Bump and Elect Diana Irey --- Donate Today!
Posted on 08/17/2006 3:04:02 PM PDT by Dane
Posted on Thu, Aug. 17, 2006
Months after making headlines, John Murtha's popularity booming By Margaret Talev McClatchy Newspapers
Rep. John Murtha, (D-PA), ranking member on the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee.
JOHNSTOWN, Pa. - What a difference nine months makes.
Last November Rep. John P. "Jack" Murtha, D-Pa., thundered onto the national scene insisting that the U.S. military could accomplish nothing more in Iraq, could only make things worse. He called for pulling U.S. troops out of Iraq.
At the time, many of his Democratic colleagues considered his stance suicidal for their party when they're trying to regain control of Congress despite having long been seen as weak on national security.
Now, Murtha is one of the most popular Democrats around. In recent weeks he's raised money for Democrats campaigning in New Hampshire, Connecticut, New York and California. In Tennessee, he was former Vice President Al Gore's guest at a fundraiser for local Democrats. After Labor Day, Murtha will head back out on the road, helping up to four dozen of his party's candidates.
He said events had proved him right.
"Everything I said has turned out to be true," Murtha said Wednesday, taking a break at his campaign headquarters in Johnstown. "You can't win militarily. Military leaders are now saying it publicly where they said it only privately before. I get standing ovations every place I go. The public is looking for a solution to this open-ended policy, which is killing kids."
Murtha, 74, is an imposing man with white hair and sharp eyes. A decorated Marine, he was the first combat veteran of the Vietnam War elected to the House of Representatives. Long regarded as a hawk on national security, Murtha is the ranking Democrat on the House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee.
He's never been seen as charismatic, until now.
On Aug. 9 at the Tavern on the Green restaurant in New York's Central Park, Murtha appeared at a rally for Eric Massa, a retired Navy commander who's trying to unseat Rep. John "Randy" Kuhl, R-N.Y.
Massa said Murtha "couldn't speak, the applause and the standing ovation was so prolonged and intense. He speaks the truth. He's not deterred by critics. As the failures of the Bush administration in Iraq have become more obvious, his credibility has significantly increased."
Murtha said he was too old to consider running for president, but that he'd try to become majority leader if Democrats gained the 15 seats they needed to take charge of the House.
"I'm on a mission here, and the mission is to help change the direction of the country," he said.
Murtha doesn't think there are war-related grounds to impeach President Bush. But he likens Bush's weakened status to President Richard Nixon's in 1974 before Watergate forced him to resign.
"He lost all his power in that one year," recalled Murtha, who won his seat that year in a special election. "What a limitation there is on the power of a president, or any public official. When people lose confidence in that official, they have no power at all."
Murtha's outspokenness has made him a target. A North Carolina-based group called Vets for the Truth has launched a "Boot Murtha" campaign, inviting protesters to an Oct. 1 rally in Johnstown.
Organizer Larry Bailey is a retired Navy SEAL who said he was driven not by Murtha's stance on troop redeployment but by the congressman's assertion in May, before a thorough investigation, that Marines in Haditha had killed innocent Iraqi civilians "in cold blood."
"I have some misgivings myself about what's going on in Iraq," Bailey said. "Until May 17, I wasn't the least bit interested in the 12th District of Pennsylvania."
Murtha said bad acts by soldiers hurt the military and should be aired. "I've supported the troops my entire political career," he said. "I don't think there would have been an investigation if I hadn't said something. You have to make it public."
The identity of his southwestern Pennsylvania district has long been entwined with the catastrophic flood that tore through Johnstown in 1889 and with the steel industry, which abandoned it over the past few decades. It has a conservative bent, with a constituency older and more heavily veteran than average. Democrats outnumber Republicans.
Until his emergence last fall as a foe of the Iraq war, Murtha had operated largely behind the scenes. To counter a local unemployment rate that he said hit 24 percent in the 1980s, he used his appropriations post to send home lucrative dollars for defense contracts, medical research, flood-related tourism and infrastructure.
A local airport is named for him. So is an institute for the study of neuroscience and pain. A breast-cancer center bears the name of his wife, Joyce.
Murtha is expected to win re-election handily. Even Diana Irey, his Republican challenger, acknowledged in an interview this week that she's facing "an uphill battle."
