Wednesday, January 04, 2006
MurthaWatch: They Also Serve...Who Refuse To Serve
"Who's the cat who won't come out
When there's danger all about?
SHAFT!
You daaaaamn right!
They say that cat is a baaaad Murtha....
(Shut yo mouf!
You bein' bad!)"
Well folks, he's at it again. Let no one say the Democrat Party is Soft on Terror. Soft-headed perhaps, but tough as nails on the kind of folks who fly planes into buildings... and the people who try to protect us from them. Now comes John Murtha, another great American War Hero of the Left in the grand tradition of Gunga John Kerry.
Rep. Murtha can't wait to take the GWOT to al Qaeda in a fashion reminiscent of Tinkie Winkie:
"Would you join (the military) today?," he was asked in an interview taped on Friday.
"No," replied Murtha of Pennsylvania, the top Democrat on the House of Representatives subcommittee that oversees defense spending and one of his party's leading spokesmen on military issues.
"And I think you're saying the average guy out there who's considering recruitment is justified in saying 'I don't want to serve'," the interviewer continued.
"Exactly right," said Murtha, who drew White House ire in November after becoming the first ranking Democrat to push for a pullout of U.S. forces from Iraq as soon as it could be done safely.
But don't you *dare* question his patriotism, or you'll face the Furious Finger of Doom, as that big bruiser, freshman Congresswoman ("Mean Jean") Schmidt did when she had the temerity to hurt the feelings of the sensitive Rep. Murtha by confronting him with the reaction of a fellow Marine to a bill Murtha had proposed. How dare another military veteran offer an opinion on the subject! Why, it was... clearly a vicious personal attack!
Rep. Harold Ford, D-Tenn., charged across the chamber's center aisle screaming that Republicans were making uncalled-for personal attacks. "You guys are pathetic! Pathetic!" yelled Rep. Marty Meehan, D-Mass.
House Democrats then tried to have the Colonel's message stricken from the record and Rep. Schmidt punished for forcing them to listen to the words of one of those troops they support so fervently:
Instantly, two dozen Democrats shot to their feet and demanded her words be "taken down," a precursor to House punishment, because she insulted Mr. Murtha. Rep. Vic Snyder, Arkansas Democrat, said the use of Mr. Murtha's name and "coward" were in "too close a proximity" to let the matter go.
As I have documented several places, both Schmidt and Bubp stated that they never meant to insult Murtha, and anyone with an ounce of sense (or a rudimentary command of the English language, for that matter) is capable of understanding the ordinary meaning of his comment: i.e., that most Marines would consider the act of leaving before a battle is won to be a cowardly act incompatible with over 200 years of Marine Corps history. It requires both profound dishonesty and and a particularly sly brand of malice to construe Colonel Bubp's words as other than they were meant.
However, this is Washington. The media and the DNC then fell all over themselves in their rush to become amateur Noam Chomskys; parsing, editing, and deconstructing Rep. Murtha's words in an attempt to make this "liberal hawk" and "former war supporter" more palatable to the American public. But close examination of Rep. Murtha's past statements is enlightening. Flash back to 1993 and Somalia. Does any of this sound familiar?
"They're subdued compared to normal morale of elite forces..."
"After 18 U.S. Rangers were killed in the battle of Mogadishu, Murtha visited U.S. forces in Somalia...Afterwards, Murtha said the US had no choice but to pull out completely."
“‘Our welcome has been worn out,’ Mr. Murtha said on NBC’s ‘Today’ show, adding that Mr. Clinton has been ‘listening to our suggestions. And I think you’ll see him move those troops out very quickly.’
“While conceding that Clinton ‘’inherited a very difficult situation in Somalia,’’ Murtha said he did not ‘see any achievable goal or national security interest in this operation.’’”
The only war Rep. Murtha has been interested in fighting lately is in his own mind:
Murtha vs. Murtha: Rep. Murtha on the prospects of an Iraqi civil war:
Attack!
[T]here's a civil war going. We're caught in between a civil war right now. Our troops are the targets of the civil war. They're the only people that could have unified the various factions in Iraq. And they're unified against us. --ABC's This Week, 12/4/05
Run Away!
[W]hy should I believe what the CIA says about what's happening in Iraq, that there's going to be a civil war? First of all, al Qaeda was wrong. It was wrong on the nuclear stuff. It was wrong on everything they have said over there. So why should I believe that there's going to be a civil war? -- same show, a few moments later.
Take that hill at all costs!
Rep. Murtha on whether the Iraqis will throw us out:
[T]he military won a military victory. They got rid of Saddam Hussein. ...[snip] ... Now, it's got to be a political win. They have to win this politically. The Iraqis themselves. We'll stay there forever. The Iraqis are never going to say turn it over. We can't allow them to say when it's gonna turn it over.--This Week, 12/4/05
Umm...never mind...
You're gonna see the Iraqis clamoring. Listen, anybody we support in Iraq loses the election. And so they're gonna be clamoring for us to get out. -- same show, a few moments later.
It's all The Shrub's fault. If only he'd invited Rep. Murtha over for a heart-to-heart, all this unpleasantness could have been avoided:
Rep. John Murtha is quoted in this week's Newsweek saying that if Bush II had invited him to the White House and let him air his views the way Bush I did, his high-profile call for rapid redeployment in Iraq could have been avoided."If they'd talked to me, it wouldn't have happened."
It's the principle of the thing, you know. When the leadership of a great nation stops listening to fresh ideas like Rep. Murtha's innovative rhythm method of warfare (because love means never having to say premature withdrawal. We're just 'redeploying to the rear'), true patriots must stand up and be counted.
Because they also serve who only stand and encourage others to shirk.
Fortunately for America, 82% of our all-volunteer military disagree with Jack Murtha about the value of military service, and 70% would re-enlist today if given the chance. Via the invaluable Tom Bevan.
6 Comments:
By 
TigerHawk, at
Wed Jan 04, 10:00:00 AM:
Murtha is not a coward. He's subversive. There's a difference.
By 
, at
Wed Jan 04, 11:05:00 AM:
"one of his party's leading spokesmen on military issues..."
Now that's a frightening characterization.
Sheehan was anointed with "moral authority" because her son was killed in Iraq. Murtha was put on point because he served in the military. The fact the Left tries to create smokescreens to hide their anti-war, anti-military message behind suggests something about their motives.
It may be time to put ol' Murtha out to pasture, and let him live out his days nestled among the daisies like an old Ferdinand.
By Jeff Kouba, at
Wed Jan 04, 11:06:00 AM:
that last one was me, guldurned comment system...
By TigerHawk, at
Wed Jan 04, 12:01:00 PM:
JarheadDad - I was not intending to parse Cass's words regarding courage in my comment. My real point (however poorly expressed) is that cowardly or otherwise, Murtha is subverting this war and in no way, shape or form "supporting the troops." Let's not hear any of that from anybody who does not support and encourage military recruitment.
By , at
Wed Jan 04, 01:27:00 PM:
"Innovative rhythym method of warfare?"
Surely not!
*snark*
That, dear Cassandra, sums it all up succinctly.
By Cassandra, at
Wed Jan 04, 02:07:00 PM:
Hey - I'm sure it's just about as effective in preventing little wars, too.
