The Murtha/Moran Duo Get Slam Dunked (UPDATED)

Two of the famous paintings by Francis Bacon that spring to mind, when discussing the Murtha/Moran distorted truth

In an emotional two-hour public forum in Arlington on the Iraq war, one of the Bush administration's chief critics, Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.), renewed his call for an immediate pullout, saying, "We've become the enemy." Murtha appeared at the forum at the invitation of its sponsor, Rep. James P. Moran Jr. (D-Va.), whose own Iraq views have caused him trouble in the past.

Before a crowd of about 600 people that spilled out of the auditorium and into an overflow room and the street, Murtha accused the Pentagon of ignoring a drop in recruitment levels and tolerating such problems in Iraq as low morale and shortages of body armor and other equipment.

Apparently, MoveOn.org sent e-mails to opponents of the war urging the faithful to attend.

Having been urging Americans to "avoid military service", John Murtha was under fire earlier the same day from General Peter Pace, USMC, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff at a DoD News Briefing:

There were two parts in what I saw that went directly to my lane in the road, which is the health of the U.S. military.  One was a statement that the U.S. Army is not well trained.  The United States Army is well-trained.  It is the best trained army in the world.  It has never been better-trained, and we will continue to make sure that it stays well- trained.

The second was a quote that you just mentioned.  That's damaging to recruiting, it's damaging to morale of the troops who are deployed, and it's damaging to the morale of their families who believe in what they're doing to serve this country.  We have almost 300 million Americans who are being protected by 2.4 (million) volunteer active, Guard and Reserve members.  We must recruit to that force.  When a respected leader like Mr. Murtha, who has spent 37 extremely honorable years as a Marine, fought in two wars, has served the country extremely well in the Congress of the United States, when a respected individual like that says what he said, and 18- and 19-year-olds look to their leadership to determine how they are expected to act, they can get the wrong message.

As Greyhawk @ Mudville Gazette noted: "Most of Murtha and Moran's talking points from this event are from 2003-2004 - not enough armor, Abu Ghraib was a result of poor training, troops aren't getting medical care, only poor people join the army - we've debunked them all here over the past several months."

But he got his slam dunk from Sgt Mark Seavey. Thank you to Greyhawk for the transcript, via Michelle Malkin:

Yes sir my name is Mark Seavey and I just want to thank you for coming up here. Until about a month ago I was Sgt Mark Seavey infantry squad leader, I returned from Afghanistan. My question to you, (applause)

Like yourself I dropped out of college two years ago to volunteer to go to Afghanistan, and I went and I came back. If I didn't have a herniated disk now I would volunteer to go to Iraq in a second with my troops, three of which have already volunteered to go to Iraq. I keep hearing you say how you talk to the troops and the troops are demoralized, and I really resent that characterization. (applause) The morale of the troops that I talk to is phenomenal, which is why my troops are volunteering to go back, despite the hardships they had to endure in Afghanistan.

And Congressman Moran, 200 of your constituents just returned from Afghanistan. We never got a letter from you; we never got a visit from you. You didn't come to our homecoming. The only thing we got from any of our elected officials was one letter from the governor of this state thanking us for our service in Iraq, when we were in Afghanistan. That's reprehensible. I don't know who you two are talking to but the morale of the troops is very high.

Of course as he was admittedly nervous and extremely upset, and interrupted by the applause, he lost the form of the actual question giving Moran the opportunity to simply ignore him  and quickly say:

That wasn't in the form of a question, it was in the form of a statement. But, uhh... let's go over here." And he took the next question.

Yeah right. As Michelle Malkin who has the video, and who I have to thank for the story said: "Cut and run. It's the only way the Dems know."

From The Anchoress: "It seems to me that slow withdrawal or not, the day we turn security over to the Iraqis, will be a victorious day. It’s disturbing that Murtha apparently will only be happy if it’s called a failure."

Sgt. Mark Seavey dropps in on PoliPundit.

Byron York @ National Review : 'Murtha Fears a Withdrawal that “Makes It Look Like There’s a Victory”'

The Bookworm generously points us to his friend @ Scott's Conservative News and Commentary who writes an excellent post called ' Murtha's Comments Epitomize Democratic Culture'. Thank you to Flopping Aces who points us to a must read article written by Oliver North here:

Murtha's echo of the '60s mantra, "Hell no, I won't go," heard chanted on college campuses during the Vietnam war, is a step further into defeatism for the anti-military, blame-America-first leaders of his party. Fortunately, few of the soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines I have interviewed in Iraq have ever heard of Murtha. 

California Conservative brings us the speech from al-Qaeda's second in command al-Zawahiri, which he says sounds confusingly similar to something he would hear from an interview with a Democratic leader (in bold) :

“I congratulate my nation and bless Islam’s victory in Iraq.”

“Oh my Muslim brothers, I told you more than a year ago that the pullout of America’s troops from Iraq would be a matter of time and Americans are now begging to leave and negotiate with the mujahidin.

“Bush, the liar, was forced to announce in November 2005 that he would withdraw his troops from Iraq.

