Taking Hypocrisy On Full Force...
By now, I'm sure many have heard that the House resolution from last night went down like a John McCain piloted jet. (Sorry, just a little joke there.)
Rep. John Murtha's request to have the troops begin an immediate, and six-month long pullout from Iraq was soundly defeated. And when I say "soundly" I mean a Narc-at-a-bike-rally beat-down. Below is the story from the New York Times, as reprinted by the Arizona Republic this morning.
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/1119iraq-politics19.html (The story cited below)
http://www.captainsquartersblog.com/mt/archives/005812.php (Live-blogged the debate and vote)
http://www.drumwaster.com/index.php/weblog/live_blogging_the_war_debate/ (As explained in the link, live-blogged the vote)
http://michellemalkin.com/archives/003947.htm (Did some minor live-blogging on it, and has a list of links to it)
http://euphoria.jarkolicious.com/journal/2005/11/18/1310/ (Euphoric also live-blogged the vote.)
WASHINGTON - Republicans and Democrats shouted, howled and slung vicious insults on the House floor on Friday as a debate over whether to withdraw American troops from Iraq descended into a vitriolic fury over President Bush's handling of the war and a leading Democrat's call to bring the troops home.
House Republicans put to a vote a non-binding alternative resolution that simply said, "It is the sense of the House of Representatives that the deployment of United States forces in Iraq be terminated immediately."
The House voted late Friday 403-3 to defeat the resolution.
The battle boiled over when Rep. Jean Schmidt, R-Ohio, the most junior member of the House, told of a phone call she had just received from a Marine colonel back home.
"He asked me to send Congress a message: Stay the course," Schmidt said. "He also asked me to send Congressman Murtha a message: that cowards cut and run, Marines never do."
Democrats howled in protest and shouted Schmidt down over the attack on Rep. John Murtha of Pennsylvania, a Vietnam combat veteran and one of the House's most respected members on military matters.
Isn't that typical? They shouted down a representative of the people who was relaying a message from a Marine colonel who was urging the House to hold the line. Yet, Murtha was allowed to read letter after letter from disgruntled military families and upset troops over the war, and the GOP respected his sentiments. No one is questioning Murtha's patriotism.The man served, and he's been a staunch supporter of the troops and vets returned from action, or those retired from the service. The only question is Murtha's sanity for pushing this issue. He had to have known that the House was no place to introduce this issue, and put the matter up to a vote. The House isn't the Senate. The RINOs in the House know when to stand up, and when to sit down and shut up. They also know when they have to stand--united--with their party, and it's to be expected on such important votes like this one.
The proceedings came to a standstill, and moments later, Rep. Harold Ford, D-Tenn., charged across the chamber's center aisle to the Republican side screaming that the attack had been unwarranted.
Rep. Martin Meehan, D-Mass., yelled, "You guys are pathetic! Pathetic!"
In Friday's battle, Democrats accused Republicans of pulling a political stunt by moving toward a vote on a symbolic alternative to the resolution that Murtha had offered on Thursday, calling for the swift withdrawal of American troops from Iraq. The Democrats said the ploy had distorted the meaning of Murtha's measure and had left little time for meaningful debate.
Did Meehan engage in "meaningful debate"? How about Ford? This shows how unhinged the Left has become. The House was turned into a three ring circus over this one little issue. What made the Democrats even more upset was the fact that the GOP threw down the gauntlet. As Marcie pointed out earlier tonight, it was a "put up or shut up" moment for the Democrats. They wanted the names on the record as to who opposed the troops being in Iraq. And the Democrats knew that if they sided with Murtha's proposal, two things would happen.
First, they'd cut their own political throats with the voters; the country is still on the side of finishing the job.
Second, they'd never win the day; the GOP was going to remain steadfast in it's decision to stay put until the job is finished.
Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., denied that there were any political tricks and said pulling American forces out of Iraq so rashly would hurt troop morale overseas. "We want to make sure that we support our troops that are fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. We will not retreat."
The measure's fate was sealed and the vote count's significance minimized when the Democratic leader, Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California, criticized the Republican tactics and instructed Democrats to join Republicans in voting against an immediate withdrawal.
