http://www.salon.com/opinion/conason/2006/08/04/murtha/When cowards attackRepublican brutality against Jack Murtha, especially by politicians who once praised him, highlights the GOP's desperation on Iraq.By Joe Conason
Aug. 04, 2006 |
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Those initial attacks on Murtha -- for supposedly failing to earn the medals he won as a volunteer in Vietnam -- fell flat. The Republicans could scarcely mount a serious campaign against him in his blue-collar Pennsylvania district, and didn't even bother to raise any real money for his GOP opponent in November. But last month, Rove went after Murtha directly in a speech to New Hampshire Republicans, accusing him of wanting to "cut and run" from Iraq. Murtha struck back hard, mocking Rove for talking tough while sitting on his "big fat backside" in an air-conditioned office as American kids fight and die in the desert heat.
Rove, one of many Vietnam "chicken hawks" now urging others to "stay the course" in Iraq, may have been incautious to engage Murtha directly. Yet while Murtha kicked his butt in that confrontation, and support for the president and the war keeps waning as conditions in Iraq continue to deteriorate, attacks on the maverick Democrat are intensifying again. The reason is not that Republicans suddenly believe they can beat him, but because he is out campaigning for Democratic congressional candidates all over the country, and serves as a powerful symbol of patriotic opposition to administration policy.
That is why Ann Coulter bestowed one of the most coveted badges of honor in contemporary America on Murtha in late June, when she called for his death. The Democratic vet, she said, is "the reason soldiers invented fragging," Vietnam-era slang for the crime of murdering a superior officer with a grenade. That is also why Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity lied about Murtha's comments on international perceptions of the United States, distorting his words to make him sound unpatriotic.
The latest shot at Murtha is a dubious "defamation" lawsuit brought against him by Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich, a man whose name the congressman has never uttered. Wuterich is one of the Marines who may be implicated in an alleged massacre of civilians at Haditha, an incident under investigation by the Pentagon. Murtha warned of a coverup but never mentioned Wuterich. The lawyers who brought the lawsuit claim that they have nothing to do with the Republican Party, but it is curious indeed that they have chosen to sue Murtha alone, rather than Republican politicians who have made similar comments or media outlets that have reported preliminary findings in the Haditha probe. According to Glenn Greenwald, one of Wuterich's lawyers has promised to add Republican defendants to the lawsuit -- which may serve as a test of who is really behind this meritless litigation.
And this week, the Republican National Committee launched a direct assault against Murtha on its Web site, featuring his "Democrat Cut-and-Run Tour of America" and a map of the United States flying little white flags. Slapped up on the site rather haphazardly in the form of an opposition research memo, the GOP hit piece is headlined "Rep. Murtha Wrong on Iraq" -- and then lists his votes in favor of military action against Saddam Hussein. It rakes him for voting like a Democrat against Bush's regressive tax cuts, and goes on to resurrect ancient news clippings about Murtha from the Abscam scandal more than two decades ago. (He turned down a bribe, testified against two other congressmen, and was cleared by the House Ethics Committee.) A measure of this dredging operation's desperation is its extensive use of quotations from Gary Ruskin, an ethics watchdog whose opinions of Republican legislators will never be seen on the GOP's Web site.
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