“Since Bush is addicted to lying, he justified his withdrawal by saying that Iraqi forces have become well-trained. But he did not set a timetable for the pullout.

“If your forces with all its aircraft, missiles, tanks and fleets are moaning, bleeding and looking for an escape from Iraq, then will the hypocrites, conspirators, infidels [the Iraqi government] resist what the ‘greatest power in the world’ has failed to resist?”

“The timetable of withdrawal was set a long time ago and Bush, you must admit that you have been defeated in Iraq as you have been defeated in Afghanistan and will be shortly defeated in Palestine if Allah’s willing.”

“My Muslim nation, you will not enjoy free elections, protected sanctity, governments which are being called to account by the people and a respectable judiciary unless you are free from the crusader-Zionist occupation and the corrupted governments, and this will not be fulfilled but with Jihad.”

More @ Powerline, Mark in Mexico, Lawhawk @ A Blog For All, Jim Lynch @  bRight & Early, Gateway Pundit, MacsMind, Bill Faith @ The Small Town Veteran, Conservative Musings Jimbo @ Back Five TLB Don't Go Into The Light

UPDATE SUN JAN 8TH FROM MICHELLE MALKIN TOGETHER WITH A VIDEO:

"Near the end of the marathon session, a Vietnam veteran, General Wagner, stepped up to the microphone to deliver a message from the mother of an Iraqi war vet who gave his life for his country and for the mission. After reading a scathing letter addressed to Murtha, Wagner talked about his own experience in Vietnam.
[...]
You will be jumping out of your seat and cheering by the end of the clip. When Rep. Moran answers by delivering Cindy Sheehan-esque platitudes to the wild applause of the left-wing audience, Wagner does the only thing a decent man would do: He stands up and walks out."

Mudville Gazette has the full transcript.

Comments

[tig stripes]

something tells me that F.Bacon never went to a sapphic tattoo convention. and i'm being diplomatic.

Laughing. Why not switch the lovely red flower for the bacon thus leaving two topics of contrast with the same pic. it may give moveon some hope.

that bacon is too burned crisp.

[Don't Go Into The Light]

TrackBack By Don't Go Into The Light 'It had to happen sooner or later department: Murtha confronted by truth':

"It's beyond belief that an elected servant chooses to ignore a constituent like this - and in public, too. I hope some Republican shows this tape on the house floor the next time support for the troops comes up as a subject. This tape would be a terrific cornerstone of a Republican ad campaign."

[Darrell]

Murtha has just sold his soul...That's why you see the lifelessness in his eyes. The Dems tapped him on the shoulder and told him it was his time to speak the words that so few of them can utter. Words that should sicken any soldier, any American. Maybe one day they will even sicken him.

[kittenatthedoor]

Sometimes I think Murtha is a wolf at the door. Then I think he is a paragdigm player playing it to the hilt in a theater that does not award the oscar. Wild as it may seem our guy Murtha could be on the team. He made alot of noise to publicize that 3 to 403 vote. Strange ways.

I glad to see these comments posted before mine. It is important, during any production, that all stay in character. I'm glad to see the spit and venom when it is deserved. Just yesterday a guy, with a son in-country Iraq, couldn't wait to scream about Abramoff and "the Repubs" but "not" via FOX NEWS and "the dems" were only token players and therefore innocent.

It was like Murtha sitting at the next table...

So I must remember to always read the comments. And believe what is read and what it symbols from reality a day before or forty years before. Always read the comments...

[antimedia]

As a vietnam-era vet, men like Murtha disgust me. They bring back all the painful memories of a time when Americans spit on their fighting men and despised them. Murtha and his ilk should be cast out by the voters, never to sit in a place of honor again.

[marybel]

Just a quick question/observation about Mr.Murtha and how he is treated with kid gloves by all who comment on his statements: Is there some old injury or cognitive problem that he sustained during his miltary service that everybody but me knows and everyone avoids mentioning? I saw him interviewed on Hardball awhile back, and he seems not just slightly "off," but almost incapable of processing new data and incorporating it in answers to questions - almost like the HAL computer in Space Odyssey, looping data, stuck on one phrase. Even Chris Matthews looked embarassed for Murtha when questions were ignored and Murtha just kept repeating his mantra-like answers. Although many politicians habitually change the topic or avoid direct answers, Mr. Murtha's responses are just " oddly different" somehow. It's almost pitiful, seems that this elderly man has some cognitive deficit. disability, or impairment that everyone has accepted and no one mentions, as if it would be impolite or impolitic to do so. I'm not trying to be snarky or mean, I just get an overwhelming sense that something is really odd with Mr.Murtha, and it's more serious than the goofy positions he takes. Did he have a stroke and everyone is deferential because he had to work so hard to recover the function he now displays? Has he some sort of delayed shell shock suddenly recurring as a result of the visits he makes to recovering soldiers in VA hospitals? I'm not tryint to be cute or nasty, I just sincerely and honestly don't know. Is this a big secret that I am just in the dark about?