Posted on 06/28/2006 7:55:00 PM PDT by Patriot814
Rep. John Murtha (D.-Pa.) appears to be suffering "Daschle-itis," a figurative disease which makes entrenched incumbents become national celebrities and, in the process, risk alienating the voters that put them in office.
Since seizing his party's anti-war mantle, Murtha has become a great draw for Democratic fundraisers, helping his party boost its prospects for a congressional takeover. Naturally, this helps his party-leadership bid as well.
But at the same time, his outspokenness made him a huge target for the Internet right. His district went for John Kerry with only 51% in 2004. What originally seemed like a long-shot bid by Diana Irey (R.) to unseat Murtha has taken on new credibility as she raises money from the Internet and as Murtha makes more and more outrageous statements.
Murtha's opposition to the war has never been the real issue. His assertion that the U.S. is the greatest danger to world peace is only the most recent and perhaps most striking example of his potentially dangerous venture into the great left. Even more offensive were his statements condemning Marines who allegedly participated in a massacre in Iraq, which gave no regard to the presumption of innocence or the existence of evidence (the Marines involved maintain their innocence).
In fact, by stating that he had high-level confirmation that a massacre occurred, Murtha may have set a trap for himself. As the court martial begins, he is likely to be subpoenaed in the pre-trial hearings to testify to allegations of inappropriate command influence on the trial. He risks having his high-level sources of information exposed, or exposed as flimsy -- or even non-existent.
Irey, who looks quite young, is a bit green, but her handlers see her as great raw material. She has scored a series of unopposed television appearances on Fox News that have helped her raise money, and her message could resonate in what has always been a conservative Democratic district. Murtha was previously known as a pro-life, pro-gun Democrat. He received biennial votes for speaker from Rep. Gene Taylor (D-Miss.), who, until this year, had refused to support any candidate for the position who was pro-choice on abortion. Leaning Democratic Retention.
Anyone know anything about Diana Irey or who can comment on the competency of her campaign operation?
GO MURTHA GO!!!
You sick b@st@rd.
I admit to not knowing a heck of a lot about Irey, but I've seen her speak on a couple of occasional and she was terrific! (Not to mention highly attractive).
occasional = occasions
Ya think they're talking about us?
You wouldn't happen to have a picture of her on a horse, would ya?
Ooh, nice.
Time to throw out the trash.....
Ping to 8! Shwing!
pinging you to Irey question
In my best Forrest Gump voice....."He is NOT a smart man."
Never heard of her
Oh yes, but you forgot this. Support Diana Irey.
http://www.irey.com/
I don't think it is his anti-war stance that will hurt him so much as his seemingly gleeful accusations he levels at Marines. Being anti-war is fine but condemning a soldier without his even had a trial is....f**ked up.
I remember many a folk around here singing the praises of Gene Taylor during the Clinton impeachment. It 's interesting to see the so-called "Democratic conservative" turned out to be as phony as his liberal counterparts.
As for Murtha, he's just another in a long line of pennywise, pound-foolish idiots on the Democratic side that fall in love with the media spotlight and forget who put them in Congress in the first place. Good riddance. This fool is just an older version of Howard Dean: Open mouth, insert foot and then piss and moan when somebody notices.
3,6,9 damn she fine, hopin she can sock it to me one mo time
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