Murtha dead at 77

Details here.

I’m not going to wax eloquent about the guy, now or anytime in the foreseeable future.  However, I would be less than a compassionate human being if I didn’t wish the best for his family and friends.  May they turn to God for strength and comfort in this dark season of theirs.

UPDATE: Could Murtha lose? Poll suggest “maybe”!

UPDATES BELOW.

How awesome would it be for a true military hero (William Russell) to be supported by the “racists”/”rednecks” (to use Abscam Jack’s own words) in that district?

Murtha’s up by 4%, within the poll’s margin of error.  At a time that the GOP could lose nearly every race, it would be poetic justice to see the Marine-slandering PA porkmeister lose!

UPDATE (10/23/2008 – 8:20 P.M. EST): Another poll shows Abscam Jack trailing 48% – 35%…dare we to hope?  Sounds like ACORN needs to get crackin’ here.

Haditha Marine acquitted of murder

Much to the chagrin of Abscam Jack Murtha (D-PA), yet another Marine escaped incarceration for not being involved in the Haditha massacre.  Abscam Jack called them “cold-blooded killers” before a trial had even begun, despite evidence that Al Qaeda and NOT the U.S. Marines may have perpetrated the act of barbarism.

As far as I know (and someone correct me if I’m wrong), not a single Marine has been convicted.  How sick that Murtha would sooner believe the Marines were guilty before he would believe that Al Qaeda was guilty!  No wonder his fat shriveled @ss is being sued for defamation!

Dems: McCain’s too old

Boy, that Howard Dean sure has a good hold on his party, doesn’t he?  After saying that Dems didn’t need and weren’t going to make an issue out of McCain’s age, the Dems get Abscam Jack Murtha (who is four years older than McCain) to publicly say that McCain’s too old to serve (which, by logical extension, makes Abscam Jack too old to serve in public office, no?).  And then there’s this:

Despite a recent promise from Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean not to make Sen. John McCain’s age — he turns 72 in August — an issue in the presidential campaign, a senior Democratic operative has started a new website designed to draw attention to just that fact.

Called “Younger than McCain”, the website is being run by Steve Rosenthal, a former political director at the AFL-CIO and executive director of America Coming Together, a massive soft money effort organized around the 2004 presidential race. Rosenthal is now a partner in The Organizing Group.

The current content amounts to a 90-second video listing the things younger than McCain — a list that includes the Golden Gate Bridge, plutonium, Coke in a can and Velcro among many, many other things.
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The video comes on the heels of comments made by Rep. Jack Murtha (D-Pa.) yesterday that McCain is too old to be president. “This one guy running is about as old as me,” Murtha, 75, told a group of union members in Washington yesterday. “Let me tell you something, it’s no old man’s job.” (The name Ronald Reagan ring a bell, dipsh#t? – Ed.)

Why, if I didn’t know any better, I’d say that Dean is (a) a liar; (b) incapable of leading his party; or (c) all of the above.

CBS piece on Murtha meets “Guess That Party”

I’m stunned they even bothered with the story, but they did throw Abscam Jack a bone and neglect to mention his political party.  That’s odd, since a recent commenter here defended the MSM’s “Guess That Party” game by saying that they only need to mention the party affiliation of Congressmen and Senators.  Now cut me some slack, since I did go to Florida State, but if my remedial History class there serves me well, I’m pretty sure that Abscam Jack Murtha is a Congressman…and a Democrat one, too.

Anywho, from NRO’s Corner:

This CBS News report ran on Friday regarding Rep. Jack Murtha’s earmark money-circle. It includes footage from the famous ABSCAM sting operation in which Murtha brags about his influence.

My favorite part, though, has to be the baffled expression on the face of Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.). Flake had just been told on the House floor that no one knew whether the Center from Instrumented Critical Infrastructure, recipient of a $1 million Murtha earmark, actually exists.

UPDATE: I had to watch the report again after I received the following e-mail from a reader:

A key word was missing from that CBS report.  I’ll give you a hint, it starts with a “D”.

Indeed, it’s true. I just watched twice, and apparently there is no mention of his party affiliation whatsoever.

Nope…no liberal media bias!

