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Title: The Mugging of Murtha: Congressional Democrats betray the antiwar movement
Source:
Antiwar.com
URL Source: http://antiwar.com/justin/
Published: Nov 17, 2006
Author: Justin Raimondo
Post Date: 2006-11-17 06:32:34 by Zoroaster
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Views: 290
Comments: 25
November 17, 2006 The Mugging of Murtha Congressional Democrats betray the antiwar movement by Justin Raimondo They mugged Jack Murtha, and the voters, Thursday morning. As the House Democratic caucus voted to install Rep. Steny Hoyer in the number-two leadership spot, over at the liberal Huffington Post they were running a large picture of Speaker Nancy and Hoyer making nice for the cameras, in a let's-join-hands photo-op veritably oozing with phoniness. The headline cited Pelosi's message: "We Made History Now Let's Make Progress for the American People." It's like reading the front page of Pravda, circa 1936: "Ten-Year Plan Over-Fulfilled!" over a photo of the Soviet hierarchy posed against the backdrop of the Kremlin. Back in the half-forgotten days of the Cold War era, Kremlinologists – remember them? – used to carefully monitor the subtleties of these joint appearances: where one official stood, and in relation to whom, supposedly revealed the hidden struggle for power among the inner leadership. Published photos in particular signaled the rise and fall of political fortunes: which is why the Soviets went to the extraordinary lengths of altering photographic evidence that gave comfort to their ideological enemies, literally airbrushing Leon Trotsky and other prominent heretics out of existence. In this spirit, then, examine the CNN photo of Nancy's coronation and notice its composition: Rahm Emanuel to the left of her, Hoyer to her right – a veritable Praetorian Guard that is little short of menacing. The former torpedoed antiwar candidates in the primary and snubbed them in the general election, while the latter defeated antiwar leader Jack Murtha – frowning in the background – for majority leader on the strength of a smear campaign of extraordinary proportions. Are the men surrounding Madam Speaker an honor guard, or a police escort? Who's in charge here? Arrayed against Murtha was a united front of the Democratic Party establishment, from a George Soros-backed "liberal" consumer-complainer group to an anonymously run http://YouDontKnowJack.org, featuring replays of the infamous Abscam tapes. In the video, Murtha rejects an offer of a bribe while FBI agents disguised as wealthy Arabs – the Borat-style mustaches are a riot – try to lure him into a compromising position, without much success. Murtha was completely exonerated in a subsequent investigation – but that didn't stop the smear brigade from surfacing this age-old sludge. To hear some Democrats, adherents of an ideology that revolves around the pork barrel, denounce Murtha as "corrupt" is the ultimate in unintentional humor. Aside from the hypocrisy, however, there is the rather more interesting aspect of this contest as a clash of political cultures. The gruff, regular-guy congressman from Pennsylvania, a longtime friend of the military (and especially veterans), is a typical bring-home-the-bacon congressman of the Democratic breed; not everyone can be Ron Paul. Hammered for calling the "anti-corruption" rules favored by Pelosi "crap," Murtha might have answered that Hoyer calls for a relaxation of the rules involving foreign junkets sponsored by "nonprofit" "educational" organizations – i.e., foreign lobbyists. Go here for a fascinating breakdown of their respective campaign contributors, which seems to debunk the popular idea that the War Party is simply the voice of the armaments industry. And I would note an intriguing detail: Hoyer has an unusually high total contribution coming from "ideological" and "single-issue" groups. Unfortunately, there wasn't time to debunk the smears and engage the Hoyerites in a full-fledged debate: the knifing of Murtha was done quickly, in the dark – a secret ballot of the Democratic caucus, and then that phony photo-op. As their mandate lies bleeding on the floor… The Great Realignment of 2006 lasted a little over a week before it turned into the Great Sellout. It is a perfect illustration of how the War Party controls the leadership of both major parties and maintains its grip on the levers of power. Given near-monopoly status on account of repressive ballot access laws in most states, the parties can thwart the popular will. Given a mandate for peace, the Democratic Party leadership has effectively rejected it and reversed the election results. Americans voted for peace, and they're going to get more war. That's how our Bizarro democracy works, and all I can say is God bless Bizarro America, land of the duped and home of the cowed. Back when the Democrats were AWOL on the Iraq issue, Murtha changed the debate over the war by coming out for a rapid American withdrawal. His stance caused a sensation: here was a conservative Democrat, a veteran Marine, whose campaign chest is heavy with cash from the defense sector, surely no Dennis Kucinich – and he wants us out now! Close to the military establishment, Murtha is seen to reflect opinion in the senior ranks that this war is unwinnable and likely to spread, stretching the fighting capacity of the world's last superpower to the breaking point. His high-profile stance represented a threat