I wonder how Murtha felt when Pelosi stabbed him in the back. I'm sure Murtha thinks he was making a serious, righteous stand, and that his party would back him. But Pelosi's call was a death knell for the proposal. Sure she criticized the GOP. She always does. That's nothing new. What is new is her hanging Murtha by the same rope he asked for slack on. The party gave him just enough to hang himself with; a form of political suicide. The Democrats would have never supported the measure anyway as they didn't want to be on the record as the antiwar party. With Pelosi's move, she just turned Murtha into the resident "village idiot" of the Democrat party. If I were him, I'd seriously reconsider who I sided with if his own party was willing to feed him to the wolves.
Don't get me wrong. I'm ecstatic that the House GOP has more of a backbone than the Senate, and that they stood together when it was needed. I stand firmly behind the president in his decisions for the war. He has the intel I don't, and I know Iraq was a serious threat. The troops stay until the job is finished. We're not Europe; we don't leave our missions half-finished for someone else to clean up.
The maneuvering came amid more than three hours of often nasty floor debate and boisterous political theater, with Democrats accusing Republicans of resorting to desperate tactics to back a failed war and Republicans warning that Murtha's measure would play into the hands of terrorists.
See, that's the thing with the Democrats. They call this a failed war, yet almost fifty million people are free today, and working feverishly to complete the creation of their new free nations. Both Iraq and Afghanistan have embraced democracy in ways that make the Left and their willing media minions sick. This was not good for them. They would've preferred a civil war within both nations. I'm sorry that neither nation was willing to accomodate them. (Actually, I'm not; I gain a level of sadistic glee over watching this party go insane over the success of this president when it comes to the war.)
In South Korea, where Bush was in the final day of an Asian economic summit meeting, the White House released the advance text of a speech that Bush is scheduled to make today at Osan Air Force Base.
"In Washington there are some who say that the sacrifice is too great, and they urge us to set a date for withdrawal before we have completed our mission," Bush planned to say, keeping up the daily drumbeat of White House response from 7,000 miles away. "Those who are in the fight know better."
On Thursday, Murtha called for pulling out the 153,000 American troops within six months, saying U.S. forces have become a catalyst for the continuing violence in Iraq.
No, that would the be the terrorists that were already there (yes we have evidence of it) and those being sent over the borders from Iran and Syria (and yes, we have proof of that, as well). The terrorists, rather than surrendering, or lying low, are in a full-out offensive (I think this is their fiftieth one since the beginning of the war) to destabilize Iraq. They've virtually given up in Afghanistan. To prove the point further, the terrorists are going after civilians. Why? Because they can't meet us on the battlefield. They suffer more losses than we do in a direct engagement.
Democrats privately acknowledged that they were seeking to escape a political trap set by the GOP to box them into an unappealing choice: Side with Murtha and face criticism for backing a plan that American commanders say would cripple the mission in Iraq or oppose their respected colleague and blunt momentum for an overhaul of the administration's Iraq policy.
But many senior House Democrats, including Pelosi and Ike Skelton of Missouri, the ranking member of the House Armed Service Committee, have distanced themselves from Murtha's resolution, saying a phased withdrawal over time is a more prudent course of action. Friday's House debate is likely to stoke an intensifying partisan debate on Capitol Hill over the Bush administration's handling of the war.
It should prompt a debate, and every time the Democrats screw up, it needs to be brought up, and thrown back in their faces. This nation is tired of the war, true, but we support the troops, the mission, and the vision to root out and kill our enemies. Pardon me for sounding so Dark-Ages-like, but they attacked us. We will not take the Clinton approach in ignoring it, or treating it like a law enforcement issue. We have dispatched our troops, and they are taking the fight to the animals that perpetuated that attack.
I sympathize with Murtha, but he has to know he was used. He was used in more ways than I can count. His party used him, hoping to get talking points out of him, and when the GOP responded with "Put your money where your mouth is," they backed away from the issue, and the honorable man who brought it up. Murtha was treated like a Kleenex, and disposed of just as easily. I feel sorry for him, but not for the Democrats.
They brought this on themselves. As Marcie pointed out, this is the House not the Senate. Things are different in the House, and the GOP is stronger in the House. When Hastert or now-Dreier speak, everyone's on the same page. They showed it on Friday. I can only hope the GOP in the Seante was taking notes on what it means to have a backbone.
Publius II
By now, I'm sure many have heard that the House resolution from last night went down like a John McCain piloted jet. (Sorry, just a little joke there.)
Rep. John Murtha's request to have the troops begin an immediate, and six-month long pullout from Iraq was soundly defeated. And when I say "soundly" I mean a Narc-at-a-bike-rally beat-down. Below is the story from the New York Times, as reprinted by the Arizona Republic this morning.
