A Loss For Murtha
Is a loss for us all
By streiff Posted in Democrats — Comments (26) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
Call me unpatriotic if you must but I am mourning the defeat of Jack Murtha (D-Some Arab Guy With Unmarked $20s) as House majority leader.
Murtha was a graft and corruption investigation waiting to happen. An old style pol with a taste for the good life, a propensity for trading just about anything to anyone, and a deep seated hostility to the “good government” zeitgeist Murtha was guaranteed to keep Congressional corruption in the spotlight, with a little help from Harry Reid and William Jefferson (D-LA). While his rather stupid and simplistic views on the war in Iraq would bring out the rife, if barely latent, moonbattery in the Democrat party, he is pro-life and conservative on a range of social and economic issues which would ensure that most of the gains we have made would be protected while accentuating the unserious nature of the Democrats on national security.
Murtha as majority leader would also have created a crafty and dedicated foe in the defeated Steny Hoyer and we could be sure that leaks on the various sins of commission and omission by Murtha would soon fill the pages of the nation’s news papers.
Life looked really sweet with Jack Murtha as majority leader.
In Steny Hoyer we have a reasonable sounding, smart, and crafty foe. For sure, the bad blood that will exist between Hoyer, Pelosi, and Murtha will make for some entertainment but the magnitude of Hoyer’s win shows that he is truly the majority leader and will be a force to be reckoned with.
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A Loss For Murtha 26 Comments (0 topical, 26 editorial, 0 hidden) Post a comment »
that's all I can say.
Liz Mair is the editor of WWW.GOPPROGRESS.COM, a RedState-style blog for libertarian, mainstream and moderate Republicans
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If "pro" is the opposite of "con", what is the opposite of "progress"?
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If "pro" is the opposite of "con", what is the opposite of "progress"?
Seems to me Murtha would have been a bridge to the Blue Dogs in the House!
May have served our cause (at least a little bit on some issues) down the line...
"The road to freedom is seldom traveled by the multitude"Madhouse Thought
It was a responsible redeployment!! DO NOT QUESTION HIS PATRIOTISM!!!!
2006 is done, 2008 is another day and another fight
Too bad, IMHO. I agree with the commentary - he would have kept the Buffoonery Level high, the Sleaze Factor prominent, and the Kook Agenda front and center. Good news for the Democrats, which means, ultimately, bad news for the country.
Hoyer is a real pro, and probably feels he should be the one wielding Nancy's Gavel. the Pelosio Speakership, relatively speaking, is a gift to our side.
How long will it be before we hear a left wing pundit proclaim that the early criticism of Pelosi's tactical moves is because "some people don't like powerful women"?
I am not one of those people who think the other party ruining the country is a good thing because it makes my party look more appealing. Murtha's defeat is a good thing, his victory would have just hurt all we have worked for when we had the majority. We will win 2008 on OUR ideas and OUR values, that is how we create a strong majority.
Now that "bribe me later" Murtha has been rejected, it is time for Republicans to clean up. Roy Blunt is so tied to the Foley fiasco and Abramoff that he is damaged goods. We need Shadegg, Pence or anyone clean with core beliefs and leadership skills.
Democrats!
They always pick the worse time to figure out to do the right thing.
damn the bad luck!
HOPE!
yes indeed there is tomorrow, another day, another chance for them to shoot themselves in the foot!
This is a victory for America. Having such an obvious bribe-taking loon in such a high position is not good for the country. With the War on Terror raging, we need some adult leadership in Congress who will help keep the Moonbats under control so our troops get the support they need.
As for the political angle, I think we benefit from having Pelosi's biggest enemy in the #2 position. If Hoyer had lost, he probably would have been stripped of all power and perks and tossed to the back bench. Now Hoyer is in a position to plot to overthrow Pelosi in 2008, which will mean constant intra-caucus strife.
As for winning back the House - a lot of that will depend on how the GOP presidential candidate does. We've got about 10 GOP-leaning seats lost due to scandal. Those should be easy to win back if the top of the ticket does well. From there, we need just another 5 or 6 seats for control.
Loon maybe, but in the interests of accuracy shouldn't a person referred to as an "obvious bribe-taking loon" actually be guilty of taking a bribe?
circumstantial evidence to indicate that he has been taking bribes in regards to the contracts he has steered to his brother's clients.