Abscam Jack: You can’t support the war unless you get a tax hike

Being the porker (in more ways than one) that Abscam Jack is, he’d love some more of your tax money.  According to the Defeatocrat, it’s your patriotic duty to pay taxes through the nose.  From the Washington Times:

This week, around our Thanksgiving tables, there will be two families: One who say they support the troops, and they do, but they have sacrificed very little. They haven’t had their taxes raised, they haven’t been drafted, and they don’t really participate in the war. 

Got that?  If you support the troops, the taxes you currently pay couldn’t possibly be high enough.  I gotta admit that while the “chickenhawk” argument is completely vacuous, this just may actually trump that argument as the most illogical argument yet.

Also, Jack, there is actually a third family you failed to mention: families like yours that do not support the troops and do everything they can to undermine their morale and their mission.  Fortunately, you’re going to get yours in the form of a defamation lawsuit.  Eat up, Porky.

Haditha perpetrated by Al Qaeda

Hot Air has all the details.  There’s a fair amount of reading, so I’ll let you read it for yourself (which you most definitely should do).  Abscam Jack Murtha may want to check it out himself before he falsely accuses any more Marines of being “cold-blooded killers”!

Murtha to testify in defamation suit

From Hot Air:

He’ll have to submit a deposition. Hopefully he’ll be more forthcoming this time than his office was when I called them up last month. Perhaps by the time he testifies, he’ll actually know what’s going on in the trials. Not that not having all the facts slowed him down from pronouncing the Marines guilty of murder “in cold blood” starting last year.

A federal judge refused Friday to dismiss a defamation case against Rep. John P. Murtha and ordered the Pennsylvania Democrat to give a sworn deposition in the case.

A Marine Corps sergeant is suing the 16-term congressman for alleging “cold-blooded murder and war crimes” by unnamed soldiers in connection with the deaths of Iraqi civilians in the town of Haditha.

The deaths became known in May 2006 when Murtha, who opposes the Iraq war, said at a Capitol Hill news conference that a Pentagon war crimes investigation will show Marines killed dozens of innocent Iraqi civilians in the town in 2005.

Murtha’s office declined to comment on the ruling. He has said his intention was to draw attention to the pressure put on troops in Iraq and to cover-up the incident.

The Justice Department wanted the case dismissed because Murtha was acting in his official role as a lawmaker. Assistant U.S. Attorney John F. Henault said the comments were made as part of the debate over the war in Iraq.

This is one of the many areas where I’ll depart from the Bush administration, which is in charge of the Justice Department. Murtha slandered those troops and his repeated slanders of them echoed throughout the entire world. Murtha damaged our cause in the war. A civil slander suit is the least of the legal problems he ought to face for that.

And as the judge points out, giving Murtha a pass here might set dangerous precedent.

“You’re writing a very wide road for members of Congress to go to their home districts and say anything they choose about private persons and be able to do so without any liability. Are you sure you want to do that?” Collyer said, adding later, “How far can a congressman go and still be protected?”

Collyer said she was troubled by the idea the lawmakers are immune from lawsuits regardless of what they say to advance their political careers.

If average Americans can’t get away with slander, why should Murtha? 

Squirm, you piece of donkey excrement.

Abscam Jack being sued by one of his so-called “cold-blooded killers”

You reap what you sow, you sorry sack of Abscam crap! From Hot Air:

Well, the Marine Corps investigator has now dropped all charges against 3 of the 8 accused Marines in the case, and only one Marine still stands accused of crimes at the scene. The others are charged with various after-the-fact issues that arose from investigations of Haditha, not the events themselves. Murtha’s aim, of course, in accusing the Marines of murder “in cold blood” was to pin the blame on Bush. But in the process of blaming Bush, he slandered those Marines.

One of those Marines, Col. Jeffrey Chessani, plans to sue Murtha once he’s exonerated.

Brian Rooney, one of the attorneys at Michigan’s Thomas More Law Center representing Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani and a former Marine captain himself told NewsMax.com that his client, who is alleged to have failed to fully investigate the killing of 24 Iraqis in Haditha November, 2005 and not reporting an alleged Law of War violation, may follow the example of another Haditha Marine, SSgt. Frank Wuterich who is suing Murtha for libel.

Recall that Murtha claimed to base his accusations on internal Marine Corps investigations and reports. Well, I have the 31-page report that the investigating officer issued that exonerated several of the Marines.

[Excerpts from report here. Click here to see the excerpts from the actual report. – Ed.]

