They don't know Jack (Murtha) by Dennis Roddy-Worked Murtha Campaign

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05324/609044.stm

<snip>

In Congress, Rep. Murtha has been a hawk among doves, a man filled with political acumen and suspicious of anything smelling of the post-Watergate reforms others in his congressional class embraced. When U.S. troops went to Lebanon, Mr. Murtha went to see them. When we invaded Grenada, he cheered them on. When America dabbled in El Salvador, he supported aid to defeat a communist insurgency.

Mr. Murtha was, in short, Johnstown: a place where working people expect others to work, are slow to embrace the new, and will happily join up for a war so long as the cause is good and they are sent there to win. Cambria County, in which Johnstown is the lone city, cast aside the leftover traditions of the New Deal last year and voted for George W. Bush. They voted for Mr. Bush because they believed him when he said the Iraq war was necessary, and because they accepted his sincerity about banning abortion, saving their guns and restoring old values that fit them like their fathers' steel-toed work boots. In short, they voted for George W. Bush because they believed he was like John P. Murtha.

Last week, with Walter Cronkite off the airwaves, and a once-aggressive press more than two decades at bay, George W. Bush lost Jack Murtha.

He lost Middle America.

Every death in Iraq from this moment on will be a mark of shame, first upon the president who took us there under an erroneous pretense, then upon a Congress that allows any more men and women to die while they cast about for a new pretense for staying.

[henslee]

1. Thanks. Good Read. Filled in the details re:Murtha. The Abscan stuff is

interesting. I agree a guy like Murtha is untouchable.

[fooj]

2. Murtha is a man of honor and integrity.

They voted for Mr. Bush because they believed him...

Mr. Bush---You are NO Jack Murtha!

Peace.

[westernpenndem]

3. Thanks Rambo Liberal! Glad you posted this.

I just got through reading this excellent, very personal editorial by Dennis Roddy and was hoping it was posted in DU.

Murtha is a giant that history, culture and upbringing creates only once every couple of generations. An absolute man of honor and clarity. I am so proud that his is from PA (and from my side of the state!)

Some have called this a 'McCarthy moment'. This column alludes to a 'Cronkite moment'. With all due respect to Walter Cronkite, Jack Murtha carries more moral and military weight than he (and any member of the House). His no baloney rebuttal to Dick Cheney is classic Western PA, the home of so many veterans and active duty soldiers.

This is the 'Murtha Moment' and it is now forever etched in history, never to be forgotten. And Roddy's piece captures it best.

One thing, though--I hope those Dems who voted Bush in Johnstown never make the mistake of choosing a moral charleton ever again.