"Murtha comes out fighting" - Declares Candidacy for Majority Leader

[understandinglife]

Link: http://hotlineblog.nationaljournal.com/archives/2006/11/murtha_comes_ou.html

Here's Rep. John Murtha's majority leader candidacy declaration:

Talk is cheap, which is why, up until Iraq forced me to, I didn't do a lot of it. But empty rhetoric is expensive. It has cost America three years in a failed war at nearly three thousand lives lost and will cost us a trillion dollars by the time we can extricate ourselves from it. Empty rhetoric has cost us years of lost time in finding a solution to our dependence on foreign oil, at a price tag that is nearly impossible to guess, but surely in the hundreds of billions.

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And it has cost us the loss of an institutional understanding in this body that your word is your word, that you mean what you say and say what you mean, and that there is a line of honesty, civility, statesmanship, and basic decency and respect for your fellow American that you will not cross. That the political end does not justify assassinating one's character or willfully misrepresenting or sugar-coating the facts. And that when you say you're going to do something, you don't just talk about it to give the impression you're doing something, you do it.


That is what it will take to restore the credibility of this institution in the eyes of the American people. And that is priceless. And it is what I intend to help to bring back to this institution: civility; credibility; respect for each other and the offices we hold; and, most importantly, hard work, compromise, and results. It will be difficult at times, no question, because it is not easy to compromise when you believe passionately in a position or a goal.


But like any authority figure, we have an impact on those who look to us and see in our behavior the example of what is and is not acceptable, professional, honorable, and American. We must set a new standard for leadership in this Congress because Americans are watching and so we must lead by example. That is the tone I hope to set as Majority Leader of the United States House of Representatives.

He is a strong supporter of soon to be Speaker of the House, Pelosi, and, apart from Rep Conyers, the Congressman I most support for Majority Leader.

I hope all of you contact your Congressional Reps and urge them to support Rep Murtha.


BE AMERICA. ---

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

1. Hmm... This could get really interesting.

Glad to see that he's declared.

[Skidmore]

2. Can the base push for a leadership candidate?

[understandinglife]

10. Absolutely. If your Rep is a D, call'um. Make the case.

Murtha led when others didn't dare. Murtha is supportive of Pelosi. They'd make a great team.


BE THE BU$H OPPOSITION - 24/7

[blm]

11. yep - - and that he and Pelosi are tight doesn't bother me that he has conservative

leanings at times. Many Dems do, but don't IMPOSE them on the whole party. They aren't ACTIVISTS on their personal feelings on social issues, so I don't begrudge them their personal views.

[understandinglife]

14. Well stated. Thank you.

Never, Ever Forget: George W. Bush willfully violated National Security to cover-up his willful launch of a war of aggression and illegal occupation of Iraq .... and, now he willfully provided nuke-making instructions to terrorists -- if you doubt it, just check 'the google' ....

[ThomCat]

3. Anybody know his record on other issues?

If the war was the only issue I'd applaud him in a heartbeat. But what are the other issues he's vocal on?

[NYCGirl]

5. Here's a link:

http://www.ontheissues.org/PA/John_Murtha.htm

[ThomCat]

8. Thank you very much!

:hi:

Hey, will you join us if we have a NYC meetup? :)

[NYCGirl]

9. Sure, if I can. Let me know! NT

[Vox Acerbus]

19. Great Link - but What is Murtha Smoking?

According to this link, Murtha:

Voted NO on adopting the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission. (Oct 2004)

...

Supports a Constitutional Amendment for school prayer. (May 1997)

...

Voted YES on passage of the Bush Administration national energy policy. (Jun 2004)

...

Voted YES on authorizing military force in Iraq. (Oct 2002)


Is this really the guy who can help implement Pelosi's 100 hour plan?

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

4. How is this determined?

[msongs]

6. dems in the house vote for the person of their choice I think. nt

[AlCzervik]

7. fine whatever but no public fighting! keep it inside.

[Horse with no Name]

13. Exactly

and automatically exclude anyone the RW suggests.

[understandinglife]

12. Comments at dKos on Murtha v Hoyer ...

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/11/9/155632/928


Never, Ever Forget: George W. Bush willfully violated National Security to cover-up his willful launch of a war of aggression and illegal occupation of Iraq .... and, now he willfully provided nuke-making instructions to terrorists -- if you doubt it, just check 'the google' ....

[understandinglife]

15. Rep Murtha: "America has had Enough of Bush's Disastrous Course in Iraq"

Yesterday I heard the same old rhetorical garbage in the President's press conference. America remains a nation at war, but the enemy that attacked us on September 11th is not the enemy we are fighting in Iraq. As of Tuesday, the President can no longer mask an Iraqi civil war as part of the real war on terrorism.

This election was a referendum on the President's disastrous course in Iraq, and the American people clearly had ENOUGH.

Link: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rep-john-murtha/america-has-had-enough-of_b_33719.html

BE THE BU$H OPPOSITION - 24/7

[Odin2005]

16. Murtha would make a fine majority leader.

[understandinglife]

17. Arianna Huffington endorses Congressman Murtha for Majority Leader

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Don't let the DLC and DCCC spin-meisters fool you. This election was not a mandate for the Democratic Party to run to the middle. It was a mandate for the Democratic Party to do everything in its power to get us out of Iraq -- rapidly and responsibly.

And that's why the next thing Democrats need to do is make sure that Jack Murtha becomes the new Majority Leader of the House. He led the charge to make Iraq the central issue of this campaign, and led the charge to keep pressing the issue when other Democratic leaders wanted to tone down the rhetoric or move economic issues to the forefront.

Jack Murtha's leadership sparked last night's victory and has given Democrats control of Congress for the first time in a dozen years. Now they have to complete the end-the-Iraq-debacle mission the voters have given them. And Murtha's the leader who can take them the rest of the way.

Link:

Make no mistake ... getting America's troops redeployed from Iraq is the single most important task confronting this Nation, if we want to abate the shit-storm swirling out of control in the world today, and begin stabilizing our economy and restoring some sense of credibility in America as being a law-abiding Nation.


BE AMERICA. ---

[Leopolds Ghost]

18. kick

[Avalux]

20. I'm good with Murtha. He stood up against Bush and took a lot of crap.

Although he's a bit conservative for me on some issues, he has integrity and I think he's a really good guy. I'd rather have him that Hoyer.

[slaveplanet]

21. No you didn't John

Talk is cheap, which is why, up until Iraq forced me to, I didn't do a lot of it

You didn't do a lot of it...

sorry, better late than never doesn't work for me, there are many who talked without being forced to, that are more deserving of that job.

Trading Votes for Pork Across the House Aisle
By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK
WASHINGTON, Oct. 1 — For more than a decade, Representative John P. Murtha of Pennsylvania has operated a political trading post in a back corner of the House of Representatives.

A gang of about two dozen Democrats mill around his seat. A procession of others walk back to request pet spending projects, known as earmarks. And Republicans come by, asking him to enlist some of those Democrats to join them on close votes. “Whether they get what they want in the bill or they get the votes they are looking for, nobody ever leaves completely disappointed,” said Representative Paul E. Kanjorski, a Pennsylvania Democrat often found in what is known as the Murtha corner.

Outside Washington, Mr. Murtha, a Vietnam veteran and longtime hawk, may be best known for his break with the president over the Iraq war last fall. But inside the Capitol, he is best known for turning earmarks into power. As the top Democrat on the House military spending subcommittee, he often delivers Democratic votes to Republican leaders in a tacit exchange for earmarks for himself and his allies.

http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F20910FF3F540C718CDDA90994DE404482