Posted on 06/18/2006 4:34:24 PM PDT by Sub-Driver
Democrat Assails Rove's Remarks on Iraq By RAYMOND HERNANDEZ
WASHINGTON, June 18 — Representative John P. Murtha, the Pennsylvania Democrat and Vietnam War veteran pushing for a quick withdrawal of American troops from Iraq, today mocked Karl Rove, the president's senior adviser, for championing the war while "sitting in his air-conditioned office on his big, fat backside."
Mr. Murtha, in an appearance on the NBC News program "Meet the Press," was responding to a speech Mr. Rove delivered in New Hampshire last week attacking Democrats for what he called "that party's old pattern of cutting and running."
When Mr. Murtha was asked today for his reaction to Mr. Rove's remarks, he said: "He's making a political speech. He's sitting in his air-conditioned office on his big, fat backside saying, 'Stay the course.' That's not a plan. I mean, this guy — I don't know what is military experience is, but that's a political statement."
Mr. Murtha's comments came as the Bush administration pressed ahead with its campaign to seize the political offensive on Iraq — a campaign that included President Bush's surprise visit to Baghdad early last week.
The White House spokesman, Tony Snow, made the rounds on the Sunday morning political programs, saying that President Bush has every intention of sticking with the course he has set in Iraq, even as opinion polls suggest that most Americans are increasingly uneasy about the war.
"The president understands people's impatience — not impatience but how a war can wear on a nation," Mr. Snow said on the CNN program "Late Edition With Wolf Blitzer." "He understands that. If somebody had taken a poll in the Battle of the Bulge, I dare say people would have said, 'Wow, my goodness, what are we doing here?'
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
In the meantime, Murtha's hanging out and participating in a group hug with Code Pink, who has in their leadership people that have blood on their hands from helping the communist leader who murdered Sgts Handwork, Kwitkowski, Weber and Davidson in El Salvador in 1985. Yeah Murtha's a traitor to his fellow Marines all right.
If I was in PA I'd vote for her just cause she's
a babe!! Of course anybody's has GOT to better
than Murtha!
Glass houses! Rock throwing ping!
First it is obvious that Nancy Pelosi got Murtha to carry tht "Surrender Now" water, because Murtha has one of the saftest seats in the house. Look at the shape of the 12th district. It is the most gerrymandered thing you can imagine. Plus it has a 2 to 1 Demoratic edge in registered voters. With moderates it has to be a 70 to 30 or better Democratic district.
Usually I argue against trying to defeat a Democrat where the odds are that long. It is usually a waste of time, money, and effort, but that is not the way I see this race.
Let us say that if Murtha is defeated by Diana Lynn Irey, the repercussions in the Democratic party would be beyond belief.
But what if Murtha instead of winning 72 to 28 wins 55 to 45. This is a district in which a Democrat should win by at least 70 to 30. A 55 to 45 result would prove that in a majority of districts Gerrymandered 54 to 46 to elect a Democrat, a Democrat taking Murtha's positions would lose big time. That would scare the stuffing out of 2/3 of the Democratic members of the house. If most Democrats lose 15 percent of their support they are history. And a 55 to 45 Murtha win in the 12th would prove that to a lot of Democrats. None of them would likely come with in 5 miles of Murtha. His influence on other Democrats would be, in effect, zero. His surrender now position would get far less than 59 votes in the house.
Murtha is taking the risk becuase if the "Bring the Troops Home" ploy fails he believes he will still hold his seat. But if he suceeds, he will be the big dog in the Democrat House. It is our job to see that he does not succeed.
What Murtha has to know is that if he wins by a much smaller margin than ususal, he will prove the Anti War ploy is a loser for Democrats.
In most districts there may be difficulty determining what cost a candidate votes. This fall it could be immigraion, the war, gas prices and in many districts local issues.
In the Pennsylvania 12th, the issue is Murtha's position of "Surrender Now and Avoid the Rush Later".
If it can be shown by the election returns that Murtha has cost himself a lot of support that will change the minds of a lot of Democrats.