If there is such evidence, then why hasn't the Justice Department moved on him? I'm for cleaning out every dishonest and corrupt member of Congress who has committed provable offenses. Party affiliation is irrelevant, since corrupt politicians hurt their own parties almost as much as they hurt the institutions of which they are members.
to help her perk up during moments like these.
Worth a look, no?
As a democrat-leaning centrist (when I say leaning, I mean something could flip me in the other direction), I monitor blogs and inner workings of both parties. That said, the victory of Murtha could have been the first step in me abandoning the Democrats as yet another useless party and possibly embracing a hopefully-reorganized and worthy Republican Part in '08.
I actually expected Murtha to come out on top (although I also was suprised the Democrats actualy took the Senate, so mark some of my predictions up to pessimism). In fact, the 149-86 victory for Hoyer took me even more by suprise, especially considering Pelosi's endorsement.
The Democrats did the right thing today.
I'd say mourning Murtha's loss would be the kind of anti-American thing someone like Osama Bin Laden would do (since better parties mean better America), but I don't want to get into the "MY OPPONENT IS A TERRORIST" mess. Besides, human beings are partisans at heart. Let's face it; it's near-impossible not to be, and it'd be a lie to say otherwise. I admit I was happy to see Trent Lott come back to be a stain on the Republican face; I wasn't proud of that either.
This is my first post; I hope I don't wind up starting a flamewar; I actually enjoy and agree with major parts of this blog, despite disagreeing with some factors. If the Republican Party follows the lead of this blog, there's an extremely good chance I'd abandon the Democratic Party and prove it.
I wouldn't be surprised if it was really rather much closer, but that some (maybe 20?), realizing Murtha couldn't win, switched their votes to avoid a close vote, and to make the party look more reasonable (kind of like the Alito cloture vote, and the cynical split vote on Roberts' confirmation).
anyway, good first post in "enemy" terrain. from your thoughtful entry, I think I speak for a lot of people here who wish there were more people like you in the Democrat party, especially among their elected representatives (even though that would probably make it harder for us to win elections, it would also make us less worried when, like this year, we do lose).
We can always use more converts.
Resistance is futile.
:-)
Evil men hide from the truth, but good men stand upon it.
I'm a Democrat. I generally like Murtha.
But all I can say is, *whew!*
on a near-daily basis the ravings of a guy who suggested the US base its troops in nearby Okinawa after he suggested we scuttle and run from Iraq.
His thoughtful comment that an Ethics Bill coming up was "crap" was just one indication of the pleasure the Repubs would have had taking the Dems to the woodshed were this irascible gentleman talking to cameras on a daily basis.
Alas, Steny Hoyer will give the DINO and RINO camps alike reason to commune while the moonbats twitter and nutroots rage that they have not been given credit for winning the election. And Hoyer artfully dodged Matthews arm-waving demands that the Dems should investigate GWB's "lies" and "deceptions." MSNBC is swerving into outright moonbattery and nutroot outrage to the extent that Scarborough now is slithering from RINO deep into Dem looney-tune land.
like an old rug doesn't mean we won't hear from him on a regular basis. I'm sure the Sunday hosts will be lining up to get him, and now that he doesn't represent the "leadership" he can be loony and get away with it.
_______________________________
If "pro" is the opposite of "con", what is the opposite of "progress"?
He now joins Cindy Sheehan, the Jersey Girls, Valerie Plame, Joe Wilson, and so on in the "I Helped and All I Got Was This Lousy T-Shirt" cabal.
I honestly believe that if each democrat thought they might be the deciding vote, that no one besides Murtha and maybe his mom would have voted for him. Even ignoring his ethics record, just the way he presented himself on TV would have scared his peers away. Murtha kept contradicting himself, making obviously false statements, slashing his opponent...
It's like a quote about him in a political almanac, that Murtha is an old fashioned back room politician who others come to for a joke and a favor, kissing his ring in return.
My opinion is that the reason for all this is for the democrats to tip their hats to Murtha to thank him for helping them take control of congress with his attacks on the war. (Obviously I don't agree with Murtha, but I think his service provided enough cover for the dems to attack the war.)