"Cough, cough... and Murtha is waiting in the wings."

[understandinglife]

And during Kaine's run for Governor, he adopted another Bush talking point -- that it would send "a horrible message" to "cut and run" in Iraq. Could that be any further from Murtha's message that Iraq has become a civil war -- a civil war being inflamed by our continuing presence?

Maybe you are thinking -- at least those of you who have a life and missed his inaugural speech on C-SPAN -- that Kaine is a charismatic speaker who will really wow the American people. Well, he ain't. In fact, he scored so low on the scintillating speaker meter, that today's Note suggests Democrats make it a priority to get the Guv a speech tutor before the State of the Union.

I've got a better idea. Why don't the Democrats reconsider their choice and pick someone more able than Kaine to make the national security argument? They don't even have to make a big deal out of the switch. Kaine can simply come down with a really, really bad cold that night. Cough, cough... and Murtha is waiting in the wings.

The Friday before the 2004 election, bin Laden re-emerged from another protracted silence and released another tape, dominating the news. But instead of aggressively making the point that his reappearance proved that Bush had failed to make America safer, Democratic strategists flinched and had Kerry focus on the economy instead. And we all remember how well that turned out.

The question is: Do the leaders of the Democratic Party remember?

From Dems Pick Kaine for State of Union Response; What the Hell Are They Thinking? by Arianna Huffington on January 19, 2006.

Link:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/arianna-huffington/dems-pick-kaine-for-state_b_14112.html

We need Congressman Murtha responding to Bush. Perhaps someone can convince Gov Kaine to demur, or catch a cold.


Peace.

[SeattleRob]

1. I agree with Arianna!

What the hell are they thinking? I vote for Murtha to give the rebuttal!

[davidinalameda]

2. no

this is not a good thing

[xray s]

3. Murtha would be good

Wes Clark would be better

[AValdoux]

4. How about...

...Barak Obama? or Paul Hackett? Someone who has a good screen appeal.

A new democratic face is needed. The "usual suspects" have been so marginilized by the media. The people we need to reach, disgruntled Bush supporters, will not listen to the old democrat guard, Kerry, Durbin, Kennedy, etc.


AValdoux

[Habibi]

5. "more able than Kaine"?

Oh, dear. The fundies would be all over that for sure.

[Connie_Corleone]

6. LOL!

:rofl:

[TahitiNut]

7. What's more relevant to a SOTU given from the jawbone of an ass?

:silly: Where's a Samson when we need 'im? (Or Delilah, for that matter?)

[leftchick]

8. He is DLC

and has no business talking foreign policy for Democrats. We need a real Democrat like Rep. Murtha to speak for us about the Iraq quagmire.

[understandinglife]

9. Dear Gov. Dean -- Urge support for Murtha to deliver SOTU rebuttal

Had sent this very early this morning when the Murtha SOTU forum that Skinner created last night was still open (it was closed with the Kaine announcement):
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=149007&mesg_id=180960

I'm still going to follow-up with more calls urging folk to reconsider. Gov Kaine is far from the type of responder to Bush that our fellow citizens need to see and hear after SOTU. If not Rep Murtha whom I think is perfect, then Paul Hackett, Congressman Conyers, Coleen Rowley, Sibel Edmonds, Valerie Wilson ... let's show some courage.


Peace.