Posted on 06/21/2006 5:28:31 AM PDT by Coop
JOHNSTOWN, Pa. - While Staff Sgt. Randy Myers was dodging roadside bombs in Iraq, his congressman was calling the war a lost cause...
Myers said he backs Murtha, an opinion echoed by a number of other troops and their families. Several share his frustration with the conflict.
Said Sgt. 1st Class George Wozniak, 36, of Murtha: "He's definitely for a strong military and he definitely supports the troops."
Patriotism runs deep in Murtha's district in the Allegheny Mountains, where joining the military is a family tradition and often an economic necessity. Many served in Vietnam and that war exacted a heavy toll... Memorials to those killed are scattered throughout the towns and cities of western Pennsylvania.
Not far from Johnstown was the setting for the Oscar-winning 1978 movie "The Deer Hunter," which explored the impact of Vietnam on the young men of an industrial town.
Doubts about Iraq have surfaced in the region. A Quinnipiac University Poll released last month found that 43 percent in southwest Pennsylvania said all troops should be withdrawn from Iraq...
[Coop note: So the other 57% do not agree? Fascinating!]
His criticism has angered some in the district. Unopposed in 2004, Murtha has a GOP rival this time - Diana Irey, a Washington County commissioner.
Ruth Ann Biesinger-Sliko, 55, a physical education teacher who came to see a fellow teacher and six of her former students return from Iraq, said Murtha has lost her vote because of his negativity about the war.
"I think that makes the guys feel terrible when he starts, you know, bashing. I think you need to support the guys," Biesinger-Sliko said. "I think it's created a lot of bad feelings for the people whose families are over there."
...
(Excerpt) Read more at mercurynews.com ...
Here's the solution to disgraceful EX-Marine Jack Murth - Diana Irey
Please FReepmail me if you'd like on the Irey/Murtha ping list
[Coop note: So the other 57% do not agree? Fascinating!]
Just another example of liberal media bias. I think we should pass a law that says "If you are going to quote a percentage statistic, you have to quote the higher percentage" which would turn that quote into:
While some doubts about Iraq may have surfaced in the region, a Quinnipiac University Poll released last month found that 57 percent in southwest Pennsylvania said all troops should finish the job in Iraq.
Just like Kerry wanted to ignore John O'Neill and the Swifties. What Murtha did in going public with his accusations that the Marines murdered people in cold blood and that there was a cover up going all the way up the chain to Gen. Pace was beyond the pale, beyond dishonest.
BTTT
Wanted to give you folks an exciting update on Ms. Irey's campaign.
Now this is obviously a campaign gaining momentum, and it's certainly larger than FR. But we can all smile a bit for helping take a chunk out of Murtha's... armor.
Keep helping to spread the word. We're starting to get the attention of the money folks. :-)
Exactly right.
How many of those 661 are from the district? Regardless, it should be an interesting race. If Murtha is defeated and if the reason for his defeat can be identifeid as his opposition to the war then it'll be interesting to see how fast other Democrats change their tune.
I have no idea, but likely not very many. It's just a measure of the anger out there at what Murtha has done in betraying our troops. And many of those 661 have likely been sending her campaign $$$.
That's a classic picture ..... hahahahaha
Kimberling Hefling, AP reporter, was embedded with a unit from Fort Campbell KY in 05 in Iraq and in Afghanistant in 04, graduate of Kansas State. Her reporting doesn't look too extremely left, but apparently she has decided to go all out for Murtha and in doing so, lie to her readers that the troops are behind 'In Cold Blood' Jack.
Hopefully Murtha will get replaced by someone with a lick of sense. Voters, this is your wake up call. Get this dumb a$$ out of there!
Jack Murtha chose to make this a national race back in November.
In connection with his playing JAG, judge, and jury of our Marines in Haditha, thus compromising their case and skipping over "innocent until proven guilty," Murtha and his ilk are important friends of our enemy. I suspect that Murtha is not intelligent enough to realize that he has become a useful idiot to the leftists in this country and the terrorists abroad. Or Murtha is simply so blinded by hate for Bush that he has abandoned our marines. I heard a Marine on the Mike Savage Show suggest that Murtha's hero claims from his military service are questionable, even more questionable than the claims of Kerry. I agree with the Swift Vets "Unfit for Command."
Excerpt:
...[t]he congressman has been re-elected to his position 17 times and has served in Washington for 32 years. Most of those races were easily won, but his current opponent, Diana Irey is getting much attention.
Irey appeared on a national morning show Tuesday, saying Murtha has lost touch with 12th district constituents. She also called for Murtha to apologize for his comments about the Marine scandal.
"(Murtha) stated this when in fact not a single Marine has been charged. By doing this, he served as prosecutor, judge, and jury, and that's not the way we do things in America," Irey said...
If Rep Murtha was a true backer of our military, he would be attacking the liberal media for their bashing of our troops (Gitmo, etc).
Instead, it apears Rep. Murtha is hurting our Troops by supporting US Media critism of these Troops.
There was a report by Retired General Barry Cafferty which listed as one of the 13 points in which he discussed the situation.
The 12th point he made in the report was that our troops have a hostility to the US Media.
This is somethng that Rep. Murtha should be fighting for.
This should be a point in the campaign of his opponent - that Murtha seems to be siding with the US Media and not with our Troops in terms of how our Troops view the media.
Maybe there should be Congress men and women who start being vocal critics of the US Media and how they are covering the war and why our Troops resent this.
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