and had to be smashed – as it was. It is instructive to observe how readily supposedly "liberal" groups stabbed the antiwar movement in the back by fueling the "Murtha = corruption" meme: they caviled that the conservative Catholic congressman is anti-abortion and not exactly a San Francisco Democrat, either in style or substance. With his blue-collar demeanor, Murtha is the exact opposite of the white-wine-and-brie crowd – i.e., big business and the "labor" aristocracy – that mobilized around Hoyer. As support for a quick exit from Iraq gathers strength among the public, the Washington elite draws closer together in defense of a failed policy, and the differences between the Democrats and Republicans begin to meet and merge. In the face of a popular rebellion against the madness of our foreign policy, both wings of the War Party present a united front against the electoral onslaught. Faced with the "choice" of John McCain versus Hillary Clinton in 2008, both pro-war and avidly interventionist, where does the antiwar majority go? The choice between Hoyer and Murtha was clear. While the loser is a hero to the antiwar movement, the victor was characterized by the Washington Monthly as follows: "Hoyer has always advocated a more hawkish approach to national security than many Democrats. In 1985, he broke with his party to support funding for Reagan's MX missile, and in the 1990s pressured President Clinton to lift the arms embargo against Bosnian Muslims, and to intervene more aggressively in the Balkans. Unlike Pelosi, he voted to authorize Bush to invade Iraq. Then, last November, after Murtha – a longtime Pelosi ally who had run her whip campaign in 2000 – called for an immediate withdrawal, Hoyer and Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.) urged Pelosi not to join Murtha, arguing that doing so would hurt Democrats politically." I warned that this sellout would earn something of a record for swiftness, and I deeply regret being right. Believe me, nothing would be better if we could hand the job over to the newly installed Democratic Congress and relax as they extricate us from the Iraqi quagmire. Yet that clearly is not happening: instead, the Democrats, content with purely symbolic measures, are abstaining when it comes to Iraq, neither challenging the present policy of "stay the course" nor erecting any roadblocks to possible future escalation of the war. Now we hear talk of a "final push," a sudden increase in the number of troops to leave some sort of semi-permanent imprint on the chaos. How many more have to die in order to save the face of the Washington know-it-alls? This once again underlines the basic principle at the heart of any peace movement worthy of the name: put not your trust in politicians. The people voted to get us out of Iraq, and instead the Democrats will stand idly by – at best – while we get in deeper. They can concentrate on extending the welfare state and wait for the Baker Commission to somehow magically come up with a comfortably "bipartisan" solution. It isn't going to happen. The sellout continues apace, and you can't say you weren't warned. http://Antiwar.com hasn't hesitated to say what isn't popular and speak truth to power, especially when it comes to the complicity of both parties in taking us down the road to war. We cannot rely on anything but a mass movement from below to end the war, and the mugging of Jack Murtha confirms it. That's why the continuity of http://Antiwar.com is so important – and why you should join with hundreds of others in ensuring that we are able to carry on our work. The response to our fundraising effort this week has been frankly atrocious, and I don't think I'm amiss in thinking that this has much to do with the Democratic victory. Many of our readers and supporters apparently believed this would inaugurate a new era of peace, the neocons would be driven out of the temple of democracy, and the troops would come home shortly afterward. Now that they are beginning to realize this is nothing more than a pipe dream, they have a chance to redeem themselves. We frankly cannot continue to operate http://Antiwar.com with the present level of contributions. Unless you, our readers and supporters, come through with a massive show of support, we'll be forced to make huge cutbacks: more than half the staff will have to go, and we'll be left with a skeleton budget and the looming possibility of imminent closure. It isn't a pretty picture. The complete defeat of the antiwar Democrats at the hands of the War Party contains a lesson that needs to be absorbed, but surely it implies that bedrock institutions like http://Antiwar.com are essential to the cause of peace. We don't have any illusions of a quick victory in the battle to change American foreign policy. We have been fighting the War Party since 1995, so we have no inflated expectations in that regard. It is a long, hard slog, and that's what this fundraising campaign has turned into: we're fighting the illusion that we can let the politicians take care of our problems all on their own, without any impetus or pressure from below. Now, perhaps, that illusion has been shattered. The fate of Jack Murtha and the public pronouncements of Democratic party leaders bode ill for congressional action to end the war. You'll be needing http://Antiwar.com around for quite a bit longer, but we can't do it without your contribution. Help save http://Antiwar.com – contribute today.
