Super-delegate John Murtha has decided to throw his support to Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primary. If you're keeping score at home, since February 5 Obama has racked up 48 Supers, Clinton has 1 (Murtha). A frequent target of conservatives, Murtha has become something of a polarizing figure on the national scene since becoming a vocal opponent of the Iraq war. In Pennsylvania's 12th congressional district, however, he commands strong respect. A nod from him certainly helps Clinton. From his statement:
"Sen. Clinton is the candidate that will forge a consensus on health care, education, the economy, and the war in Iraq."
A former Marine who served in uniform for 37 years, Murtha was the first Vietnam combat veteran to be elected to Congress. With his service on the House Defense Apporpriations committee, Murtha was long viewed as a hawkish Democrat, but that reputation seemed abruptly dashed by some rather strong remarks condemning the behavior of U.S. troops in places like Haditha.
There's no doubt that Murtha's rise in the party heirarchy coincided with his stance on the war. But there were several bruising battles along the way. And with increased power comes increased scrutiny. On that score, Murtha has been identified by CREW and other non-partisan watchdog groups as one of the most corrupt members in Congress. Indeed, though implicated in the FBI's ABSCAM corruption investigation in 1980, Murtha was never indicted. Through it all, he really stopped working the back channels for his district. Perhaps because of this, his name came to be synonymous with pork-barrel earmarks, and shady, old-style politics.
historical speech is now defined by how you throw grandmother under the bus....Obama you have no pride you will say anything and yesterday it was sad to watch you trying to use race to get back in this race
RATE THIS COMMENT: (0)
CC
9:22AM Mar 19th 2008
YOU KNOW YOU REPORTERS --- ARE A BUNCH OF ????? THERE IS NOTHING HILLARY COULD DO THAT WOULD BE RIGHT FOR YOU'SE AND THERE IS NOTHING THAT OBAMA COULD DO WRONG FOR YOU'SE--- IF HE CALLED ALL WHITES A BUNCH OF RACISTS--- YOU WOULD FIND A WAY TO MAKE HIM LOOK GOOD SAYING IT.. YOU'SE ARE PATHETIC- IT IS WHAT IT IS.... YOU SHOULD BE REPORTING THE REAL NEWS NOT YOUR OWN DAM PERSONAL OPINIONS...
RATE THIS COMMENT: (0)
david knowles
9:27AM Mar 19th 2008
CC,
Thanks for taking the time to comment. This is a blog, and we're bloggers, not reporters. We were hired to comment on the news of the day, and provide a spark for discussion.
RATE THIS COMMENT: (0)
J.A.
1:54PM Mar 19th 2008
Obama has told us 'judgment' is more important than 'experience'. He showed poor judgment when he lied to America. Do what is right for our country. Vote for the woman who also happens to be the strongest candidate. Don't put an inexperienced man in over a very experienced and dedicated woman. She has served our country and our children for 35 years. She is the right PERSON for the job. VOTE CLINTON '08!
RATE THIS COMMENT: (0)
J.A.
2:11PM Mar 19th 2008
Obama’s historical speech is now defined by ‘how you throw grandmother under the bus’. Apparently he will say anything to win and, yesterday it was sad to watch him trying to use race to get back in this race. I’m disappointed to see him as just another typical politician. He lied to all American people when the truth would have been better.
RATE THIS COMMENT: (0)
dem-liars
11:16AM Mar 23rd 2008
he's the best candidate, you just don't know what freedom is..."
Not to sound racist, but I wonder if that woman will have the same opinion when they force her and her family back into slavery?
Hey david, Score another one for obama right? Get your head out of his ass you moron!
RATE THIS COMMENT: (0)
jennifer
9:40AM Mar 19th 2008
david knoweles why dont you blog about the fact that obama now has a pattern of lying to the media,he first said he hardly knew rezko,turns out he went to lunch,breakfast, and talked with him alot,second, he said no one on his staff talked to canada about nafta, another lie. then he told reporters he wasnt in the pews during any racist comments and comes out yeaterday and admits he was, now the media is praising him for a wonderful speach! it makes me sick!
RATE THIS COMMENT: (0)
Chris Lambert
10:43AM Mar 19th 2008
Quite the gig dk. Paid for being an idiot. Whats your qualfications for uttering a word?
RATE THIS COMMENT: (0)
jennifer
9:50AM Mar 19th 2008
david,it has come to my attention that obama called on don imus to be fired over his comments on his show on msnbc,but its ok for his pastor to be a racist?there seems to be a double standard with obama when it comes to race,after all it was obama that played the race card in south carolina,not the clintons, and obama was called out on it , by tim russert, when they got ahold of four pages of talking points for obama staffers that layed out how to play the race card and spin it like it was the clintons that started it,obama told tim russert that he regreted doing it, but is still doing it to this day!
RATE THIS COMMENT: (0)
Jaki Baez
9:50AM Mar 19th 2008
David, I won't call you names such as others, but, I will say that opinons for promoting Obama is noted in your blogs. Are you aware that Wright, Adongo Rob Obama, Odinga and Barack had this all planned? Wright hates the United States of America, Adongo Rob Obama hates the United States of American and Odinga is a monster. Why would your blog be promoting a man who has these ties with these family members? It is too late for the Democrats to reverse their support on the "trickeries" of Obama, but, they will definitely lose in November. The americans will unite even if it is 4 more years of the republicans.
RATE THIS COMMENT: (0)
Davidg
9:59AM Mar 19th 2008
Thanks for clearing that up Knowles...bloggers are not reporters.