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/1119iraq-politics19.html (The story cited below)
http://www.captainsquartersblog.com/mt/archives/005812.php (Live-blogged the debate and vote)
http://www.drumwaster.com/index.php/weblog/live_blogging_the_war_debate/ (As explained in the link, live-blogged the vote)
http://michellemalkin.com/archives/003947.htm (Did some minor live-blogging on it, and has a list of links to it)
http://euphoria.jarkolicious.com/journal/2005/11/18/1310/ (Euphoric also live-blogged the vote.)
WASHINGTON - Republicans and Democrats shouted, howled and slung vicious insults on the House floor on Friday as a debate over whether to withdraw American troops from Iraq descended into a vitriolic fury over President Bush's handling of the war and a leading Democrat's call to bring the troops home.
House Republicans put to a vote a non-binding alternative resolution that simply said, "It is the sense of the House of Representatives that the deployment of United States forces in Iraq be terminated immediately."
The House voted late Friday 403-3 to defeat the resolution.
The battle boiled over when Rep. Jean Schmidt, R-Ohio, the most junior member of the House, told of a phone call she had just received from a Marine colonel back home.
"He asked me to send Congress a message: Stay the course," Schmidt said. "He also asked me to send Congressman Murtha a message: that cowards cut and run, Marines never do."
Democrats howled in protest and shouted Schmidt down over the attack on Rep. John Murtha of Pennsylvania, a Vietnam combat veteran and one of the House's most respected members on military matters.
Isn't that typical? They shouted down a representative of the people who was relaying a message from a Marine colonel who was urging the House to hold the line. Yet, Murtha was allowed to read letter after letter from disgruntled military families and upset troops over the war, and the GOP respected his sentiments. No one is questioning Murtha's patriotism.The man served, and he's been a staunch supporter of the troops and vets returned from action, or those retired from the service. The only question is Murtha's sanity for pushing this issue. He had to have known that the House was no place to introduce this issue, and put the matter up to a vote. The House isn't the Senate. The RINOs in the House know when to stand up, and when to sit down and shut up. They also know when they have to stand--united--with their party, and it's to be expected on such important votes like this one.
The proceedings came to a standstill, and moments later, Rep. Harold Ford, D-Tenn., charged across the chamber's center aisle to the Republican side screaming that the attack had been unwarranted.
Rep. Martin Meehan, D-Mass., yelled, "You guys are pathetic! Pathetic!"
In Friday's battle, Democrats accused Republicans of pulling a political stunt by moving toward a vote on a symbolic alternative to the resolution that Murtha had offered on Thursday, calling for the swift withdrawal of American troops from Iraq. The Democrats said the ploy had distorted the meaning of Murtha's measure and had left little time for meaningful debate.
Did Meehan engage in "meaningful debate"? How about Ford? This shows how unhinged the Left has become. The House was turned into a three ring circus over this one little issue. What made the Democrats even more upset was the fact that the GOP threw down the gauntlet. As Marcie pointed out earlier tonight, it was a "put up or shut up" moment for the Democrats. They wanted the names on the record as to who opposed the troops being in Iraq. And the Democrats knew that if they sided with Murtha's proposal, two things would happen.
First, they'd cut their own political throats with the voters; the country is still on the side of finishing the job.
Second, they'd never win the day; the GOP was going to remain steadfast in it's decision to stay put until the job is finished.
Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., denied that there were any political tricks and said pulling American forces out of Iraq so rashly would hurt troop morale overseas. "We want to make sure that we support our troops that are fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. We will not retreat."
The measure's fate was sealed and the vote count's significance minimized when the Democratic leader, Rep. Nancy Pelosi of California, criticized the Republican tactics and instructed Democrats to join Republicans in voting against an immediate withdrawal.
I wonder how Murtha felt when Pelosi stabbed him in the back. I'm sure Murtha thinks he was making a serious, righteous stand, and that his party would back him. But Pelosi's call was a death knell for the proposal. Sure she criticized the GOP. She always does. That's nothing new. What is new is her hanging Murtha by the same rope he asked for slack on. The party gave him just enough to hang himself with; a form of political suicide. The Democrats would have never supported the measure anyway as they didn't want to be on the record as the antiwar party. With Pelosi's move, she just turned Murtha into the resident "village idiot" of the Democrat party. If I were him, I'd seriously reconsider who I sided with if his own party was willing to feed him to the wolves.
