John Murtha: The Gift That Keeps On Giving
Saturdays are always busy around the house which is why we push off all blogging until later in the day. And today I am kicking myself for not addressing this story soone. The WaPo today reports that Representative John Murtha is pushing to become the next House Majority Leader--a position not yet available to the Democrats.
(Hat-Tip: Captain Ed Morrissey)
Rep. John P. Murtha (Pa.), one of the Democrats' leading antiwar voices, startled his political colleagues yesterday by announcing he would seek a senior leadership position if the Democrats win control of the House in November.
In a letter that he circulated on the floor during a series of votes, Murtha said he is eyeing the No. 2 position. "If we prevail as I hope and know we will and return to the majority this next Congress, I have decided to run for the open seat of the Majority Leader," Murtha wrote.
The presumed favorite for that job had been the current No. 2 House Democrat, Steny H. Hoyer (Md.), with whom Murtha has long had testy relations. Hoyer, like many of his political colleagues, greeted Murtha's announcement with annoyance and exasperation, given that the election remains five months off and a Democratic victory is by no means assured.
"Mr. Hoyer has worked extraordinarily hard to unify the caucus and take back the House for Democrats, and that is his first focus," said Stacey Bernards, his press secretary. "As a result of that unity, he's confident that we will be successful in November, and intends to run for majority leader."
Bernards listed Hoyer's long résumé of political service, including his current post as Democratic whip, for which he was unopposed, and previous jobs as caucus chairman and head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
Murtha did not explain the timing of the letter or why he was suddenly itching to climb the leadership ladder. Were Democrats to win House control, Murtha would be second in line to become chairman of the Appropriations Committee, one of the most powerful jobs in Congress.
This is too funny. Not only is Rep. Murtha putting the cart well before the horse, he thinks he can wrestle that away from Nancy Pelosi, who is the current Minority Leader. There have been rumblings recently regarding whether or not the Democrats would throw her under the bus should they lose, again, this coming November, and fail to recapture the House. So it makes sense that some Democrats would creep out of the woodwork in an effort to "eat their dead," however Rep. Pelosi is anytrhing but dead. She is still alive and kicking. (At least she still had a heartbeat earlier this week with her reaction to al-Zarqawi's death; a development she termed as "good.")
But with Senator John Kerry clearly leaning towards the antiwar Left in the Democrat party (a position he has rarely flip-flopped on), and Rep. Murtha in the House leaning that direction, it is clear to us (and should be for the rest of America) that this is not the party to trust with power in 2006 and beyond. The cut-and-runners are loose, and they want our troops home, post-haste.
Guess what? So do I. I want my brother back home and out of harm's way, but I am not supporting a move for defeat which is precisely the message that will be translated to our enemies. This might be why so many in the Democrat Party are cited by our enemies in their propaganda. During the 2004 election, the tapes released by bin Laden utilized talking points very similar to those spoken by Sen. Kerry. That is not to say they were in cahoots with one another, but based on Sen. Kerry's latest bold move to side with those he did after returning home from Vietnam, it is clear that the Democrat leaders and our enemies share a similar goal.
They want the US out of Iraq, out of Afghanistan, and anywhere else we seem to be successful in this war. And while that might solve the current "problem" of soldiers dying on the battlefield (imagine that; soldiers die in combat! Someone alert the Times! Oh, Somebody already did ... repeatedly so, even) it will not solve the overall problem we face that the Democrats seem to forget when it comes to this debate.
Our enemy is still very much alive, kicking like crazy, and is still desiring our demise. What is their answer to that? Negotiation? More like capitulation, and that spells disater for the nation. Rep. Murtha would be better off if he sat down and kept quiet until after the election. Too much of this talk will cost them this election as much as John Kerry's "global test" cost him, and his party, the fifth consecutive federal election. But if he would like to keep speaking, he may; after all, we are not ones to turn away providence when it rears its head.
