Surge is working, but facts don’t matter
“Iraqi death toll falls for third straight month” is the headline of Kim Gatel’s Associated Press article in many Sunday papers. “I think the ‘surge’ is working,” Pennsylvania Pork Barrel Spending King, Johnstown Democrat Representative John Murtha recently stated. Murtha reported favorably on the results of President Bush’s belated decision to commit 20,000 additional combat troops to Iraq, but also warned that the Iraqis “have got to take care of themselves.” Murtha had previously stated about the war in Iraq, “We cannot win this militarily,” and “The US can not accomplish anything further in Iraq militarily. It’s time to bring the troops home.”
For those unsure of which Congressman Murtha I quote, he’s also an unindicted co-conspirator from the FBI’s “Abdul Scam” (ABSCAM) sting of the early 80’s, and he’s the leading Democratic Congressman who had recently, regally, pronounced, before any trial, that our Marines in Haditha, Iraq had “killed innocent civilians in cold blood.” Many Marines say that he who was once a Marine is always a Marine, but many Marines also say that Congressman Murtha, who is a retired Marine Reserve Colonel, is the exception to that rule.
And many of the leading Democrat internet “spin-meisters” and party compasses likely see Murtha and his very latest statements as an exception, too. At a “BlogWorld and New Media Expo” in Las Vegas, on November 9th, an audience questioner asked, “What about recent facts on the ground in Iraq? Do these facts change or color the effort to pull all of our troops out when it appears we might become victorious for the hearts and minds of the people of Iraq?” Panelist Jeralyn Merrit, of TalkLeft, responded, “The facts don’t matter!” When pressed for clarification, she continued: “That’s right. Facts don’t matter. We want our troops home. Until they are home, this war was just a mistake.” Three of the most respected and read liberal Democrat political weblog posters, Joe Sudbay of AMERICAblog, Jerome Armstrong of MyDD, and DailyKOS founder Markos Zuniga, who were either sitting on panel or in the audience, all agreed and repeated, emphatically, “The facts don’t matter.”
And there you have it, folks. To some of today’s more influential Democratic opinion leaders, facts don’t matter. Or, as MoveOn.org’s Political Action Comittee Director Eli Pariser wrote of the Democratic Party, in 2004, “Now it’s our Party; we bought it, we own it,and we’re going to take it back.” Don’t know if Pariser is stating true facts about MoveOn.org actually purchasing the Democrats, but, since he’s a Democrat communicating with other Democrats, facts don’t matter, do they?
(my recent LTTE to the local paper)