Political Games - Where the fuck’s the reset button?

This post by Susan G is dead on. Some choice excerpts…

Yeah, that’s about it. The price; in civil liberties, in human rights, in lives, in money; is not worth it. I refuse to be a part of this.

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So the GOP is swiftboating yet another Vietnam War decorated veteran. This time it’s Pennsylvania Representative John Murtha (D), a pretty conservative Democrat in terms of war who has been highly critical of the war in Iraq as of late. Everytime I think the Republican Smear Machine has reaches a new low, they manage to surprise me. Via Daily Kos:

Having ascended to the national stage as one of the most vocal critics of President Bush’s handling of the war in Iraq, Pennsylvania Democratic Congressman John Murtha has long downplayed the controversy and the bitterness surrounding the two Purple Hearts he was awarded for military service in Vietnam.

Murtha is a retired marine and was the first Vietnam combat veteran elected to Congress. Since 1967, there have been at least three different accounts of the injuries that purportedly earned Murtha his Purple Hearts. Those accounts also appear to conflict with the limited military records that are available, and Murtha has thus far refused to release his own military records.

A Cybercast News Service investigation also reveals that one of Murtha’s former Democratic congressional colleagues and a fellow decorated Vietnam veteran, Don Bailey of Pennsylvania, alleges that Murtha admitted during an emotional conversation on the floor of the U.S. House in the early 1980s that he did not deserve his Purple Hearts.

“[Murtha] is putting himself forward as some combat veteran with serious wounds and he’s using that and it’s dishonest and it’s wrong,” Bailey told Cybercast News Service on Jan. 9. Murtha served in the Marines on active duty and in the reserves from 1952 until his retirement as a colonel in 1990. He volunteered for service in Vietnam and was a First Marine Regiment intelligence officer in 1966 and 1967 […]

However, another source, World War II Navy veteran Harry M. Fox, previously indicated that Murtha in 1968 personally asked Fox’s boss, then-U.S. Rep. John Saylor (R-Pa.), for assistance in obtaining the Purple Hearts, but was turned down because Saylor’s office determined that Murtha lacked sufficient evidence of wounds. Murtha later challenged Saylor for his House seat in 1968 and lost. Fox said he personally viewed Murtha’s military records in 1968 as Saylor’s aide.

When Saylor died in 1973, Fox attempted to succeed his boss in Congress, but was narrowly defeated by Murtha in a 1974 special election.

“Pretending to be a big war hero and boasting about having medals is a slap in the face to our veterans who were seriously wounded or killed in action,” Fox was quoted as telling the Uniontown Herald-Standard in the newspaper’s Nov. 1, 1996 edition. “He campaigned as a war hero and I’ve never seen any documentation that he earned any of these honors,” Fox reportedly stated […]

“The issue here is this idea or pretense that [Murtha] knows combat and he’s got two Purple Hearts. He’s a phony and a liar,” Bailey said.

Murtha isn’t going to take that kind of crap. His response:

Questions about my record are clearly an attempt to distract attention from the real issue, which is that our brave men and women in uniform are dying and being injured every day in the middle of a civil war that can be resolved only by the Iraqis themselves.

I volunteered for a year’s duty in Vietnam. I was out in the field almost every single day. We took heavy casualties in my regiment the year that I was there. In my fitness reports, I was rated No. 1. My record is clear.

So what’s my response? Well, this might not be as low as the Karl Rove campaign in Alabama during the 90’s that smeared one of those Democratic judges as a pedofile, but here’s why this is “low”. Murtha is one of THE most experienced, most knowledgable Congressperson when it comes to military matters. And here we have these fucking chickenhawks, these Yellow Elephants, calling his service and his duty into question. They are fucking cowards. The entire apparatus of the Republican Party is built on cowardice. The vast majority of their elected members have never served; in fact, most of them dodged service. Most of their immediate families have not served. When you question them, about their lies, about their policy, they respond by smearing your background, smearing your character, afraid of defending their actual policy. Conservative pundits, when thinking about the possibility of a terrorist attack, instead of screaming “Give me liberty or give me death!”, yell “Here’s our liberties, just spare us the death!” They are cowards. There are a few decent Republicans, I’m sure. But I can’t know whether or not the guy on the ballot is your typical lying, cowardly Republican. So until that changes, I cannot vote for anyone from the Grand Old Party.

EDIT: Well well well… look who’s involved with this… our old buddy Jeff Gannon/James Guckert. Surprise surprise…

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