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November 15, 2006
John Murtha, Ethics Reformer
It seems the corrupt moonbat John "Abscam Jack" Murtha doesn't think much of an ethics and lobbying reform bill that party leaders are pushing. Murtha groused to the Blue Dog Coalition:
Even though I think it's total crap, I'll vote for it and pass it because that's what Nancy wants.
It's the least he could do, considering that his boss Nancy Pelosi is putting her weight behind his bid to become Majority Leader. An unnamed Democratic lawmaker wasn't impressed:
"My agenda will be Nancy's agenda" — he kept saying that. The performance was stunningly awful.
Who can blame Abscam Jack for making a face when he's forced to swallow ethics legislation? He's not exactly the personification of probity. John Fund quotes another unnamed Democrat on the prospect of Murtha becoming Majority Leader:
We are supposed to change business as usual, not put the fox in charge of the henhouse.
Says another:
It's not just the Abscam scandal of the 1980s that he barely dodged, he's a disaster waiting to happen because of his current behavior.
Murtha was an unindicted co-conspirator in the Abscam probe, avoiding a trip to the slammer only because the Democratic Speaker of the House leaned on the Ethics Committee to drop charges against him. The prosecutor resigned in protest.
Nowadays Murtha focuses on earmarks. Being the top Dem in the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee has allowed him to become the leading recipient of defense industry cash. His brother Kit Murtha, an erstwhile "earmark specialist" for KSA Consulting, brought in earmarks for at least 16 defense manufacturers. The LA Times reported that
most of KSA's defense contractor clients hired the firm in hopes of securing funding from Rep. Murtha's subcommittee, according to lobbying records and interviews. And most retained the firm after Kit Murtha became a senior partner in 2002.
As Melanie Sloan of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington puts it:
Ms. Pelosi's endorsement of Rep. Murtha, one of the most unethical members of Congress, shows that she may have prioritized ethics reform merely to win votes with no real commitment to changing the culture of corruption.
Because of Abscam Jack's resolute efforts to protect corrupt pols like himself from ethics probes, Gary Ruskin of the liberal Congressional Accountability Project has said that
when it comes to institutional policing of corruption in Congress, John Murtha is a one-man wrecking crew.
Murtha responds to complaints about his corrupt behavior with John "Botched Joke" Kerry's favorite words, "swift-boating attack" — implying that he is beyond criticism because he used to be in the military.
His ethics background gives some insight into how this veteran and "rock-solid patriot" would be so willing to betray his country and the troops fighting for it in exchange for media adulation by incessantly undermining the war effort in Iraq, calling for immediate surrender, deliberately discouraging military recruitment, and even hyping alleged American atrocities like his apparent mentor Botched Joke Kerry.
Hat tip: TMPmuckracker, on a tip from V the K.
Posted by Van Helsing at November 15, 2006 3:05 PM
Comments
You really don't seem to understand what the definition of "surrender" is, do you?
How upset are you over the fact that we're still not in Vietnam?
Posted by: Jesus at November 15, 2006 3:27 PM
And Another, The Big Lie Theory in Action: !7 Ways In Which Science Has Been Misrepresented to Promote the Environmentalist Agenda
Posted by: V the K at November 15, 2006 3:28 PM
You really don't seem to understand what the definition of "surrender" is, do you?
Surrender: When you stop fighting and let the enemy achieve their objective.
The jihadis' objective is for us to leave the country. Ipso facto, doing this is surrendering.
Posted by: V the K at November 15, 2006 4:53 PM
exchange for nancy(any) adulation by incessantly undermining the war effort "
more like it...
Posted by: Bensitin at November 15, 2006 7:40 PM
The only reason you are reading about Murtha's ethical problems now is that the election is past and the Dems want him to go away quietly.
None of these issues made any news in the many months Murtha was used to bash the President.
I hope Abscam Jack does become majority leader, as this can only hasten the day the full corrupt ineptitude of the democratic congress becomes evident to the sentient portion of the American people.
Posted by: Beef at November 16, 2006 8:34 AM
How upset are you over the fact that we're still not in Vietnam?
Apparently no more than you, since we hung the South Vietnamese out to dry. Had we followed up LineBacker II with a LineBacker III when the North Vietnamese Army broke the cease-fire agreement, it would have crippled them for years on end. The answer was never 'more troops', something liberals apparently haven't learned yet.
BTW, that 'surrender' led to the wonderful sadistic regime of Pol Pot in neighboring Cambodia. But, of course, those were only 3 million Cambodian "bourgeois" that got exterminated, right?
Posted by: Brooklyn Red Leg at November 16, 2006 8:39 AM
Sadly, this is not only a commentary on Democratic leadership, but on the voters who keep Jack Murtha in office. Guess they're not worried about his ethics if he can bring home the bacon.
As I write this, Murtha has lost the vote for House Majority Leader by a wide margin. Obviously Nancy's endorsement was not enough to keep him in the game. What does this bode for her future leadership skills?
Posted by: Pam at November 16, 2006 11:11 AM
But, of course, those were only 3 million Cambodian "bourgeois" that got exterminated, right?
Yeah, but who cares about a few million dead gooks when liberal elites got to feel smug for stopping "US Imperialism."
Posted by: V the K at November 17, 2006 7:59 AM
