TNR’s Michael Crowley recently noted the odd relationship between Rep. [tag]Jack Murtha[/tag] (D-Pa.) and his progressive friends. Noting Murtha’s generally center/right approach to several policy issues, Crowley understandably calls the congressman an “unlikely liberal [tag]hero[/tag].”
But to understand how and why progressive blogs and a blue-collar “hawk” from Pennsylvania get along so well, consider Murtha’s appearance on [tag]Meet the Press[/tag] yesterday. [tag]Tim Russert[/tag] showed Murtha a speech [tag]Karl Rove[/tag] delivered last week in New Hampshire, in which Rove said Dems believe in “cutting and running.” The draft dodger added that Dems “may be with you at the first shots, but they are not going to be there for the last tough battles.” Murtha responded:
“He’s, he’s in New Hampshire. He’s making a political speech. He’s sitting in his air conditioned office with his [tag]big, fat backside[/tag], saying, ‘[tag]Stay the course[/tag].’ That’s not a plan. I mean, this guy — I don’t know what his military experience is, but that’s a political statement. This is a policy difference between me and the White House. I disagree completely with what he’s saying.
“Now, let’s, let’s — give me, give you an example. When we went to Beirut, I, I said to President Reagan, ‘Get out.’ Now, the other day we were doing a debate, and they said, ‘Well, Beirut was a different situation. We cut and run.’ We didn’t cut and run. President Reagan made the decision to change direction because he knew he couldn’t win it. Even in Somalia, President Clinton made the decision, ‘We have to, we have to change direction.’ Even with tax cuts. When we had a tax cut under Reagan, we then had a tax increase because he had to change direction. We need to change direction. We can’t win a war like this.
“This guy’s sitting back there criticizing — political criticism, getting paid by the public taxpayer, and he’s saying to us, ‘We’re, we’re winning this war, and they’re running.’ We got to change direction, that’s what we have to do. You can’t, you can’t sit there in the air conditioned office and tell these troops they’re carrying 70 pounds on their back inside these armored vessels and hit with IEDs every day, seeing their friends blown up, their buddies blown up, and he says ‘stay the course.’ Yeah, it’s easy to say that from Washington, D.C.”
I mention this for a couple of reasons. One, watching Murtha blast Rove for “sitting in his air conditioned office with his big, fat backside” made me smile. Two, and far more importantly, Murtha is highlighting the fact that the Democratic base frequently responds more to tone than policy positions. Activists and many progressive bloggers are more than willing to put aside issue differences they have with Murtha because he doesn’t take any nonsense from the administration and will not suffer fools kindly. He’s willing to go on Meet the Press and say what many of us are thinking.
Murtha’s voting record may make him an “unlikely liberal hero,” but his willingness to stand up and say what needs to be said about this war should make the admiration so many on the left have for [tag]Murtha[/tag] easy to understand.