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#1. To: Zoroaster (#0)
No shock. The same thing happened in WWI, WWII, and Vietnam. Politicans run on an anti-war platform and then go all warlord once they are in office.
"The more I see of life, the less I fear death" - Me.
"Hoyer has always advocated a more hawkish approach to national security than many Democrats. In 1985, he broke with his party to support funding for Reagan's MX missile, and in the 1990s pressured President Clinton to lift the arms embargo against Bosnian Muslims, and to intervene more aggressively in the Balkans. Unlike Pelosi, he voted to authorize Bush to invade Iraq. Then, last November, after Murtha – a longtime Pelosi ally who had run her whip campaign in 2000 – called for an immediate withdrawal, Hoyer and Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.) urged Pelosi not to join Murtha, arguing that doing so would hurt Democrats politically." It's hard to take this political nonsense seriously. So I don't.
American SUCKERS!!!! I vote Libertarian - not that the vote matters.
"The desire to rule is the mother of heresies." -- St. John Chrysostom
The smearing of Murtha by the Zionist media and Hoyer's win for the Dem leadership position in the House means it's business as usual. America's War agaist Israel's enemies in the Muslim neighborhood will not only continue but escalate. Iran is next on the hit list. With more Jews than ever holding seats in Congress the future for America looks bleak. It promises to be a miseralbe place to live for common folks, particularly white common folks. Look for the likes of Lantos and Ros- Lehitinen to introduce hate-crimee bills that will protect and strengthed Jewish supremacy in America. Bush, of course, will eagerly sign the bills into law.
Life is a tragedy to those who feel, and a comedy to those who think.
I think this has more to do with it as Murtha's views on the war. The only thing I've heard from Fox and Clear Channel over the past two days is 'Abscam' and 'Democratic Corruption'. The GOP already has a powerful 'Hate Murtha' crowd in place as a result of their demonization over the past 18 months. This allows Murtha to be used as a focal point for the Swiftboating to come. Fox and Clear Channel could have built Murtha into a personification of the Democrats and then spun his Abscam experience into something really horrible -- and thus tarred the entire bunch.
Your point has some validity. Some media outlets normally not associated with the Zionist propaganda machine were in on the Murthat smear campaign. It was a joint effort between big business and Zionists; both want the war against Israel's enemies to continue and Murtha, the best bet to end it, was last guy they wanted to see in the powerful postion of House whip. The Zionists are part of the NWO criminal crowd. It's sometimes difficult to to tell one from the other.
Life is a tragedy to those who feel, and a comedy to those who think.
I interpret the ML leader fight as the Dem apparatchnik being rewarded over the possibly embarrassing maverick they can't really control. It's all about rewarding the longtime party hacks, not about doing the right thing. About what I expected. It's also a big slap in the face to Pelosi, who not only got stabbed in the back by her own party (although they're trying to spin it otherwise, of course) but she also demonstrated her lack of political strength and prowess within her own party ranks. She's toast and so are the Dems. Pubbies wlll be back starting 08, the Dems have no balls and no cohesion and Hilary is not gonna save them.
"I woke up in the CRAZY HOUSE."
Pretty good analysis. That and Murtha's views on abortion and few other issues helped do him in.
Pelosi gained my respect for backing Murtha. I will no longer refer to her as an aging bimbo.
Life is a tragedy to those who feel, and a comedy to those who think.
You have a good point there. She did the right thing, and actually I do think that Pelosi DOES in general want to do the right thing (although she and I might disagree about what that is). I just don't think she has the political acumen to do the job. Someone with the right political skills would have checked the votes beforehand and either tried to compromise or backed off of Murtha so it wouldn't look like such a big defeat for her. It's hard to lead when you look like a loser from the start.
"I woke up in the CRAZY HOUSE."
Wouldn't it be great, or should I say awful, if Pelosi were ousted as House Speaker and replaced by Lantos?
Life is a tragedy to those who feel, and a comedy to those who think.