But Irey added: "The war issue has made people raise an eyebrow ... and given us an opportunity to tell people who he really is." She mentions Murtha's opposition to a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage: "Jack Murtha acts more like he's representing liberal San Francisco than conservative southwestern Pennsylvania."
Some voters are listening to her.
David Gray, 45, a Republican accountant, said Murtha hadn't been able to replace the steel industry with anything similarly big or permanent.
"It's all a lot of little things. As soon as Murtha's gone, they're all gone, these defense contracts. What good is that?"
More seem to stand by Murtha.
"People said Johnstown will never come back," said Jack Ray, 57, a Democrat and a clerk at a clothing store. "I think Johnstown is coming back. And he's been involved in most things that have happened."
Helen Davis, 76, a Republican whose late husband worked for Bethlehem Steel, agrees with Murtha's stance on Iraq.
"I don't think we're accomplishing anything there, and I hate to see these young men sacrificed for people who don't even want us there," she said.
The irony is delicious. :-D
Still no answers eh? Your arrogance is stunning.
Biwyuns and biwyuns of dead brain cells, eh?
Y'all calm down now.
I got to looking at precinct level votes from the 2004 US Senate race. The upper Mon Valley (Irey's home base) was heavily for Hoeffel. I don't know how Irey has done there in her runs for County Commissioner, but I wouldn't be surprised if she got her support elsewhere in Washington county...such the part that's in the 18th, for instance.
Otherwise, South Johnstown and Johnstown's southern suburbs jumped out at me as heavily for Specter. My guess is that this area voted for Murtha (he got 74% in 2002 and was unopposed in 2004) but could be convinced to support Irey.
There were some isolated pockets of heavy Specter support elsewhere in the district but this was one area of several contiguous precincts.
Any recent polls on the Murtha / Irey race? I haven't been able to find any, and wonder whether this popularity includes his constituents?
Huh? What do you mean by that?
Uhh, on second thought, forget I asked.
ping
I got to looking at the Bush-Kerry numbers (I didn't have Armstrong County but otherwise it was similar to Specter-Hoeffel, with Specter running slightly ahead of Bush)...
South Johnstown and environs had about 16-20 precincts with strong Bush/Specter support, followed by an area around Kittaning-Ford City with about 12 nearly contiguous precincts having strong Specter support, and then 7 or 8 contiguous precincts around Scottdale-Upper Tyrone having strong support for Bush and Specter.
My metric was vote differential per unit area -- not vote percentage.
I love the new video gallery...particularly the Hairball screen capture. LOL!
My numbers don't quite match yours but it's more detailed data. Votes in each county are followed by (US Congressional District) and a summary total at the end of the line. I'm sorry for the poor formatting....
Bush/Allegheny: 85359 (4) 978 (12) 87900 (14) 96647 (18) 270884
Kerry/Allegheny: 67116 (4) 1359 (12) 205164 (14) 94158 (18) 367797
Bush/Cambria: 4316 (9) 29732 (12) 34048
Kerry/Cambria: 4270 (9) 28322 (12) 32592
Bush/Fayette: 6737 (9) 18047 (12) 24784
Kerry/Fayette: 5542 (9) 23365 (12) 28907
Bush/Greene: 7786 (12)
Kerry/Greene: 7674 (12)
Bush/Indiana: 15900 (9) 4330 (12) 20230
Kerry/Indiana: 12052 (9) 4068 (12) 16120
Bush/Somerset: 14903 (9) 8899 (12) 23802
Kerry/Somerset: 6707 (9) 6135 (12) 12842
Bush/Washington: 18681 (12) 28110 (18) 46791
Kerry/Washington: 25594 (12) 21665 (18) 47259
Bush/Westmoreland: 8728 (4) 48 (9) 34355 (12) 56658 (18) 99789
Kerry/Westmoreland: 4669 (4) 42 (9) 36192 (12) 36651 (18) 77554
I don't have Armstrong data; it is split between the 12th district and the 3rd district.
However, I do have:
Specter/Armstrong: 8328 (3) 9176 (12) 17504
Hoeffel/Armstrong: 3955 (3) 5876 (12) 9831
Personal attacks between people who actually have a lot in common does no one any good. Let us hope Irey wins.
I certainly hope she wins also. I even sent her campaign a $100 donation after her appearance on FR. Hope she returns.
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