I haven't
heard Republicans issue this many encomiums to one man since Ronald
Reagan died. By now, Murtha has been transformed into the greatest
warrior since Alexander the Great and is probably dating Jennifer
Aniston.
In response
to Murtha's demand for the "immediate withdrawal of American
troops" -- as The New York Times put it -- President
Bush called Murtha a "fine man, a good man" who served
with "honor and distinction," who "is a strong
supporter of the United States military." He said he knew
Murtha's "decision to call for an immediate withdrawal of
our troops ... was done in a careful and thoughtful way."
Vice President
Dick Cheney called Murtha "a good man, a Marine, a patriot."
Defense Secretary
Donald Rumsfeld said Murtha is "a fine man, I know him personally
... and it's perfectly proper to have a debate over these things,
and have a public debate."
National
Security Adviser Steve Hadley called in his praise for Murtha
from South Korea, saying Murtha was "a veteran, a veteran
congressman and a great leader in the Congress."
During the
House debate on Murtha's insane proposal to withdraw troops in
the middle of the war, Rep. Henry Hyde, R-Ill., said Murtha deserved
an "A-plus as a truly great American," and Rep. Curt
Weldon, R-Pa., said "none of us should think of questioning
his motives or desires for American troops."
On the House
floor, both Republicans and Democrats repeatedly gave Murtha rousing
standing ovations. There was so much praise for Murtha that one
of his Democratic colleagues asked him if he still had to attend
Murtha's funeral.
What is this?
Special Olympics for the Democrats? Can't Republicans disagree
with a Democrat who demands that the U.S. surrender in the middle
of a war without erecting monuments to him first? What would happen
if a Democrat were to propose restoring Saddam Hussein to power?
Is that Medal of Freedom territory?
I don't know
what Republicans imagine they're getting out of all this love
they keep throwing at Democrats. I've never heard a single liberal
preface attacks on Oliver North with a recitation of North's magnificent
service as a Marine. And unlike Murtha, who refuses to release
his medical records showing he was entitled to his two Purple
Hearts, we know what North did. (These Democrat military veterans
are hardly shrinking violets when it comes to citing their medals,
but they get awfully squeamish when pressed for details.)
We also know
what Rep. Randy Cunningham, R-Calif., did to earn his medals.
One of only two American Navy aces that the Vietnam War produced,
Cunningham shot down five MiGs, three in one day, including a
North Vietnamese pilot with 13 American kills. Cunningham never
did something as insane as proposing that we withdraw troops in
the middle of a war, but this week he did admit to taking bribes.
And yet,
no Democrat breathed a word of Cunningham's unquestioned heroism
before rushing to denounce him as "the latest example of
the culture of corruption" -- in the words of Rep. Nancy
Pelosi.
Sen. Teddy
Kennedy didn't issue a 20-minute soliloquy on what a wonderful
man Judge Robert Bork was as a human being before attacking his
judicial philosophy. Kennedy just laid into Bork like he was George
Lincoln Rockwell.
Speaking
of which, George Lincoln Rockwell, former head of the American
Nazi Party, served in the military during World War II. Are we
obligated to praise his war service before disputing his views?
CNN's Bill
Schneider summarized the Republican love-fest for Murtha by saying
that House Republicans "started calling him some very ugly
names -- cowardly, shameful, he wanted to cut and run, he wanted
to surrender to the terrorists, emboldening the enemy." Are
we all looking at the same "intelligence"?
The only
Republican congressman who did not offer to have sex with John
Murtha on the House floor was Jean Schmidt, R-Ohio. While debating
Murtha's own proposal to withdraw American troops from Iraq in
the middle of a war waged to depose a monstrous dictator who posed
a threat to American national security, Schmidt made the indisputably
true remark that Marines don't cut and run. (She was right! Murtha
voted against his own proposal.)
Schmidt's
precise words were: "I received a call from Col. Danny Bubp.
He also asked me to send Congressman Murtha a message, that cowards
cut and run, Marines never do." Bubp later said -- pointlessly
-- that he was not calling Murtha a coward. Neither was Jean Schmidt.
(These guys are very brave facing down the VC, but cower before
the MSM.)
Now Schmidt
is Emmanuel Goldstein, subjected to the liberals' Orwellian two-minutes
hate, and not one Republican will defend her. If Republicans were
one-tenth as rough with the congressman who wants to withdraw
troops in the middle of a war as they are on a congresswoman who
calls it cowardly to withdraw troops in the middle of a war, we
might have a functioning Republican Party.
