Posted on 02/17/2007 4:51:36 AM PST by edpc
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REP. JOHN MURTHA (D-Pa.) has a message for anyone who spent the week following the House of Representatives' marathon debate on Iraq: You've been distracted by a sideshow. "We have to be careful that people don't think this is the vote," the 74-year-old congressman said of the House's 246-182 decision in favor of a resolution disapproving of President Bush's troop surge. "The real vote will come on the legislation we're putting together." That would be Mr. Murtha's plan to "stop the surge" and "force a redeployment" of U.S. forces from Iraq while ducking the responsibility that should come with such a radical step.
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Mr. Murtha has a different idea. He would stop the surge by crudely hamstringing the ability of military commanders to deploy troops. In an interview carried Thursday by the Web site MoveCongress.org, Mr. Murtha said he would attach language to a war funding bill that would prohibit the redeployment of units that have been at home for less than a year, stop the extension of tours beyond 12 months, and prohibit units from shipping out if they do not train with all of their equipment. His aim, he made clear, is not to improve readiness but to "stop the surge." So why not straightforwardly strip the money out of the appropriations bill -- an action Congress is clearly empowered to take -- rather than try to micromanage the Army in a way that may be unconstitutional? Because, Mr. Murtha said, it will deflect accusations that he is trying to do what he is trying to do. "What we are saying will be very hard to find fault with," he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
It would be nice to believe that Mr. Murtha does not represent the mainstream of the Democratic Party or the thinking of its leadership. Yet when asked about Mr. Murtha's remarks Thursday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) offered her support. Does Ms. Pelosi really believe that the debate she orchestrated this week was not "the real vote"? If the answer is yes, she is maneuvering her party in a way that can only do it harm.
Sadly, I think the WaPo "epiphany" is more due to their desire to protect the Dems for '08, rather than real concern for troop welfare/morale and national security. Murtha was their Golden Boy when it suited their purposes.
gee, dirty politics 101, what a genius, who knew?
Buy Ammo.
If Murtha's plan works we may need it.
Two 9-letter words that have the same meaning:
DEMOCRATS
COWARDICE
If Murtha's plan works we may need it.
Gun show in Tucson this weekend. BLOAT
Bingo.
bump for later
Lie down with 'Rats, get up with cholera.
What we have here is the media suddenly realizing that this will cause a backlash....they are warning the DEMS they are overreaching. This is the second article I have seen in which the media is worried of how this is playing in middle America.
How nice of the WAPO (and probably the other media cheerleaders) to take notice.
They had a big hand in creating what's happening.
If the American People can't see this for what it is, then all is truly lost.
They're a social black hole leading straight to hell.
Geez, it's unusual for the WaPost to tell it like it is.
Good point!
Perfect.
Keep your ammo dry...
But Pelosi picked Murtha, didn't she? Twice. Steny Hoyer isn't writing this bill, is he?
Maybe it'll begin to dawn on David Broder and that bunch at the Stump that Pelosi is a bit more "rad" than they thought she was, and that she knows exactly what she's doing.
MHO, she and Murtha and Waxman are working on a "California impeachment package special" to nail Bush six ways from Friday -- during an election year.
Bush won't sit still to see his Article II powers invaded in this way, so they get a constitutional crisis and grounds to impeach that way. Then they'll use the contracts thing Waxman et al. are working on to degrade the President's political ability to defend the first proceeding -- a full-court press. They hate his guts and they're going to get him, and they're going to bury Republicanism and conservatism under a crossroads with a stake in our hearts.
Blink, and you'll wake up in a re-education camp.
I think Pelosi surprised them. Turns out Hillary isn't the only vindictive b*tch in the DemonRat Party.
Heads up, guys, or fry.
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