Pelosi Splits Democrats With Push For Murtha

Speaker-to-Be Accused Of Strong-Arm Tactics
Thursday, November 16, 2006
Washington Post

A showdown over the House majority leader’s post today has Democrats bitterly divided only a week after their party took control of Congress and has prompted numerous complaints that Speaker-designate Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) and her allies are using strong-arm tactics and threats to try to elect Rep. John P. Murtha (Pa.) to the job.
Murtha, 74, a former Marine who was among the first on Capitol Hill to call for a U.S. troop withdrawal from Iraq, may have hurt his own chances Tuesday night when he derided the Democrats’ ethics and lobbying package before saying he will push for its passage anyway out of deference to Pelosi. His statement, at a gathering of conservative “Blue Dog” Democrats, was cited by backers of his rival, Rep. Steny H. Hoyer (Md.), as further proof that Murtha’s controversial ethics record disqualifies him to lead the party in a new political era.
Pelosi’s aggressive intervention on behalf of Murtha has baffled and angered many Democrats, who think she has unnecessarily put her reputation on the line out of misplaced loyalty to a friend and because of a long-standing feud with Hoyer, the minority whip. Pelosi has pushed Murtha’s candidacy at social events, in private meetings and with incoming freshman Democrats; they have been called to her office to discuss committee assignments, only to hear first that she needs Murtha in order to be an effective leader.

Wild Thing’s comment……
I thought a lot about this and I agree with Rush Limbaugh. This is hilarious!!!!!
From Rush Liombaugh….

“We want him there, folks, we want him in the Democrat leadership because we want the Democrats to be who they are — especially after all this, we want Murtha elected. I therefore today endorse the candidacy of Jack Murtha to be the number two Democrat in the House of Representatives.
This is his time and now his own party is trying to savage him, not because they’re worried about him, but because they’re worried about themselves. Well, they’re saying he was almost a crook, but, see, the difference is, it was okay to be a crook before the election but it’s not okay to be a crook after the election when you want to be in the Senate Democrat leadership. This man, Jack Murtha, held out as some kind of icon on all of the Sunday shows without a whiff of comment about any of these scandals, the Abscam scandal, the earmarks, the funny money back and forth with his family and lobbyists and so forth. That’s because Murtha was useful to them during the campaign.
By the way, the Democrats owe this man. He was the one that first stuck his thick neck out there and demanded that we retreat and get out of Iraq. He was the architect of the cut-and-run policy that the American people have now endorsed with the election to power of Democrats in the House and Senate, and this is the way they show their gratitude?
This man was a Vietnam vet. We’re not allowed to look any further; we’re not allowed to ask any more questions. I mean, we all know that if Jack Murtha had been a conservative, none of that would have mattered. It would have been the ethically challenged Murtha prior to the election. These guys have had this tape of him with the FBI and Abscam, and they didn’t play it on their Nightly News segments last night. This is amazing to me.
This is a guy who wants the number two job in the House of Representatives. He’s being supported by the speaker-to-be Nancy Pelosi. Speaking of her, notice this, ladies and gentlemen. Pelosi is being criticized for starting the fight about Murtha but not for backing an unethical hack who came within an eyelash of being indicted. He was an unindicted coconspirator. He’s probably now the second most famous unindicted coconspirator in the history of American political scandal.
Now, Pelosi is being criticized for taking a position. She’s supposed to stay out of this race. She’s not being criticized for backing an unethical hack. Now, if Murtha’s ethical lapses are so deep and numerous, as they obviously are, then why was he fit to be reelected?
Everybody is trying to feed off him, and now they’re trying to get rid of the guy who is their true star, Jack Murtha, more than any Democrat, told us who they are. It’s a close contest, but he’s in — and for that reason, he needs to stay in a position of prominence. “

Wild Thing’s comment continued…..
Y’all heard it from Rush: He’s endorsed John Murtha! You know what this means? Jack’s OUR BOY – our b*tch! As they say. hahahaha Now watch as the Democrats swiftboat him from the leadership. A Democrat like Sheikh Down Murtha being endorsed gasp!…..by a conservative is a like the kiss of death!