Murtha’s Political Announcement Surprises Democrats
Rep. John P. Murtha has surprised Democrats by announcing he’s thinking of throwing his hat in the ring for a powerful House position if the Demmies win control in November:
In a letter that he circulated on the floor during a series of votes, Murtha said he is eyeing the No. 2 position. “If we prevail as I hope and know we will and return to the majority this next Congress, I have decided to run for the open seat of the Majority Leader,” Murtha wrote.The presumed favorite for that job had been the current No. 2 House Democrat, Steny H. Hoyer (Md.), with whom Murtha has long had testy relations. Hoyer, like many of his political colleagues, greeted Murtha’s announcement with annoyance and exasperation, given that the election remains five months off and a Democratic victory is by no means assured.
“Mr. Hoyer has worked extraordinarily hard to unify the caucus and take back the House for Democrats, and that is his first focus,” said Stacey Bernards, his press secretary. “As a result of that unity, he’s confident that we will be successful in November, and intends to run for majority leader.”
Indeed, from the Democrats’ standpoint, Murtha’s announcement — which will be well-received by some Democrats, particularly those who are not career politicians — is unwelcome due to its timing.
Right now the Democrats need a powerful, cohesive message and above all unity as they prepare to do battle with a wounded GOP that some relief to its wounds this week with news that disgraced and jailed Congressman Randy Cunningham’s seat will stay in GOP hands after all. And then there was the news that Iraqi terrorist chief Zarqawi went out with a bang (literally) in Iraq.
The first bit of news boosts the GOP morale and sent a message to Democrats that they need to do more than run as the anti-Bush or anti-GOP. The second bit of news is likely to boost George Bush’s poll ratings, perhaps even lift them from basement to ground floor level, although the question is how long and whether that would last.
Murtha is more respected among Democrats than Republicans (he is absolute anathema to many conservative Republicans) and a prestigious House post would give him an ever greater forum for his views on the war and how the Democrats should proceed. He’s already not just media-savvy but highly popular with the news media due to his direct way of speaking coupled with his military experience.
But his announcement won’t ease the Democrats’ intra-party tensions going into the election. On the other hand, much depends on what happens with the war between now and November: if the war continues to stalemate or worsen and the Democrats win the House even partly because of it, Murtha could then be an appealing figure for House members. He’d be a living symbol of public unease that had helped the Democrats win back the House. And if they lose the House? Fahgeddabouddit.
UPDATE: Some thoughts on this from Jonathan Singer.
6 Responses to “Murtha’s Political Announcement Surprises Democrats”
It’s necessary, unfortuantely miss Pelosi is way too out there for some more moderate republican Americans to like a Democratic take over in the House.
Pelosi, and Reid both suck. I expected better from Reid since he was a bit on the moderate side, but his constant wimpy non-devisive nature makes me want to barf. He and Pelosi both come off as weak kneed, and unable to project any leadership to the others in congress so bye-bye to both of them I say.
And on a side note, bye-bye to Tom Delay. Don’t let the house door hit ya in the butt Tom, because Leroy wants that butt unblemished when you make it to prison LOL.
Gotta agree with ya, Pyst, about Pelosi and Reid. They are not exactly leaders for our time, I actually think Steny Hoyer would make a great speaker. He doesn’t have the baggage Pelosi does, and the right would have more trouble demonizing him to galvanize the party’s faithful. Even if they do win in ’06, Dems need to think about keeping power as well. Reid and Pelosi will generate a huge Conservative backlash.
First let me say I sincerely hope tom delay is packing for gee dubya bush as well because I for just one NATIVE Texas prefers it for the both to exit and drag as many as they can, the snowbirds that migrated here with them.
Ahhhh heck some of those yankees are good people.
Pelosi is the anthesis of the other extreme.
It seems like all the radicals on the faaaaaaaaaaaaar right and faaaaaaaaaaaaaar left are hanging on the edges of their one demensional flat worlds by their fingernails. If anything sucks its extremism in any form.
This on my part is not aay real criticism but more of a personal decades long observed study of peoples of all nationalities.
Everyone should have noticed by now I debate from the middle whanging both the far left and right, and a few that have no clues at all.
If any of you watch and listen to C_SPAN’s early morning Washington Journal program you should have also noticed by now that the vast majority of the 100 or so callers every day, seven days a week are sick and tired of loggerheaded two party politics that hasn’t worked very well for at least the past 30 or so years. The real nasty tit for tat political backstabbing, “You got our guy so we will get yours” started back with richard nixon getting his hands caught in the cookie jar. Can anyone imagine, it it weren’t for an intentional evilly thought out purpose that any woman that had sperm ejaculated on her clotbing would hang it in her closet like Monica did? My thoughts and dreams are to hear or read that someone blew off Kenneth Starr’s head. They should put a pic of Ken Starr next to the word and definition of evil.