War Is The Health of The State Excerpt: The moment war is declared, however, the mass of the people, through some spiritual alchemy, become convinced that they have willed and executed the deed themselves. They then, with the exception of a few malcontents, proceed to allow themselves to be regimented, coerced, deranged in all the environments of their lives, and turned into a solid manufactory of destruction toward whatever other people may have, in the appointed scheme of things, come within the range of the Government’s disapprobation. The citizen throws off his contempt and indifference to Government, identifies himself with its purposes, revives all his military memories and symbols, and the State once more walks, an august presence, through the imaginations of men. Patriotism becomes the dominant feeling, and produces immediately that intense and hopeless confusion between the relations which the individual bears and should bear toward the society of which he is a part. The patriot loses all sense of the distinction between State, nation, and government. In our quieter moments, the Nation or Country forms the basic idea of society. We think vaguely of a loose population spreading over a certain geographical portion of the earth’s surface, speaking a common language, and living in a homogeneous civilization. Our idea of Country concerns itself with the non-political aspects of a people, its ways of living, its personal traits, its literature and art, its characteristic attitudes toward life. We are Americans because we live in a certain bounded territory, because our ancestors have carried on a great enterprise of pioneering and colonization, because we live in certain kinds of communities which have a certain look and express their aspirations in certain ways. We can see that our civilization is different from contiguous civilizations like the Indian and Mexican. The institutions of our country form a certain network which affects us vitally and intrigues our thoughts in a way that these other civilizations do not. We are a part of Country, for better or for worse. We have arrived in it through the operation of physiological laws, and not in any way through our own choice. By the time we have reached what are called years of discretion, its influences have molded our habits, our values, our ways of thinking, so that however aware we may become, we never really lose the stamp of our civilization, or could be mistaken for the child of any other country. Our feeling for our fellow countrymen is one of similarity or of mere acquaintance. We may be intensely proud of and congenial to our particular network of civilization, or we may detest most of its qualities and rage at its defects. This does not alter the fact that we are inextricably bound up in it. The Country, as an inescapable group into which we are born, and which makes us its particular kind of a citizen of the world, seems to be a fundamental fact of our consciousness, an irreducible minimum of social feeling. ~Randolph Bourne
I don't know much about Lantos except that he seems like an extreme lib. I don't think the Dems would go that far to the left at this point - I think they want to slog it out in what they think is the center (which is still left of most of us).
"I woke up in the CRAZY HOUSE."
I was just reading up on Lantos - interesting background. His wife is first cousin to the Gabor sisters....
"I woke up in the CRAZY HOUSE."
Pelosi gained my respect for backing Murtha. High theatre...did you see how Murtha was creamed by the prowar, pro - Israel crowd in Congress? Pelosi's AIPAC all the way, bought and paid for.
All men die. Not all men truly live. Live for something, rather than die for nothing.
I tried to tell this to my friends who were urging me to vote for Democrats. But they still cling pathetically to their faith in "the Party".
when will they ever learn that the leadership of both parties is one and the same? the battle is not democrats vs republicans, right vs left, liberal vs conservative. it's the elites vs we-the-people.
Lantos is one of the nuttier ones. He claims to be a Holocaust survivor, and he may well be (but only for a few weeks/months tops). He is responsible for creating the bill that demanded and went after restitution for Holocaust survivors, which on the face of it sounds reasonable. Although why our govt is busy legally with something that happened to non-citizens on another continent, I don't know. "The illegal we do immediately. The unconstitutional takes a little longer." Excellent....
He's not just nutty. Lantos is dangerous due to his single focus and his dottering age ( born 1928). He was instrumental in striking down the Armenian movement earlier this year to have Congress, the WH recognize the Armenian slaughter by the Turks as genocide. In the end, GWB went on the air waves and said the Armenian event was a tragedy not a genocide. Lantos is also a big pro war Democrat and he supported the Patriot Act, too. Cut and paste from a letter sent to Lantos by the Armenia National Committee of America. http://www.anca.org/press_releases/press_releases.php?prid=205 "...We are also concerned that there may be other reasons - which you did not state - for your opposition to U.S. recognition of the Armenian Genocide. Some have suggested that your newfound denial of the Armenian Genocide may be unrelated to our country, but of concern to a third party. We would appreciate a full and open explanation of your new position concerning the Armenian Genocide. To date the ANCA-WR has received no reply to this letter." Also, here's a good Nov. 11-12/06 article in counterpunch about Lantos and Venezuela... http://www.counterpunch. com/kozloff11112006.html "Beware Venezuela, Here Come the Democratic Hawks; The Return of Tom Lantos"
HYPOCRITE THY NAME IS TOM LANTOS!!! WHAT A PIG, what a TOTAL ZIONAZI PIG!!! Thanks for the links and info, I missed this story. WHAT A LYING SACK OF SHIT PIG!!!
