is simply past his prime and under the influence of infectuous managers who have manipulated him. He has served his country well and needs to take a bow and depart the stage.
"If John Murtha had a Medal of Honor or even a Silver Star I might consider him a hero, but the Bronze Star and Vietnamese medal were handed out like M & M’s."
"Most officers who went to Vietnam came home with them, if they served in any kind of combat unit. Like most of us, of that era, he did his duty."
"Nothing more and nothing less."
"As far as his military expertise, I am not impressed with anyone who spent 37 years in the Marine Corps and retired a Lt. Col."
http://polipundit.com/wp-comments-popup.php?p=11478&c=1#comments
I hope I have a brother or sister who gets elected to Congress so I can get a high dollar job with a defense contractor, just like Murtha's brother did. Whoo hoo! Bick bucks! I'll go shoppin at the fancy stores. I'll move to Malibu and go surfin. I'll ski at Aspen. I'll get me a big ole yacht and one of them long Hummer limos. Ooo, ooo, and a fancy sports car too. And a private jet. Life will be good. Please vote for my brother.
An ethics investigation couldn't happen to a 'better' guy.
We know Murtha's gameplan. Really brilliant if we didn't know about KSA.
National Security:
Contrary to popular opinion, Rep. John Murtha, the ex-Marine who called for an immediate withdrawal from Iraq, is no hawk.
He may also soon be probed for misusing defense appropriations.
"If you want anything done on the committee, you go to Murtha."
He's delivered so much pork to his congressional district, an airport and a major highway are named after Murtha.
Ashdown and his nonpartisan watchdog group criticized Murtha for using the $417 billion fiscal 2005 Pentagon spending bill to give business to his lobbyist brother.
The Los Angeles Times in June reported that Murtha funneled nearly $21 million to 10 or more corporate clients of KSA Consulting, where Robert "Kit" Murtha is a senior partner.
Carmen Scialabba, a Murtha congressional aide for 27 years, is also a high-ranking official at KSA.
The newspaper Roll Call reported that there might be a House ethics committee investigation of Murtha's apparent improprieties.
But is that possible now that Murtha has become the media's "hawk with a conscience?"
Come to think of it, could Murtha have been thinking about a possible ethics investigation when he decided to throw himself into the public limelight last week?
http://www.investors.com/editorial/IBDArticles.asp?artsec=20&artnum=1&issue=20051121
When will the Dems admit that if they hadn't sent Joe to Niger in the first place (via his wife's intercession besides) and Cooper hadn't made his "involve Rove and Libby" calls.....we wouldn't know or care who Valerie OR JOE is/was.
The bigger question is, "Why are the MSM so obviously biased against Republicans and selectively report only the things that will damage Republicans?
The answer is that the MSM have a dog in this hunt. They are losing market share to other forms if information dissemination, like this one, Fox News, talk radio, etc.
The MSM would clearly like more legislation like the Campaign Finance Reform law, which limit information flow through channels other than their own. Obviously, this is much more difficult to accomplish with Republicans in control.
Therefore, it is reasonable to conclude that the MSM are selectively reporting the news in a way to reduce Republican majorities and increase the MSM's chances to accomplish through legislation a return to their previous dominance that the free market no longer allows them.
Fire all of 'em...term limits on the next group of senators and reps.
Which shows how despicable the libs truly are. They don't care if he is senile, they will use him till he is useless.
I live next door to Murtha's district and have been observing him for years. First, he is not very smart ... certainly not smart enough to think through a preemptive strategy to derail corruption charges. Second, I doubt that he sees anything wrong with the activities being alleged ... he views his ability to steer contracts to relatives and friends as a 'right' earned by his years of seniority, and something that 'everyone' does. So, I think he suddenly 'changed his mind' because he was told to do so by party leadership ... he has always been a loyal party hack who can be counted on to spew the party line and support fellow party hacks. In this regard, unfortunately, he is probably no different than 90% of the members of Congress.
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