It would be wonderful to defeat Murtha. But even if all Ivey can do is make it a fairly close contest, it will scare the crap out of a lot of Democrats. And even if the Democrats managed to take the house, not many would want to follow the Murtha plan for Iraq.
It is not likely the RNC will do much to help Ivey at this point. They are always structured to help those who have the best chance of winning. It will be up to us to help her make the race against Murtha competitive.
I do know this if the Ivey / Murtha race becomes competitive in the final weeks, the Republican party will be surprised and pleased.
Neither Republicans or Democrats do much of anything in 70 to 30 districts. Lets make this one an exception.
Our goal as Ivey supporters should be to do what every we can to help her become competitive. If that can be done, she will have all the help she needs.
While Murtha uses his cut and run position to push for House Majority leader if the 'Rats gain control of the House
That's interesting, thanks for the post. I always assumed he had several tours in Vietnam, the way he talks and all. Funny how the guys who have seen the least action - murtha, kerry - have the biggest mouths about it.
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Well, now, doesn't Murtha have an airconditioned office and a big fat ass?
Rove has a plan. The more he baits morons like Murtha into blabbing, it will help the GOP.
I disagree with this point. Kerry only took 51% in 2004 in PA-12. There were a lot of folks pulling the lever for Bush and Murtha. They'll not be too amused this time around. Murtha has been relatively conservative over the years - pro life and pro military (although with a pronounced yellow streak). With his horrific actions he's almost certainly lost a good chunk of those conservative votes.
If this were an open seat, the Democrat would need to run a very solid race to win, IMHO.
...also dangerously overweight, which could be a good thing considering that it is health-endangering...
He's been in DC 32 years.
Funny Murtha Ping
I have NEVER looked back at a race won and told myself I was foolish for thinking this race was going to be very hard to win. I have never been unhappy for trying to prevent every possible way I could face defeat. I have never heard of any candidate chewing himself out for thinking the task was bigger and larger than it turned out to be.
I have met hundreds if not thousands of candidates and supporters who told themselves the job was easier than it turned out to be and as a result lost the race. They are always filled with recriminations after the fact.
I can't recall a candidate with a 2 to 1 registration advantage and a long time in office losing a race, no matter what happened in a previous presidential race... or what the incumbent did short of being caught in bed with a live boy or a dead girl.
The dumbest thing a Murtha challenger can do is tell the voters they made a mistake 2 years ago electing Murtha. I can tell you that attacking Murtha as a yellow backed turn coat will not work. The people that voted for him will take that as an attack on their judgement. It is just human nature.
People defend past actions. Let me say it again. It is just plain old human nature. I suspect that the Ivey campaign will try to attack Murtha for his war stand. That has to be very carefully done or it will blow up in her face.
Telling people they did wrong by electing Murtha 2 years ago is a huge mistake. People will react by rationalizing their vote for Murtha in 2004 and repeat it in 2006.
I wonder if anyone in the Ivey campaign knows diddly sqwat about how to defeat a man who has held a post for 32 years. From what I have seen and read so for, I am not sure anyone in her campaign does.
You greatly underestimate the difficulty you face in defeating a 32 year incumbent. You will have a hell of time convincing people who have voted multiple times for Murtha that they have made a mistake in supporting him.
This is Not a Bush-Kerry race. This is a race where no one has ever voted for Ivey and nearly every voter has voted for Murtha. Get the Bush- kerry race out of the head of every Ivey supporter or you will face massive defeat on election day. Think of what the Bush Kerry race would have been if most voters had voted for Kerry from 4 to 16 times before.
Try to think like a person who has voted for MURTHA at least 6 times and was happy to have done so. If Ivey's campaign manager can do that and effect a campaign pitch that takes that into consideration they just might pull off an upset.
I know it is hard to resist the impluse to think that others are motivated by what motivates you. But I can tell you that I learned from the school of hard knocks to never ever do that.
No, I don't. Not by a longshot. You'd know that if you did more reading and less lecturing.
Your claim that any Dem should win by 70% is completely without merit.
By the way, it's Irey.
Hey Professor, that's Jack Murtha's task. And so far he's been doing a bang-up job.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