"The illegal we do immediately. The unconstitutional takes a little longer." thank you.
Seems to me the Dems themselves went after Murtha, sorta like what happened to Dean in Iowa. the Abscam video. A 30 year old nothing! Talk about engineered "news".
Geez, robin...let it out!
All men die. Not all men truly live. Live for something, rather than die for nothing.
California became home to many Armenians escaping the Turks as early as 1917. They are a rather insular, clannish bunch, enjoying their own churches, schools, clubs, etc. Despite this, there seems to be no attempt by the Armenian-Americans to take over our govt's foreign and domestic policies, nor do they try to subvert the Constitution. Imagine that. And their genocide really happened, about one million plus. Yet, to my knowlege not one television special, not one movie exists about it. Maybe in Bollywood, I can't be sure.
"The illegal we do immediately. The unconstitutional takes a little longer."Americans voted for peace, and they're going to get more war.
#2. To: Zoroaster (#0)
The choice between Hoyer and Murtha was clear. While the loser is a hero to the antiwar movement, the victor was characterized by the Washington Monthly as follows:
#3. To: Pissed Off Janitor (#1)
#4. To: Jethro Tull, Pissed Off Janitor (#2)
(Edited)
#5. To: Zoroaster (#4)
The smearing of Murtha by the Zionist media
#6. To: Minerva (#5)
#7. To: Zoroaster (#0)
#8. To: Minerva (#5)
"The GOP already has a powerful 'Hate Murtha' crowd in place as a result of their demonetization over the past 18 months. This allows Murtha to be used as a focal point for the Swiftboating to come. Fox and Clear Channel could have built Murtha into a personification of the Democrats and then spun his Abscam experience into something really horrible -- and thus tarred the entire bunch."
#9. To: mehitable (#7)
#10. To: Zoroaster (#9)
#11. To: mehitable (#10)
You have a good point there. She did the right thing, and actually I do think that Pelosi DOES in general want to do the right thing (although she and I might disagree about what that is). I just don't think she has the political acumen to do the job
#12. To: Pissed Off Janitor, All (#1)
No shock. The same thing happened in WWI, WWII, and Vietnam. Politicans run on an anti-war platform and then go all warlord once they are in office.
#13. To: Zoroaster (#11)
#14. To: Zoroaster (#11)
#15. To: Zoroaster (#9)
#16. To: Zoroaster (#0)
This once again underlines the basic principle at the heart of any peace movement worthy of the name: put not your trust in politicians. The people voted to get us out of Iraq, and instead the Democrats will stand idly by – at best – while we get in deeper. They can concentrate on extending the welfare state and wait for the Baker Commission to somehow magically come up with a comfortably "bipartisan" solution. It isn't going to happen.
#17. To: alpowolf (#16)
But they still cling pathetically to their faith in "the Party".
#18. To: mehitable (#14)
Then realize that many survivors sold their paintings and assets before fleeing (that's how they survived). Then stop and think about all the tens of millions survivors of WWII who received zip, nada, nothing. Then stop and think about the 16 million American men who put on uniforms to stop the madness of WWII, what did they receive? Then stop and think about all the other genocide and massacre survivors who received zip, nada, nothing; not even citizenship here.
---Henry Kissinger, New York Times, October 28, 1973
#19. To: christine (#17)
when will they ever learn that the leadership of both parties is one and the same? the battle is not democrats vs republicans, right vs left, liberal vs conservative. it's the elites vs we-the-people
#20. To: robin (#18)
Lantos is one of the nuttier ones.
#21. To: scrapper2 (#20)
(Edited)
He was instrumental in striking down the Armenian movement earlier this year to have Congress, the WH recognize the Armenian slaughter by the Turks as genocide. In the end, GWB went on the air waves and said the Armenian event was a tragedy not a genocide. Lantos is also a big pro war Democrat and he supported the Patriot Act, too.
---Henry Kissinger, New York Times, October 28, 1973
#22. To: Cynicom (#19)
#23. To: Minerva (#5)
Arrayed against Murtha was a united front of the Democratic Party establishment, from a George Soros-backed "liberal" consumer-complainer group to an anonymously run http://YouDontKnowJack.org, featuring replays of the infamous Abscam tapes. In the video, Murtha rejects an offer of a bribe
#24. To: robin (#21)
WHAT A LYING SACK OF SHIT PIG!!!
#25. To: angle (#24)
---Henry Kissinger, New York Times, October 28, 1973
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