Murtha says U.S. poses top threat to world peace

In the probe of what became known as the Abscam bribery scandal, Murtha was the only congressman involved in the complex case to emerge without facing criminal charges. He declared he was innocent, saying he had "met with two men who I believed had a substantial line of credit that could provide up to 1,000 jobs for the district. I broke no law. I took no money." A grand jury and the House ethics panel cleared Murtha of any wrongdoing.

Republican Attack Machine Continues to Target Veterans

The Republican leadership makes themselves out to be very supportive of the troops and of vets. They belittle Democrats for being unpatriotic and unsupportive of the military. Unfortunately, the GOP is only on the side of the military if they keep their mouth shut. Anyone who dares speak out against the war or against neo-conservatives gets a taste of the Republican attack dogs.

This despicable campaign targets anyone who stands against them. It started with John McCain, a decorated veteran and POW who ran for President in 2000. After McCain won the New Hampshire primary, George Bush, Karl Rove, and their people launched a smear campaign against McCain, accusing him of fathering an illegitimate black baby, questioning his war record, and telling voters he was not sane. After that vilification, McCain lost the next primary and Bush went on to win the nomination and presidency.

Two years later, the same attack machine went after Max Cleeland, a decorated war veteran who served his country admirably in Vietnam and elsewhere. As a result of malicious and false personal attacks by the GOP, Cleland lost his Senate seat to the Republican challenger.

In 2004, the machine was back at it again, attacking the war record of John Kerry. Senator Kerry also served in Vietnam admirably, but that didn't stop the thugs in leadership from attacking his record. A partisan "Swift Boat" commercial was launched against Kerry, which was wrought with inaccuracies, fabrications, and lies. The fictional commercial was shown everywhere by the so-called liberal media and Kerry went down in defeat.

Now the personal attacks are focused on John Murtha, a Democratic Congressman from Pennsylvania. Murtha dared to speak out against the war, heaven forbid, and is now the recipient of vicious smear tactics by the GOP attack dogs. Murtha served as a Marine for 37 years. He also served in Vietnam and received many medals for serving his country. However, that doesn't matter to those who want to discredit his service. It started with Jean Schmidt (R-OH), an unknown Congresswoman who has never served her country. They used her to call Murtha a "cut and run coward" in a speech on the House floor.

Since the Schmidt comment, it has only gotten worse for John Murtha. Conservative news services have claimed that Murtha didn't deserve his Purple Hearts while in Vietnam and that he lied in order to get the medals at all. This is the same exact tactic the dogs used against Kerry.

Yesterday, on the House floor, the attack machine used another relatively unknown Congressman to smear John Murtha. Representative Gohmert (R-TX), who also has never served his country, gave a speech on the House floor in which he said of Murtha, "Thank God he was not here and prevailed after the bloodbaths of Normandy and in the Pacific or we would be here speaking Japanese or German."

It should be noted that Murtha's father and three of his brothers all served during World War II. Murtha and his family have served admirably throughout American history and the people that attack him personally have never even picked up a gun to stand a post. Jean Schmidt and Gohmert are just pawns that are being used by Bush, Rove, and Cheney. The only one of those five to ever serve was Bush, who hid in the National Guard for a few years to avoid going to war. Cheney received five deferments to ensure he would never serve.

What's disappointing is that voters are buying this crap hook, line, and sinker. Conservatives, who should be able to think for themselves, now believe that McCain, Cleland, Kerry, and Murtha are just crazy people who never did anything for their country. Conservatives have bought these fabricated stories of the GOP attack machine and have helped bury men who were brave enough to serve out country and strong enough to speak out against these evil people.

Why not discuss the merits of Murtha's statements rather than making baseless commentary as usual?

The attack machine can take the day off whenever Murtha speaks; no one can sink him better than himself.

US Congressman John Murtha D-PA was in Florida over the weekend at a Townhall meeting at Florida International University.

The South Florida Sun-Sentinel reported, Murtha saying, "American presence in Iraq is more dangerous to world peace than nuclear threats from North Korea or Iran to a crowd of more than 200 in North Miami Saturday afternoon."

Teri Hayt, Managing Editor of The Arizona Star emails, "Sharon Rosenhause (Managing Editor of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel) from Ft. Lauderdale has just sent me a note saying that Rep. Murtha's office has contacted them saying he was quoted out of context. Sharon will be issuing a correction that will will run." The Arizona Star version of the story, which was linked on Sunday night by Matt Drudge has yet to issue a correction.

However, the newspaper does not offer a corrections listing on their website.

Britt Hume of Fox News has not updated his story, which reported on the comments alleged to have been made by Murtha. Hume however has not issued a correction to his earlier story.

John Fund, who wrote on Murtha's comments in The Wall Street Journal has neither corrected his article, or offered a correction.

When the South Florida Sun-Sentinel corrected their story, both the Fox News story by Brit Hume and John Fund's Op-Ed in the Wall Street Journal are no longer accurate representations of what happened. Yet neither writer has corrected their story. The News Media Guild "The News Media Guild's Professional Activities Committee is a group of reporters, editors, photographers, and broadcasters who work to foster quality journalism." This incident demonstrates the need for such a universal standard.

In the article, reporter Elizabeth Baier quoted several other of Congressman John Murtha's statements in her article, as well as a quote from others at the event, but did not quote the comments alleged to have been said by Murtha in the first paragraph of her article. Melissa Sanchez of the Miami Herald replying to an email, says that while Murtha made the comment, "That was in reference to international polls. It was not so much his own conjecture, but a conclusion drawn from polls in various countries."

So this alleged and most controversial statement, written by Baier appears to have taken his comments out of context.

The article has become a hot topic on the blogsphere. Conservative bloggers picked up the story and are repeating Baier's first paragraph of her article as a statement of fact. This started Sunday night, when Matt Drudge picked up the story on his web site.

It was not so much his own conjecture

Correction: An article in Sunday's editions misinterpreted a comment from U.S. Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., at a town hall meeting in North Miami on Saturday. In his speech, Murtha said U.S. credibility was suffering because of continued U.S. military presence in Iraq ,and the perception that the U.S. is an occupying force. Murtha was citing a recent poll, by the Pew Global Attitudes Project, that indicates a greater percentage of people in 10 of 14 foreign countries consider the U.S. in Iraq a greater danger to world peace than any threats posed by Iran or North Korea.