Based on that reasoning, the case against Wuterich is likely to fall apart too. He is the last Marine against whom charges from that night remain. If the charges against him fall, game over. Jack Murtha will have slandered Marines who acted according to their training during the course of ongoing combat.
…
But nope, no criticism of Murtha. Don’t you people support the troops in any tangible way, ever?

In fact, if one thing seems to unite liberal lawmakers and pundits these days, it’s the art of the lazy and counterfactual smear. “Bush LIED!” “All conservatives from the South are raaacists.” Etc. Smear Marines here, bloggers over there, the president just for fun, whatever, whoever and wherever, why bother to do any research when smears are so handy and easy to write and will land you gigs at USA Today and Time magazine?

Well, I’m cheering on any Marine who chooses to sue Jack Murtha over his Haditha comments. He got himself way out ahead of the facts, and now the facts are sneaking up to bite him on the backside. He deserves it, and it’s about time someone got some justice over one of these slanders.

If you have not yet done so, feel free to go ahead and question their patriotism.

Abscam Jack not happy about Haditha charges being dropped

Check this out from Hot Air (including audio of Abscam Jack’s office hanging up when asked about the Haditha Marines):

When he wasn’t busy over the past year or so arguing that we ought to fight al Qaeda in Iraq from our bases in Okinawa and Diego Garcia, Rep. Jack “Abscam” Murtha has been busy stuffing his face with pork, behaving questionably over appropriations and smearing US Marines. Now that three of the Marines Murtha prejudged to be guilty of cold-blooded murder have been cleared of all charges, Murtha ought to answer for what he has been saying about them.

Today, I called up his office in DC to see if he was planning on issuing any statements. For some reason, his staff is less than forthcoming on that point.

Put that in your pork-filled bong and smoke it, Jack!

Haditha Marine’s father speaks with Abscam Jack

From the Freepers:

Haditha Marine Dad speaks to John Murtha

Throughout this Haditha investigation our family has believed in the innocence of our son L/Cpl Justin Sharratt- we knew he was innocent. There are things I do not understand and I would like to find the answers. We do not seek revenge, but we would like to see justice. In a conversation with Congressman John Murtha, my questions still remain unanswered. With the help of the American people, I hope to find justice.

On Wednesday morning, July 17th I spoke with Congressman John Murtha via telephone from his Washington, DC office. We had a courteous conversation. I knew what to expect from a career politician and Congressman Murtha did not disappoint. Mr. Murtha avoided answering the hard questions and I was unable to press him for the answers. I wanted the conversation to remain amicable and decided to let him speak and avoid a heated confrontation.

At no time during the dialogue would Mr. Murtha acknowledge the impending exoneration of my son. I pressed him to use the word exoneration but the best I could get was “things seem to have gone well in your son’s Article 32. The General is a fair man and I believe he will do the right thing.” I replied, “ Lt. Col Paul Ware presented a strong recommendation for exoneration and we are anticipating Lt. Gen James Mattis following this recommendation.”

Mr. Murtha asked me if I had served in the military. He recalled his visits with injured Marines, soldiers and sailors. He said he supports our troops and it is the war he does not condone. Mr Murtha believes combat operations in Iraq have put an enormous strain on our Armed Forces. The stress of combat situations has led our troops to kill innocent civilians. I pointed out to Mr. Murtha, “ Our Haditha Marines are innocent until proven guilty.” It seems he is again denying our Marines their Constitutional rights of due process and the presumption of innocence. Mr. Murtha replied that we have a Marine(Mendoza) testifying that innocent women and children were killed in Haditha. I retorted that he is again believing the reports of the media and Mendoza was granted immunity for his lies. Mendoza has changed his testimony at least two times. NCIS may have threatened him with deportation and denial of US citizenship. This time I scolded him, “ I witnessed their(NCIS) conduct first hand in my son’s Article 32.”

I questioned Congressman Murtha as to his statements of 17 May 2006. On national television, in front of millions of Americans, he stated “ Marines killed innocent civilians in cold blood.” I asked him why he denied these Marines their Constitutional rights of due process and the presumption of innocence. Again the Congressman used his experience to side step the answer. Mr. Murtha stated his intentions were to point out the stress our military was under in Iraq. He replied we would not win the hearts of the Iraqi people by killing women and children. I again snapped, “ Our Haditha Marines have not been convicted of killing innocents and are innocent until proven guilty.”

