{"id":6340,"date":"2006-01-14T10:44:36","date_gmt":"2006-01-14T15:44:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com\/?p=6340"},"modified":"2006-01-14T10:44:36","modified_gmt":"2006-01-14T15:44:36","slug":"swiftboating-murtha","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/swiftboating-murtha\/","title":{"rendered":"Swiftboating Murtha"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.) unveiled a redeployment plan<\/a> for Iraq, most of us assumed it would only be a matter of time before the decorated Marine veteran received the Swiftboat treatment. I just didn’t expect it to be so literal<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.), the former Marine who is an outspoken critic of the war in Iraq, has become the latest Democrat to have his Vietnam War decorations questioned.<\/p>\n

In a tactic reminiscent of the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth assault on Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) during the 2004 presidential campaign, a conservative Web site yesterday quoted Murtha opponents as questioning the circumstances surrounding the awarding of his two Purple Hearts.<\/p>\n

David Thibault, editor in chief of the Cybercast News Service, said the issue of Murtha’s medals from 1967 is relevant now “because the congressman has really put himself in the forefront of the antiwar movement.” Thibault said: “He has been placed by the Democratic Party and antiwar activists as a spokesman against the war above reproach.”<\/p>\n

Cindy Abram, a spokeswoman for Murtha, said, “We certainly believe that the questions being raised are an attempt to distract attention from what’s happening in Iraq.” As for how Murtha won the Purple Hearts, she said: “We think the congressman’s record is clear. We have the documentation, the paperwork that proves that he earned them, and that he is entitled to wear them proudly.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

We’re talking about a man who left college to volunteer to serve in the Korean War as a marine, where he was quickly promoted to captain. Murtha was discharged from active duty after the war, but reenlisted<\/i> at the age of 34 to volunteer for Vietnam duty, where he won two purple hearts, a Bronze Star with Combat “V” and the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry.<\/p>\n

I realize Murtha, as a credible and articulate critic, became a problem for Bush and his allies. It’s led to some bizarre ethics complaints<\/a> that have no basis in reality, and some unusually petty snipes<\/a> from the White House itself. But to question the man’s valor? It’s just shameless.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.) unveiled a redeployment plan for Iraq, most of us assumed it would only be a matter of time before the decorated Marine veteran received the Swiftboat treatment. I just didn’t expect it to be so literal. Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.), the former Marine who is an outspoken critic of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[617],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6340","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6340","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6340"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6340\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6340"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6340"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6340"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}