Marcie
Saturdays are always busy around the house which is why we push off all blogging until later in the day. And today I am kicking myself for not addressing this story soone. The WaPo today reports that Representative John Murtha is pushing to become the next House Majority Leader--a position not yet available to the Democrats.
(Hat-Tip: Captain Ed Morrissey)
Rep. John P. Murtha (Pa.), one of the Democrats' leading antiwar voices, startled his political colleagues yesterday by announcing he would seek a senior leadership position if the Democrats win control of the House in November.
In a letter that he circulated on the floor during a series of votes, Murtha said he is eyeing the No. 2 position. "If we prevail as I hope and know we will and return to the majority this next Congress, I have decided to run for the open seat of the Majority Leader," Murtha wrote.
The presumed favorite for that job had been the current No. 2 House Democrat, Steny H. Hoyer (Md.), with whom Murtha has long had testy relations. Hoyer, like many of his political colleagues, greeted Murtha's announcement with annoyance and exasperation, given that the election remains five months off and a Democratic victory is by no means assured.
"Mr. Hoyer has worked extraordinarily hard to unify the caucus and take back the House for Democrats, and that is his first focus," said Stacey Bernards, his press secretary. "As a result of that unity, he's confident that we will be successful in November, and intends to run for majority leader."
Bernards listed Hoyer's long résumé of political service, including his current post as Democratic whip, for which he was unopposed, and previous jobs as caucus chairman and head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
Murtha did not explain the timing of the letter or why he was suddenly itching to climb the leadership ladder. Were Democrats to win House control, Murtha would be second in line to become chairman of the Appropriations Committee, one of the most powerful jobs in Congress.
This is too funny. Not only is Rep. Murtha putting the cart well before the horse, he thinks he can wrestle that away from Nancy Pelosi, who is the current Minority Leader. There have been rumblings recently regarding whether or not the Democrats would throw her under the bus should they lose, again, this coming November, and fail to recapture the House. So it makes sense that some Democrats would creep out of the woodwork in an effort to "eat their dead," however Rep. Pelosi is anytrhing but dead. She is still alive and kicking. (At least she still had a heartbeat earlier this week with her reaction to al-Zarqawi's death; a development she termed as "good.")
But with Senator John Kerry clearly leaning towards the antiwar Left in the Democrat party (a position he has rarely flip-flopped on), and Rep. Murtha in the House leaning that direction, it is clear to us (and should be for the rest of America) that this is not the party to trust with power in 2006 and beyond. The cut-and-runners are loose, and they want our troops home, post-haste.
Guess what? So do I. I want my brother back home and out of harm's way, but I am not supporting a move for defeat which is precisely the message that will be translated to our enemies. This might be why so many in the Democrat Party are cited by our enemies in their propaganda. During the 2004 election, the tapes released by bin Laden utilized talking points very similar to those spoken by Sen. Kerry. That is not to say they were in cahoots with one another, but based on Sen. Kerry's latest bold move to side with those he did after returning home from Vietnam, it is clear that the Democrat leaders and our enemies share a similar goal.
They want the US out of Iraq, out of Afghanistan, and anywhere else we seem to be successful in this war. And while that might solve the current "problem" of soldiers dying on the battlefield (imagine that; soldiers die in combat! Someone alert the Times! Oh, Somebody already did ... repeatedly so, even) it will not solve the overall problem we face that the Democrats seem to forget when it comes to this debate.
Our enemy is still very much alive, kicking like crazy, and is still desiring our demise. What is their answer to that? Negotiation? More like capitulation, and that spells disater for the nation. Rep. Murtha would be better off if he sat down and kept quiet until after the election. Too much of this talk will cost them this election as much as John Kerry's "global test" cost him, and his party, the fifth consecutive federal election. But if he would like to keep speaking, he may; after all, we are not ones to turn away providence when it rears its head.
Marcie
posted by Syd And Vaughn | 5:18 PM
1 Comments:
Apparently there is more to Representive Murtha than meets the eye. His miltary service and medals, like Kerry, is called into question once again by Congressman Don Bailey. Rawriter
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