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October 02, 2006

Comments

Neo

There is already jocking for the best offices.

Semanticleo

Like we don't know how DC greases the wheels
of government. Anyone who doesn't like it should eliminate Lobbyists and go to publicly-
funded elections. The only way you're gonna get the corruption out is to remove the corrupting influences.

Rick Ballard

Do you take the stupid pills with water or milk, Tic? Assuming, of course, that any artificial aids are necessary.

boris

Actually I've heard that cleo drinks dummy juice. It's made from straw.

Sue

How did the NYTs and progressives get away with criticizing a VIETNAM WAR VET?

Semanticleo

Coming from you idiots, that is a compliment.

Florence Schmieg

Before every election, the NY Times goes into full campaign mode. You can always see the lie of the land in the Democratic party there. They will now destroy Murtha as previously they destroyed Howard Dean. Don't know yet if it is Pelosi or Hoyer they favor but that should become apparent soon. I still think it won't matter in the long run. Even with this Foley debacle, I feel the Republicans won't lose control but they sure are trying hard to. And expect the Times to do everything within their power to insure they do.

Rick Ballard

Sue,

It has to be read with an understanding of what will be necessary when the Beast of Chapaqua enters the presidential lists in January. The Times now has a bit of cover of the 'look, we're evenhanded' nature for their planned attack on McCain. In the unlikely event that the Dems take the House, the Beast wants only trustworthy libs at the top, with "trustworthy" being much more important than "lib". Murtha doesn't bend a knee quite quickly enough to suit her holiness.

maryrose

Pelosi better hold off measuring for curtains because she'll be sitting in the minority for the next two years. Recent efforts to trash Hastert will come to naught. They thought they accomplished something by sidelining DeLay an unforgivable slander, but in the end they will be hoisted on their own petard.

clarice feldman

How will the nutroots like that?

My friend on the ground has been saying she thinks Ivey is in good position to defeat Murtha BTW..He's been playing hardball to get Pelosi's spot in the mythical Dem takeover while Ivey's been building support in his fiefdom. The local papaers have covered for him--hiding his most controversial stuff from the hometowners, but his Haditha remarks have soured his voters--an old fashioned sort of Dem constituency(patriotic, support the troops) .

maryrose

Rick:
"Beast of Chappaqua"
LOL. I still contend she is unelectable. Her 47% negatives are just too high. Besides I think there are many dems who would like it if Bill and Hil just went away.

Sara (Squiggler)

“Murtha wants to “chat up” the enemy,
go hat-in-hand to Osama bin Laden.
But if you go hat-in-hand, you better be prepared to leave with your head in your hat in your hand.”
-- David Beamer, Boot Murtha Rally keynote speaker

--------------------

Murtha used gov’t Veterans Affairs Office
to promote, bus vets into his political rally

According to an article in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Rep. John Murtha’s campaign contacted and used a government Veterans Affairs Office to promote his campaign's political rally – held Sat., Sept. 30 in Johnstown, PA.

Rally promotional materials for Congressman Murtha’s campaign event list John Panichella as head of the Westmoreland County Veterans Affairs Office and give his courthouse office telephone number for contact purposes. Panichella used his office in the courthouse to arrange bussing veterans to the campaign event.

------------------

Murtha admits ABSCAM guilt
on Wolf Blitzer show -

the same day the full 54-minute FBI sting surveillance tape hit the internet

Last Friday, Murtha’s 26-year ABSCAM lie abruptly ended – the same day the full 54-minute FBI sting surveillance tape hit the internet. Appearing on CNN’s Wolf Blitzer’s show that night, Murtha made this admission of guilt:

"They offered me $50,000." [LINK to transcript]

House ethics rules require members to immediately report any bribe offers to the FBI. Murtha was offered a $50,000 bribe in 1980. Did he report it? No. He lied:

"I did not consider that any money was offered." – Murtha, 1980 [LINK]

Murtha then lied to 1980 House Ethics Committee member Don Bailey, who in turn convinced the Committee (barely) not to file charges against Murtha -- a decision Bailey now deeply regrets. [LINK]

Twenty-six years ago, that admission would have brought charges against Murtha. Twenty-six years ago, that truth would have ended Congressman Murtha’s political career.

With the truth now out, the question remains: will Murtha remain in office?
----------------------

Stephanopoulos to Murtha: "Democrats are worried about your leadership"

Congressman John Murtha was questioned this morning by Sunday morning talk show host George Stephanopoulos regarding his announcement Friday that he is again campaigning for House Majority Leader. Stephanopoulos said Democrats are worried about his leadership. The reason? Murtha's questionable ethics.

Stephanopoulos cited ABSCAM and tens of millions of Defense contract dollars going to the KSI lobbying firm of Murtha's brother as reason for Democrats' concern.

For full articles, see: BootMurtha.com

Sara (Squiggler)

Twenty Reasons not to vote for Jack Murtha

1. Murtha wants to Cut and Run from Iraq. This has already proven deadly for America:

Osama bin Laden cites the Cut and Run from Somalia (1993) as the main reason he believed al Qaida could strike the U.S. with impunity. Cut and Run is wrong now in Iraq for the same reasons. read

2. Murtha demoralizes our troops during war with his public statements: read, read

3. Murtha aligns with & accepts awards from radical, anti-military, soldiers-harassing organizations:

Code Pink/Murtha photo-op, accepting their award: here
MFSO/Murtha photo-op, in Washington, D.C.: here

4. Murtha stonewalls constituents who are Iraq War veterans: read, read

5. Murtha called Marines 'cold blooded" murderers prior to completion of an investigation:

read, read, read

6. Murtha says he would not join the military today, nor should others: read

7. Murtha voted for re-instituting the draft: read

8. Murtha says it "doesn't matter" if PA's overseas service members vote, declines to help.

9. Murtha lies about military recruitment not meeting its goals: read

10. Murtha refuses to sponsor the Stolen Valor Bill, which exposes phony war heroes: read, read, read

11. Murtha himself questions his military medals, refuses to release his military records: read

12. Murtha repeatedly slips Congressional pay and honoraria limit increases into bills: read

Since 1995, John Murtha has voted 11 straight times in favor of raising his own pay.