Don't get me wrong. I'm ecstatic that the House GOP has more of a backbone than the Senate, and that they stood together when it was needed. I stand firmly behind the president in his decisions for the war. He has the intel I don't, and I know Iraq was a serious threat. The troops stay until the job is finished. We're not Europe; we don't leave our missions half-finished for someone else to clean up.
The maneuvering came amid more than three hours of often nasty floor debate and boisterous political theater, with Democrats accusing Republicans of resorting to desperate tactics to back a failed war and Republicans warning that Murtha's measure would play into the hands of terrorists.
See, that's the thing with the Democrats. They call this a failed war, yet almost fifty million people are free today, and working feverishly to complete the creation of their new free nations. Both Iraq and Afghanistan have embraced democracy in ways that make the Left and their willing media minions sick. This was not good for them. They would've preferred a civil war within both nations. I'm sorry that neither nation was willing to accomodate them. (Actually, I'm not; I gain a level of sadistic glee over watching this party go insane over the success of this president when it comes to the war.)
In South Korea, where Bush was in the final day of an Asian economic summit meeting, the White House released the advance text of a speech that Bush is scheduled to make today at Osan Air Force Base.
"In Washington there are some who say that the sacrifice is too great, and they urge us to set a date for withdrawal before we have completed our mission," Bush planned to say, keeping up the daily drumbeat of White House response from 7,000 miles away. "Those who are in the fight know better."
On Thursday, Murtha called for pulling out the 153,000 American troops within six months, saying U.S. forces have become a catalyst for the continuing violence in Iraq.
No, that would the be the terrorists that were already there (yes we have evidence of it) and those being sent over the borders from Iran and Syria (and yes, we have proof of that, as well). The terrorists, rather than surrendering, or lying low, are in a full-out offensive (I think this is their fiftieth one since the beginning of the war) to destabilize Iraq. They've virtually given up in Afghanistan. To prove the point further, the terrorists are going after civilians. Why? Because they can't meet us on the battlefield. They suffer more losses than we do in a direct engagement.
Democrats privately acknowledged that they were seeking to escape a political trap set by the GOP to box them into an unappealing choice: Side with Murtha and face criticism for backing a plan that American commanders say would cripple the mission in Iraq or oppose their respected colleague and blunt momentum for an overhaul of the administration's Iraq policy.
But many senior House Democrats, including Pelosi and Ike Skelton of Missouri, the ranking member of the House Armed Service Committee, have distanced themselves from Murtha's resolution, saying a phased withdrawal over time is a more prudent course of action. Friday's House debate is likely to stoke an intensifying partisan debate on Capitol Hill over the Bush administration's handling of the war.
It should prompt a debate, and every time the Democrats screw up, it needs to be brought up, and thrown back in their faces. This nation is tired of the war, true, but we support the troops, the mission, and the vision to root out and kill our enemies. Pardon me for sounding so Dark-Ages-like, but they attacked us. We will not take the Clinton approach in ignoring it, or treating it like a law enforcement issue. We have dispatched our troops, and they are taking the fight to the animals that perpetuated that attack.
I sympathize with Murtha, but he has to know he was used. He was used in more ways than I can count. His party used him, hoping to get talking points out of him, and when the GOP responded with "Put your money where your mouth is," they backed away from the issue, and the honorable man who brought it up. Murtha was treated like a Kleenex, and disposed of just as easily. I feel sorry for him, but not for the Democrats.
They brought this on themselves. As Marcie pointed out, this is the House not the Senate. Things are different in the House, and the GOP is stronger in the House. When Hastert or now-Dreier speak, everyone's on the same page. They showed it on Friday. I can only hope the GOP in the Seante was taking notes on what it means to have a backbone.
Publius II
posted by Syd And Vaughn | 8:42 PM
3 Comments:
You are error.
Jaxebad
To Jaxebad, Huh? For you information this blog site is very credible. If you mean "You erred," be specific. Ty.
It is widely reported that Murtha's tearfully shouting is a diversion from ethical lapses that have been allegedly uncovered. I don't buy the diversion but it may account for his bizarre behavior. He insult the Marine Corp and the country. Rawriter
Jaxebad,
It would be helpful for you to point out where Publius was incorrect. I have read this story and two others about this amendment. Publius' analysis was right on. If you're going to post criticisms, it's wise to be specific.
Mistress Pundit
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