Murtha In Command

I don't want this blog to become "all Murtha - all the time", but the guy's a target rich environment. Today Bob Novak takes a few whacks. It begins like this:

After 16 undistinguished terms in Congress,...

Just some advice from moi - if you're Congressmen is still "undistinguished" after even only 3 or 4 terms, isn't it time for a change? Let's go on:

...Rep. John P. Murtha at long last felt his moment had arrived. He could not keep quiet the secret Democratic strategy that he had forged for the promised "second step" against President Bush's Iraq policy (after the "first step" of a nonbinding resolution of disapproval). In an interview last Thursday with the antiwar Web site MoveCongress.org, he revealed plans to put conditions on funding of U.S. troops. His message: I am running this show.

Indeed he is. Murtha and his ally House Speaker Nancy Pelosi were humiliated last Nov. 16 when the Democratic caucus overwhelmingly voted against Murtha as majority leader. Three months later, Murtha has shaped party policy that would cripple Bush's Iraq troop surge by placing conditions on funding. That represents the most daring congressional attempt to micromanage ongoing armed hostilities since the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War challenged President Abraham Lincoln.

Murtha's plan did not surprise Republicans. They were poised to contend that his proposed amendment to the supplemental appropriations bill would effectively cut off funding for the war, confronting moderate Democrats elected after promising voters they would support the troops. But the Senate rule requiring 60 votes to end debate, which prevented final passage of the nonbinding resolution rejecting the troop surge, would not affect Murtha's plan because appropriations have to be passed and cannot be filibustered. Thus, unless there is an unexpected retreat by Democrats, Murtha will be driving U.S. policy. That is an improbable elevation for a House member best known until now as a purveyor of pork. An ideological moderate (a 65 percent rating from Americans for Democratic Action and 40 percent from the American Conservative Union in 2006), he became a hero to the left by advocating "redeployment" of troops from Iraq.

You may recall that his "redeployment" plans were to send our troops to Okinawa, a distance of some 4,834 miles (according to Google Earth), and assuming the Chinese will allow the U.S. military to conduct direct flights between the two through their airspace (which they won't). Add a few thousand miles in order to avoid Chinese and North Korean airspace, and it's a pretty fair hike between the two locales. Not exactly perfect for a quick intervention. As one Republican once commented: "Murtha is not a deep thinker".

And yet, he is basically in charge of the House plans for the Iraq war. Comforting, isn't it?

Read the rest of Novak's piece here.