I respect CREW and Withdrawl my support for Murtha as ML.

[usregimechange]

http://www.citizensforethics.org/press/newsrelease.php?view=178

[clichemoth]

1. Isn't there another candidate besides him and Hoyer?

We definitely need one. Heck, Harold Ford ran for Minority Leader in his first term, so why doesn't one of the newbies step up to the plate.

[democrat_06]

2. Don't forget Abscam

The film of Murtha making a deal with the FBI agent posing as a Saudi businessman is not going to help the Democrats when they are trying to portray themselves as the party of ethics. Murtha, a hero, will be brought down by this. If he stays out of the leadership this won't get as much play.

[Shipwack]

3. ABSCAM? You mean the video of him -not- accepting a bribe?

Granted, this might disqualify him from being a Republican...

[guruoo]

4. And, of course, welcome to DU n/t

[tsuki]

5. I remember Abscam, and the thought then was that the FBI was

trying to entrap Congressmen. Murtha was one of the eight lured to the hotel, but did not accept any money. I don't know what the truth is, but he did talk about jobs for Jonestown. At this point, I don't know what to say.

http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewPolitics.asp?Page=%5CPolitics%5Carchive%5C200601%5CPOL20060113d.html

http://asp.usatoday.com/news/politicselections/CandidateProfile.aspx?ci=462&oi=H

[Jim Sagle]

6. I don't and I won't.

[usregimechange]

7. You don't as in you don't respect CREW, can I ask why?

[Jim Sagle]

12. Here's why:

CREW is worried about earmarks, I'm worried about dead and wounded GI's. I can see their point, I just don't give a shit about it.

If they want to worry about earmarks, fine. But to me, I am sick and fucking tired of seeing teenagers getting their skulls replaced and learning to walk on artificial legs. I'm tired of PTSD stories from kids who aren't old enough to rent a car. I am tired of seeing grieving parents collapsing at their teenager's grave side.

If making Jack Murtha majority leader will make that clear, to Bush if no one else, that the priority is Iraq, and that the war MUST end, then I'm for Murtha or anyone else who can make that happen.

I think CREW's report is designed to help their backstabbing buddy Hoyer. Hoyer has repeatedly undermined Pelosi. So now he gets rewarded? Election reform is important, but so are armless 19 year olds.

http://stevegilliard.blogspot.com/

[populistdriven]

8. I respect CREW and Withdrawl my support for Murtha as ML.

[Rainscents]

9. Has there been formal charge against Murtha on this issue?

If not, why should I not support him? PA has law and if they think he had done wrong, they would investigate and obviously, there had been no report of such. Just like Clinton, he was falsely accused and there were many investigations and he was proved innocent. I will not buy into this story until, I see fact.

[usregimechange]

10. I don't think we should be waiting for formal charges before acting

Sounds too much like the GOP, imo

[guruoo]

13. Acting on mere accusation, and innuendo sounds familar, too...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swiftboating

[Ignacio Upton]

17. CREW is not a right-wing group

In fact, they helped bring down Foley.

[guruoo]

20. Never said they were.

[stillcool]

11. Not enough..

for me to condemn or deny. The government enterprise and the defense industry are one and the same in my mind. If Murtha has connections to that massive source, you'd think there would be more telling connections easily unearthed. I haven't been paying attention though...lost in Iran/Contra of late.

[Ignacio Upton]

14. I wish CREW put out their press release last week

BEFORE Pelosi announced her support.

[guruoo]

15. IMHO, this is just a little too convenient n/t

[Erika]

16. Murtha and his wife visit Walter Knox weekly

Didn't see Abramoff, et al, doing that.

[zreosumgame]

18. sadly have to agree

He had such promise, but I really would like some detail on the alleged pay-to-play deals before announcing him GUILTY GUILT GUILTY and call for him to be strung-up. But IMHO he cannot serve in a leadership role at the very least for now.

[More Than A Feeling]

19. I concur.

I admire what Murtha did on Iraq, but after the sewer our government just swam through, we need change. Surely Pelosi has another Blue Dog ally who is above suspicion of corruption.

[in_cog_ni_to]

21. If these people are so bad and corrupt

why are they still Congressmen? Saturday all I read about here was how corrupt Alcee Hastings is yet the man was reelected every 2 years since 1992! Now Murtha too? If they're so corrupt how do they keep getting reelected year after year after year after year? In Murtha's case...14 times! It looks to me like the man did nothing wrong, was never indicted and was cleared by the House Ethics Committee.

<snip>
Murtha was elected to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in 1968 and served there until 1974, when he ran in a special election for Pennsylvania's 12th congressional district. The seat had come open after 24-year incumbent Republican John P. Saylor died in October 1973. Murtha won by 122 votes, making him the first Vietnam veteran to serve in Congress. He won a full term later that year with 58 percent of the vote and has been re-elected 14 times without substantial opposition. He chaired the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense from 1991 to 1995, and has since served as its ranking Democrat.

Murtha's lowest percentage came in 1980, when he received 59.6 percent of the vote against Charles A. Getty. This challenge occurred during the Abscam investigation conducted by the FBI.

The sting involved undercover FBI agents posing as representatives of wealthy Arab sheiks willing to pay to obtain asylum in the United States. During the meeting in a Washington, D.C. townhouse, the agent offered Murtha $50,000 cash, and he refused it, stating “I'm not interested...at this point.”<4><5> The charges against him were dropped in return for his testimony against Representative Frank Thompson. A grand jury did not indict Murtha; on a 6-6 tied vote, he was eventually cleared by the House Ethics Committee in July 1981. Murtha has always declared he was innocent and has said, “I met with two men who I believed had a substantial line of credit that could provide up to 1,000 jobs for the district. I broke no law. I took no money.”<6><snip>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Murtha