I believe this conversation was the first step in obtaining justice for Our Haditha Marines. I did not expect Mr. Murtha to admit to or apologize for any wrongdoing in his role to railroad my son and his Marine comrades. The American people now know that his unfounded and untruthful allegations were used to further his political agenda. It is my intention to ask the Congress of the United States to censure Representative John Murtha and hold hearings to explain his conduct in respect to the Haditha incident. I will ask the American people to question his blatant disregard for the Constitutional rights of Our Haditha Marines. I will campaign to the voters of Pa Congressional District 12 to oust Representative Murtha from his elected office. The American people deserve better, we must demand better representation from our elected officials.

What a despicable human being Abscam Jack Murtha is! Kudos to Mr. Sharratt for putting Murtha in his place, even if Murtha is too vile and stupid to realize it.

$1 mill for mystery project

Anyone tired yet of the “culture of corruption” hypocrisy? Me too. From Politico:

What’s a paltry one million dollars to a member of Congress?

Well, apparently not enough to know if an organization about to receive that big block of cash actually exists.

Republican Rep. Jeff Flake of Arizona, the fiscal crusader who’s never met an earmark he likes, questioned Democratic Rep. Peter J. Visclosky of Indiana on the House floor Tuesday about whether the Center for Instrumented Critical Infrastructure actually exists – since, hey, it’s getting like a million bucks or something.

Visclosky, who chairs the spending subcommittee responsible for the project, had to admit that, well, he didn’t have a clue.

After a lengthy back-and-forth, Flake, complaining that his staff couldn’t find a website for the center, asked Visclosky, “Does the center currently exist?”

“At this time, I do not know,” the Indiana Democrat replied. “But if it does not exist, the monies could not go to it.”

As if that wasn’t bad enough…

And who could possibly be the sponsor of such an earmark? Yes, you guessed it, the man Republicans love to hate, Pennsylvania Democrat John P. Murtha.

Despite the money’s uncertain destination, the House rejected Flake’s measure to strike the funds, 326-98. And the Visclosky bill also sailed through, 312-112.

As I said, what’s one million dollars to a member of Congress?

UPDATE: I failed to report last night that a certificate filed with the requested funds says the money is actually earmarked to Concurrent Technologies Corporation, a nonprofit technological consulting firm. A brief search of campaign finance records shows CTC President and CEO Daniel R. DeVos, of alternately Central City and Johnstown, Pa. has contributed $7,000 to Murtha’s reelection campaign since April 2002.

Abscam Jack, still crazy after all these years. Quite a deal for Abscam Jack and DeVos, wouldn’t you say? DeVos gives Jack $7k for his re-election campaign, and gets a nice cool million (not a dime of which is out of Abscam Jack’s pocket) as a return on his investment. I guess it’s a good thing we’ve got those principled, uncorrupted Dems running the show now, huh?

Moonbat Murtha: Failure to compromise is an impeachable offense

Failure to compromise is a “high crime and misdemeanor”? I learn something new everyday, and from a moonbat no less! From Hot Air:

Video clip here

Rep. John Murtha suggested the possibility of impeachment to “influence” the President to “compromise” over funding for Iraq. Is it just me or does John Murtha sound like Vito Corleone? Does Murtha not know he is talking about impeaching the President of the United States because he is not compromising with the will of the far-left of Congress? That’s neither a high crime nor even a misdemeanor, which are the behaviors that are supposed to trigger impeachment. Murtha’s suggestion is outside the bounds of what Congress is supposed to do to influence the behavior of a sitting president, to say the least.

But then again, Jack “Abscam” Murtha has never been one to hold the law in high regard.

Earlier this month, Bryan wrote about Murtha receiving calls from his constituents telling him to impeach President Bush.

Transcript:

BOB SCHIEFFER: Are you seriously talking about contemplating an impeachment of this President?

MURTHA: What I’m saying is there are four ways to influence a President.

SCHIEFFER: — and that’s one of them?

MURTHA: [unintelligible] and the fourth one is –

SCHIEFFER: — that’s an option that’s on the table?

MURTHA: I’m just saying that’s one way to influence the President.

Sure, that will influence the prez: “Sir, go along with us or we’ll impeach you!” That would go over like a fart in church, I imagine.