Jack Murtha for Majority Leader...and "Person of the Year" by Arianna Huffington

[applegrove]

Jack Murtha for Majority Leader...and "Person of the Year"
by Arianna Huffington
Huffington Post
Nov 13, 2006

"Election Day 2006 is over, but there are still a couple of races yet to be decided. And Jack Murtha is a contender in both of them. One is mostly fun: the contest to see who will be chosen as TIME Magazine's "Person of the Year". The other is incredibly significant: the battle to see who House Democrats will choose as their new Majority Leader.

I'm pulling for Jack Murtha in both contests.

When Rick Stengel, TIME's new editor, asked me to take part in a panel in New York this Tuesday to discuss who should be the "Person of the Year", my mind immediately turned to Murtha. Why? Because, contrary to what Karl Rove would like you to believe, this election wasn't about corruption, it wasn't about a few formerly closeted homophobes, and it wasn't about spending. As I've said before, it was about three things: Iraq, Iraq, and Iraq (Click here for backup). And Murtha was a key reason the election was a referendum on Iraq.

As CNN's Bill Schneider put it this week: Murtha is "the guy who stood up first and is still standing up... has the message that won the glorious victory of '06."

.............SNIP"

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/jack-murtha-for-majority-_b_33942.html

[movonne]

1. I think arianna would really like to see murtha get this..I hope he

does too.

[rocktivity]

3. Nancy has publicly endorsed him. Now what can we do to unseat Rahm Emanuel?

:headbang:
rocknation

[sandnsea]

2. Couple of problems

First, Nancy Pelosi stood him up. Second, Kerry and Feingold stood up before Murtha, and Kucinich and others before them.

But whatever. America still has to have reality wrapped in a fairy tale in order to pay attention.

[Boo Boo]

4. Damn right. Huffington has Murtha on the brain.

I appreciate what Murtha has done; he's been an excellent spokesman for the House Dems at a time when somebody like Pelosi would have been smeared as a weak, appeasing Liberal. Murtha's reputation as a conservative, pro-military Democrat made him ideal for the role. But, Murtha voted for the IWR, and he did so in spite of the testimony before Congress of people like Wes Clark who warned of the consequences of an invasion. Those consequences have been realized in spades.

As you point out, he was not first. Kucinich, of course, is the easy answer to that question. You'd have to get up pretty early in the morning to beat Kucinich to the anti-War punch. Kucinich, Clark, and many, many others on both sides of the political isle were "standing up" against this war before it even happened. Kerry started climbing down during his Presidential campaign. He would have got there quicker if he hadn't been running for President. Let's not forget Bob Graham of Florida; he was against it from the start even though he was preparing to run for President.

Murtha turned against the war after voters in his district started turning, and after having the Pentagon brass desperately appealing to him behind the scenes: "We've got to get the fuck out of Iraq!" and "The Army is being broken!"

I suspect that Pelosi is, to some degree, having this forced on her by campaigning Netizens led by the Huffington Post and Firedog Lake, among others. It's the cult of John Murtha. I've already said this, but I'll say it again, it's remarkable to watch the Firedog Lake crowd rake Lieberman over the coals for his tepid stance on Choice, turning it against him during the CT primary, while giving Murtha (he of the zero percent NARAL rating) a free pass.

I enjoy reading some of Arianna's stuff, but she's more about celebrity and political activism than she is about serious intellectual discourse. I'd level the same criticism at the gals of Firedog Lake. They sacrifice intellectual honesty in the pursuit of their political goals; their hypocrisy over Murtha's anti-Choice record being one example, their blackballing of Wes Clark being another.

When Arianna says Murtha was first it is in service to her own political agenda. She's apparently incapable of an honest appraisal of the facts, because it's quite obviously an incorrect statement requiring some serious amnesia on her part.

Her amnesia is the result of her basically political nature.

[applegrove]

5. I think Murtha was the one whose opposition came with traction. He

spoke for the troops and the generals when they couldn't speak for themselves. And it was a "moment" in turning the moderates away from the Iraq war. And a "moment" in demanding the right type of support for the troops. Many were against the war earlier but Murtha lead the moderates away from Bushworld and back to reality. I was trying to think who should be person of the year..and perhaps Westley should be there too and Kerry. A threesome. Bringing reality back to war in the hopes of ending the mayham could be the cover.