Murtha vs. Rove
I have to admit I never saw the John Murtha phenomenon coming.
U.S. Rep. John "Jack" Murtha, a Democratic congressman from Johnstown, Pa., has become the conscience of the Congress on the Iraq War. He wants U.S. troops out of Iraq, if not tomorrow then very soon. Yesterday, he aimed his cannon at Karl Rove, George W. Bush's chief political adviser, who of late has been trying to turn around public support for his boss' Iraq adventure by reviving the slander of "cut and run Democrats." Murtha commented that Rove was "sitting in his air-conditioned ofice on his fat backside and saying, stay the course. That's not a policy." Burn!
A decorated former Marine, Murtha always seemed an interchangeable Jackson Democrat. If you're not familiar with that term, it refers to the late U.S. Sen. Henry "Scoop" Jackson of Washington and means that you are moderate to liberal on social issues but a hawk on defense. You like the military, you like military spending. Nothing about Murtha screamed Cassandra. My only personal encounter with him was in 1983, when in his then-capacity of chairman of the House Interior Appropriations Subcommittee, he came to Centralia, Pa., for a firsthand look at the encroaching mine fire. I covered Murtha's visit for The News-Item in Shamokin, Pa. Within the year, he and other members of Congress approved $42 million for the relocation of the people of Centralia.
Murtha, who announced recently that he will run for House Majority Leader if the Democrats recapture the House of Representatives in November, often seems to channel Pentagon angst over the disastrous Iraq War and the damage it is doing to U.S. fighting forces. He has been particularly outfront on the Haditha Massacre, in which revenge-seeking Marines apparently slaughtered 24 Iraqi civilians.
And meanwhile, the Bush Administration is again trying to equate the Iraq War, a war of choice, with World War II, a war of survival aimed at defeat of a real enemy. White House spokesman Tony Snow said Americans probably would have questioned World War II if a poll had been conducted during the Battle of the Bulge in 1944-45. Somehow, I doubt that.