The desire, according to the majority of C-SPAN callers seems to be the intitution of a third powerful political party…easier to say and wish for than do however.
So we must, for now, keep on voting for the lesser of evils out of the two parties in power now then cross our fingers after we vote. There is a shitboatload of republicans right now bitterly regretting their last two presidential and congressional votes. All I say to these folks is live and learn…then don’t repeat a mistake for a third time. I can’t prove it of course. but I would venture to at least think, that Jeb Bush is in a back room being groomed like a poodle to run for president in 2008 and that there enough right wingers stupid enough to vote for him.
So for now its either vote for the lesser of evils or waste our votes voting for splinter group candidates that have zero chance of winning, or not voting, which I’m getting very tempted to do.
Let me mention something here about term limitations for elected politicians that people may not have thought of.
With a constant rotation of elected officials coming in and going out every two to six years…who would actually be running the U S Government?
Career bureaucrats a group of people just as dangerous or even more dangerous than politicians transient or long term, is the answer.
The thought of career federal bureaucrats running the nation brings bile up into the back of my throat and there are 16 of those lazy bums in my direct and extended family working for federal government now, that you and I are forced to support the rest of their lives.
I can here someone already thinking “well they pay taxes too.”
You bet they do and every dime in federal tax the career bureaucrat pays in today, goes into the federal general right along with ours…except the bureaucrat gets all his/her income tax money they paid today back in their paychecks next payday right along with the tax money we paid in. The only places the federal bureaucrats become our peers is in state and local taxes that don’t wind up back in the U S Treasury’s general fund. My dad was a federal bureaucrat. He worked for the V A Hospital in my home town. Abe when he retired he was not eligible to draw funds for social security on the monies he earned as a U S Civil Service employee…but not today…these modern thug bureaucrats convinced the congress to add not only themselves but the congress as well into social security…where many, especially retired military, that went to work a U S federal civil service employees afterward will not just double dip, getting both military and civil service retirement, but social security aw well! Nifty bit of corrupt thinking on their part.
Most of the same can be said of federal government contractors and their employees when you think about it. And I’m way past tired of our government leadership paying prototype costs for production line products and services and screaming cost overruns all the while they rake in the gravy. One of my wife’s income tax customers works at General Dynamics now known as McDonald Douglas in Fort Worth..and this gentleman is a low level flunky maintanence painter not even close to supervisor status…poor fellow has to get along on $62.000.00 a year BEFORE OVERTIME is added on.
My dad, in his day crabbed about congressmen that couldn’t burp for less a hundred thousand dollars in government expenditures.
Now today ten billion dollars a burp is considered small change by our congressmen…and I see trillion dollars per burp shining in their eyes.
As much or even more than honesty in our government leadership, we need, exacted by force if necessary, responsibility and accountability at all levels of government and governors.
Old Joe Congressman and his committee “say” that that $2,000,000,000.00 went for the development and manufacturing of a new completly never thought of before war widget…but how do we know that part of those billions didn’t wind up in numbered Swiss bank accounts…do we trust the GAO…the U S General Accounting Office, to give us accurate accountable information? Remember they are U S Federal career bureaucrats that I personally wouldn’t trust as far as I could throw an elephant and I’d rather wrestle a wildcat in a tellephone booth than to delve into the U S federal budget that is more convoluted than a bucket of worms..
If a stranger knocked on our doors and asked us for money to be spent on a good cause, would we be gulible enough to fork our dough over without a receipt or some sort or a way to track that person and where our money actually went.
Actually we are gulible and do it voluntarily all the time and not just to tax collectors, and not so much as a receipt in hand for doing it.
There has been enough money donated to all the charities and scientific research organizations to have cures for every disease that can be named…and few actual cures if any cures have been found for major diseases like cancers, MS, MD, and the like or a broad based flu vaccine.
Geee Whizzz if they found cures look at all the trillions of dollars the medicine manfacturers would lose out on. “Found a cure for cancer?! My God! Bury it and keep on with those ten thousand dollar a pop chemotherapy drugs so what if they die!”
It all boils down to where there is a will and a way…and crooks will find a way to profit from it, whether it be oil, alternative fuels, research, medicines, food, transportation, labor, materials of all types, housing, you name it and today in both the public and private sectors, its all full of crooks and deceivers; empire builders.
Sad. That’s the only word for it. And eventually this nation and all its peoples will reap and eat from the bitter crops they have sewn like all the other nations coming before have.
How do we stop, estop, prevent, or even slow all the corruption down?
Once again the person that can come up with the correct answers would probably be up for a Nobel prize.
Let me toss this out there.
How receptive would all you folks be to a Boxer/Edwards-or-Edwards/Boxer ticket in 2008?
Considering all things we could do much worse.
I’d like Gore/Edwards ’08.