Welcome, Max!
VFTT/BootMurtha welcomes Max Cleland
to Johnstown this Thursday am
As previous announced, Vets For The Truth / Boot Murtha will hold a press conference Thursday morning in front of Congressman John Murtha's office in Johnstown, PA. We are pleased to see former Sen. Max Cleland and other cut-n-runners will be joining the event, per the Washington Observer-Reporter [LINK]:
But before that press conference, former U.S. Sen. Max Cleland, who lost three limbs in Vietnam, will appear with Murtha, and two pro-Murtha veterans groups will take to the sidewalk in the same place to speak in support of Murtha, spokesman Brad Clemenson said.
Max Cleland was a favorite of John Kerry during his failed 2004 presidential bid.
NOTE: the article states that Murtha will also appear with Cleland. There is some confusion, as later in the same article it states Murtha will NOT appear with McCleland:
Representatives of The Patriot Project and VetPAC also will speak at that event on behalf of Murtha, even though he will not be there. Murtha is scheduled to be in Lackawanna County, campaigning for Democratic congressional candidate Chris Carney.
McCleland's own abandoning of his common-sense, conservative Georgia constituents' values cost him re-election in his home state back in 2002. As did former Minority Leader Tom Daschle's discarding of his South Dakota constituents' beliefs and views (re-election defeat, 2002).
McCleland was defeated due to his voting record, which showed a clear departure from back-home folks' values. Below is a good synopsis, written by Rich Lowry/NRO [LINK]:
Cleland had voted 11 times against a homeland-security bill... setting himself up for the charge that he was voting with liberals and the public-employees unions against...
... If you can't criticize the Senate votes of a senator in a Senate race, what can you criticize?
...Cleland's undoing was that he couldn't negotiate the dilemma facing many Southern Democrats — how to vote liberal in Washington while appearing conservative at home. The Democrat was on record supporting countless tax increases, and voted with his party's leadership against protecting the Boy Scouts from a campaign to keep them out of public schools and against banning partial-birth abortion. In many of these votes, he parted ways with his more conservative and popular colleague Miller, thus creating a major political vulnerability. He lost fair and square.
Sen. Tom Daschle's defeat came about due to his abuse of the filibuster, invoked by Daschle to block voting on federal judicial appointees. That opened him up to scrutiny, which revealed Daschle had turned away from his original anti-abortion stance. Result: anti-abortion South Dakota voted not to return Tom Daschle to the U.S. Senate.
Like Max Cleland and Tom Daschle, Rep. John Murtha has veered away from the beliefs and values of his constituents, motivated by announced goal to become Majority Leader. He has by word and action aligned himself with the Cindy Sheehan, Howard Dean, Nancy Pelosi ultra-liberal left wing of the Democrat Party.
And he's hoping the voters back home won't notice.
Murtha's most recent departures from his constituents' values:
· Campaigning in Pennsylvania with ultra liberal, pro-abortion, anti-military DNC Chairman Howard Dean
· Aligning with 'San Francisco' Nancy Pelosi to campaign on behalf of 41 other Democrat candidates.
So, thanks, Max McCleland, for coming to Johnstown, PA, this Thursday morning. You will certainly help Vets For The Truth/Boot Murtha's efforts to bring focus on Congressman John Murtha's record there in PA District 12.
Welcome, Max!