13. Murtha voted against securing our borders: vote results

14. Murtha voted against protecting the Pledge of Allegiance: read

15. Murtha voted for stem cell research, which destroys live human embryos: read

16. Murtha gutted and weakened our military as Chairman of the Defense Committee: read

17. Murtha loots the Defense Budget with non-military spending earmarks, then complains
there's not enough money for body armor for our troops: read

18. Murtha's blatant cronyism shovels millions of Defense $ to his brother, friends, colleagues:

$20 million to his brother in 2004 [read]
Millions to Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi's nephew [read]
Millions to PA Rep. Paul Kanjorski's kids [read]

19. Murtha is the top beneficiary of defense campaign donations: read

20. Murtha pushed for premature 2003 deployment of the Stryker vehicle to Iraq without proper testing, resulting in the needless deaths of soldiers: read, read

JM Hanes

Sara:

As Senator Byrd has demonstrated time & again, it's tough to defeat a guy who brings home major bacon. I don't think the Times was intentionally burying the lede here, but unfortunately they made it pretty clear just how much bacon we're talking about in Murtha's case. I sure hope Irey can pull off an upset, and I've sent my $$ in, but it will take a David & Goliath moment to do it. I'm not sure she's got a big enough stone to sling.

Is there a Murtha/Irey debate on the schedule? Murtha would be insane to agree, because he often fumbles even the softball questions he gets handed on air. I haven't been keeping up on the details, but I think pushing really hard for debates would be a win/win for Irey. She can either make major hay out of a Murtha refusal or make mincemeat of the Congressman himself on stage.

clarice feldman

JMH, For what it's worth my boots on the ground source says Irey is going to beat him (and that's not in any calculations I've seen of the election results.)

Sara (Squiggler)

JMH -- Well Murtha held a rally in J-town on Saturday and had about 200 show up, Irey held a rally on Sunday and had over a thousand. Murtha had Gov. Rendell and Wesley Clark, Irey had dozens of Gold Star parents, 9/11 victims, and lots and lots and lots of Vets. The overall press coverage everywhere, not just the Times, has changed drastically in tone in the last month and not to Murtha's credit. Irey is raising money hand over fist, but Murtha, unfortunately, started with a war chest so big, she has no hope of ever catching up money-wise. But Murtha's legal problems may bury him. Irey has asked for Justice Dept. probe on his using earmarks as campaign promises and he is dirty on that. Now the full ABSCAM video that shows he has been lying thru his teeth for 25 years, it all hurts.

See: http://www.irey.com.

The Murtha Must Go site, http://www.murthamustgo.com deals with Murtha's terrible relations he has with the military community today.

http://bootmurtha.com deals more with his financial dirty dealings. Both sites are brutal when it comes to Jack Murtha.

Just about the only people supporting Murtha today are those in Code Pink and the Sheehanistas.

JM Hanes

Make it so!

maryrose

Re:
Murtha:
what goes around comes around. Notoriety comes with a price. His 15 minutes are almost up. He probably should have stayed below the radar if he wanted to survive as a
congressman.

clarice feldman

I don't think the Dems saw this coming and now that he's creating internal agita, I wonder if they will do all they can to help him.

It's a longshot but the local press' lipsticking this pig is not enought this time. I have hopes for Irey.

Sara (Squiggler)

The way I see it, there are two groups of people in senior leadership today. Senior being those in their fifties and sixties.

Group One are those who belonged to the flowerchild and sit-in groups of the '60s. Those who demonstrated violently against the Vietnam War and caused us to withdraw in shame. These are the same people who when in their own youth were spitting on, throwing garbage at, and doing everything they could to make military men and women ashamed of who they were and the mission they were honorably trying to fulfill.

Group Two are those who were part of that military, their families, children, etc. They are also those who despite the sex-drugs-rock'n'roll mindset of the peaceniks and socialists, were trying to finish school or make stable family lives.

Now all those over-the-hill hippies are members of Code Pink and can be found at any anti-war demonstration. They want us to fail otherwise, their miserable lives have no meaning. They may show up in business suits, but they are still members of the great unwashed underneath. If they were soldiers, they were Winter Soldiers.

Group One can not abide having Group Two succeed today. By succeeding, Group Two makes it crystal clear what cowards Group One really are. It makes the shame of deserting our military in Vietnam all the more shameful.

Murtha may have served, but he is a Winter Soldier. He disgusts me.

Neo

The skinny on Murtha wasn't so much him, but his brother who is a lobbyist for a number for defense contractors.

Since when has a senior member on Arms Appro said bad things about this war or any war ? When the war isn't generating the need for the kinds of logistic items that his district (to be kind) or his brother's buddies are selling.

This is the mirror of the whole Haliburton "evil conspiracy" stik, but with a Democratic face.

Personally, I must say that Murtha has had everybody going. What a smooth operator.

Sadie

I hate to throw cold water on this discussion. Buuuuttt,
Does anyone here live in Murtha's District?
My sister who does live there says there is no chance for Irey. All of the union people will vote dem and for Murtha - 80% of these voters are union members or union families.

clarice feldman

Redstate says she's really closing the gap and has the momentum. My friend on the ground says she's going to win. Thoaw Dems are old-fashioned conservative Dems who were unaware of Murtha's more outrageous moves and the local papers have been covering for him.

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