Flight Pundit

Has John Dumbo Murtha lost his ability to influence his own party? Has the old coot managed to show, in bright colors, just how torn apart the Lemoncrats (TM) really are? It appears that way.

The plan was bold: By tying President Bush’s $100 billion war request to strict standards of troop safety and readiness, Democrats believed they could grab hold of Iraq war policy while forcing Republicans to defend sending troops into battle without the necessary training or equipment.

But a botched launch by the plan’s author, Rep. John P. Murtha (Pa.), has united Republicans and divided Democrats, sending the latter back to the drawing board just a week before scheduled legislative action, a score of House Democratic lawmakers said last week.

Members of both parties got wind of Black Jack’s latest attempt to cut and run, to leave the troops he so adamently claims to love and defend- without the tools they need to fight the battles they face. Dumbo Murtha is a traitor to the American military and to the American people. And it’s coming back full force at him.

“If this is going to be legislation that’s crafted in such a way that holds back resources from our troops, that is a non-starter, an absolute non-starter,” declared Rep. Jim Matheson (Utah), a leader of the conservative Blue Dog Democrats.

Murtha’s credentials as a Marine combat veteran, a critic of the war and close ally of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) were supposed to make him an unassailable spokesman for Democratic war policy. Instead, he has become a lightning rod for criticism from Republicans and members of his own party.

Lightening rod is a polite term. When members of his own party question the motive and ethics of Dumbo’s latest moonbat driven proposals, it says much. Of course Republicans went wild over the sneaky underhanded antics employed here- we’re supposed to do that…our job is to watch for this stuff and expose it.

The story of Murtha’s star-crossed plan illustrates the Democratic Party’s deep divisions over the Iraq war and how the new House majority has yet to establish firm control over Congress. From the beginning, Murtha acted on his own to craft a complicated legislative strategy on the war, without consulting fellow Democrats. When he chose to roll out the details on a liberal, antiwar Web site on Feb. 15, he caught even Pelosi by surprise while infuriating Democrats from conservative districts.

Then for an entire week, as members of Congress returned home for a recess, Murtha refused to speak further. Democratic leaders failed to step into the vacuum, and Republicans relentlessly attacked a plan they called a strategy to slowly bleed the war of troops and funds. By the end of the recess, Murtha’s once promising strategy was in tatters.

Yes it was and still is in tatters; because MOST people were shocked and PISSED off about it. Further, this event showed the American people just how rotten the lemons really are when it comes to all things military and war like. Dumbo Murtha shut up cause he was TOLD TO BE QUIET. Cruella Pelosi cracked her whip. There is no other reason.

Murtha, 74, the powerful chairman of the House Appropriations subcommittee on defense, still holds a unique position on war policy, stemming from his roots as a veteran, his close ties to the uniformed military and his long-standing alliance with Pelosi. When he first publicly called for ending the war in 2005, he commanded the attention the party’s left and right wings.

The strategy he would craft was designed to calm the nerves of the party’s conservatives by fully funding the war, while placating the antiwar left by attaching so many strings to those funds that the president would not be able to deploy all the 21,500 additional combat troops he wanted.

To be sent to battle, troops would have to have had a year’s rest between combat tours. Soldiers in Iraq could not have their tours extended beyond a year there. And the Pentagon’s “stop-loss” policy, which prevents some officers from leaving the military when their service obligations are up, would end. Troops would have to be trained in counterinsurgency and urban warfare and be sent overseas with the equipment they used in training.

I really hope this non plan of a plan is DEAD because many troops will be if this becomes law. Dumbo KNOWS this and it sickens me that he would do this to the military. It also sickens me that ANY member of the House, Republican and Lemoncrat, would endorse this.

Pelosi endorsed the plan in concept but never the details. The plan surfaced Feb. 15 in an unorthodox Murtha appearance on MoveCongress.org, an antiwar Web site affiliated with the liberal activists of MoveOn.org.

It came the day before the House voted on a nonbinding resolution opposing Bush’s additional troop deployments that Democratic leaders had been touting as a major rebuke. Murtha dismissed that vote as he promoted his coming plans regarding the war spending bill. “This vote will be the most important vote in changing the direction on this war,” he said of his proposal. “This vote will limit the options of the president and should stop the surge.”

To many Democrats, that was not only impolitic, it was disloyal.

Why the Lemoncrats feel such a NEED to pacify the likes of the MoveOn people is beyond me…these people are anti-American, not just anti war. They share beds with ANSWER- the pro-communinst activists. Do the Lemoncrats want to be associated with these people? Nevermind basing legislation upon the warped and very small numbers of people these thug groups represent…no wonder the Lemoncrats cannot do the right thing. They’re hanging with the wrong crowd! And Boss Cruella has proven she is not capable of holding her position of power. She’s not on top of things; she doesn’t have command. Her boy toy Dumbo Murtha is pushing her around.

Even after that Web appearance, some senior Democratic aides say Murtha might well have been able to save his plan if he had quickly laid it out before the Democratic caucus and marshaled Democratic leaders behind a defense. Instead, the House recessed for a week, Murtha disappeared from the media, and Democratic leaders were silent, saying they could not discuss Iraq legislation because no real plan existed.

Sabotage and surrender is not a plan. It’s a strategy. And it’s often the very backbone of these Lemoncrats like Murtha, who are too dumb to come up with anything more viable. He’s a thug. A stupid one at that…and it’s showing now. Just listening to him one gets the impression of the level of education and expertise he (does not) have. To give him the power he has is dangerous to America. I’m thinking he needs to removed from his high chair and placed back in the play pen.

In the face of an unanswered Republican assault, the Democratic rank-and-file cracked — on the left and the right.

“While we’re all for troop readiness, we’re all for them having all the equipment they want,” Matheson, the Utah Democrat, said, “I’d be very concerned about doing anything that would hamstring resources and commanders on the ground.”

Indeed, Matheson and other Blue Dogs said the Democrats should concentrate on oversight hearings on Iraq policy, while refraining from binding legislation on the war.

They can’t have it both ways. BUT they cannot cut the tools our soldiers and Marines MUST have while they are at war; and the war is real, it’s live, it’s happening. Whether people agree with the merit of this war isn’t up for debate anymore (although some think it is). Now, we have a duty to see the mission in Iraq through- and stand with our military and support them. I think the Lemoncrats are dealing themselves a very sore loser when they ponder ideas of ending this support with these sneaky and unethical deeds and deals being handed by Dumbo Murtha. He needs to GO. Nancy Pelosi needs to cut and run from Murtha and fast. Question is: Does she have the balls to do this?

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