You can't blame people for not knowing the difference since the "real" reporters act like bloggers these days and seem to serve the same purpose as what you said yours is.
I missed MSNBC last night after the "throw grandma under the bus" speech? Did Chris Matthews finally "come out" in German Beer Girl drag and proclaim his undying love? I was watching AI, the one place I really know they are not going to mention Obama.
I'm also casting my movie about Barack (hey go with the flow right?). It's called "Bride of Barackenstein"
So far I have:
Barack Obama: Barackenstein's Monster Oprah Winfrey: Bride (she will get that Oscar this time) Howard Dean: Dr. Barackenstein...his "IT'S A CANDIDATE" will go down in movie history Crazy elderly village ladies who warn of monster but nobody listens: Hillary and Geraldine
Still casting...there may be a place for aol newsbloggers...you never know...
RATE THIS COMMENT: (0)
Mike
10:03AM Mar 19th 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - The Reality from the Office of Barack Hussein: My fellow Americans. Please do excuse my McGlassJaw and my McInexperience. If Allah comes through for me and I somehow win - I know I'll need on-the-job training...a lot! Thank you for your mindless support of me, despite my complete lack of any legislative achievement, my pastor's relations with Louis Farrakhan and Libyan dictator Moamar Quadafi and why I am a disciple of his or my blatantly leftist voting record while I present myself as some sort of bi-partisan agent of change. I also like how my supporters claim my youthful drug use and criminal behavior somehow qualifies me for the Presidency. Americans should vote for me, not because of my lack of experience or achievement, but because I can talk-the-talk...even if I can't walk-the-walk. I make people feel good. Thank You.
RATE THIS COMMENT: (0)
Susan Nation
10:05AM Mar 19th 2008
Oh get over it - America is sick to death of the race card being shook in our faces by an old and new generation of African Americans. What OBAMA showed today is his DR JEKYLL AND MR HYDE face. Dr Jekyll (the public face) calls for a higher understanding, but Mr. Hyde (the hidden face) relishes the camaraderie of Black Supremists. I agree that Sen. Obama in his own words is a complex man - however - I ponder that the struggle between his white self and black self hasn't made a duplicit personality. Who is the real Obama - nobody will know. I do know this – if he becomes President that Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde face will put this nation in jeopardy and possible danger. Obama is not a bridge, he is a severely conflicted person as evidence by his clinging to his church and Rev Wright, and thus the bridge is built on straw.
Bigotry, prejudice, hate and supposed racial superiority has been a tick on the human condition since inception. That's a fact jack.
The Nubians in the Sudan conquered the Egyptians. The Huns killed off millions of caucasians, the Romans killed off thousands of Jews and put their sword into the heart of Christ. The Uhuru movement in Zimbabwe killed off thousand of whites, the 1848 Sepoy Revolutions in India massacred thousands of whites. Genghis Khan enslaved the Han, and the Civil War killed off white on white. The Mexicans killed hundreds of Texans at and around the Alamo, and the US (including all races) killed the Indians. Today we see the Middle East wishing the death of western culture and killing off or trying to impoverish those who wish Western culture to flourish. The Kingdom of Benin sold off their prisoners of war to the Spanish, and the Brits imprisoned and impaled the Irish. Germany and Austria enslaved and murdered millions of Jews, Poles, Slavs during the Third Reich, and the Hebrews seized the West Bank. In Rwanda one tribe felt superior to another and mass murder prevailed. In Serbia a culture felt superior to another and persecuted them.
You don’t sit in Trinity Church on Sunday and listen to hate mongering and verbal violent attacks by its minister Rev Wright without supporting his message. Not once is it evident that Obama tried to put a stop to Rev Wrights black supremist message of hate. The Mr. Hyde in Obama hates the white race.
In America, the English Puritans fled persecution, yet they massacred a hundred thousand Brits under Cromwell some years earlier. The Irish fled to the US and were forced into prostitution, sweat shops, and gangs. The Chinese were low paying servants, and the Japanese were interred. The American Germans were rounded up and jailed during WWI, and the Italians were looked down upon and formed their own gangs and nation within a nation.
Obama was partially correct about Faulkner's comment about racism in the south. Faulkner wrote this - the convicts of Oglethorpe were by and large the disposed English commoner imprisoned by a decadent, conservative, and repressive period of English history whose aristocracy impoverished the majority. Settled on convicts ships and shipped to the New World, these men and women (some very real criminals and some not at all criminals) were told to settle the land and pay off their debt to society. They did so - but were attracted to the slave manipulations by the Spanish. Their guilt and shame was over-ridden by their desire to ape their betters and develop their own form of aristocracy in the south in order to put their criminal roots far far away from them.. Was it wrong? Indeed it was - but two wrongs don’t make right.
Does that mean people are racially unbalanced? No. It is only those leaders who fear and send out the message of fear and hate that are unbalanced. And that is what Rev Wright and his fellow African Americans pastors and ministers did and continue to do. And the failure of Barak Obama was to sit among these hate ridden black supremists ministers/pastors, share and break bread with them, and agree to work with them.
Even Jesus would criticize Obama for that very fact.
RATE THIS COMMENT: (0)
CC
10:10AM Mar 19th 2008
DAVID --- I DONT REMEMBER MENTIONING YOUR NAME---GUESS YOU FALL IN THAT CATEGORY THOUGH ---IT WAS A GENERAL COMMENT....AND YOU JUMPED....
Great post Susan Nation, and as usual, straight to the heart of the manner.
You are right - Obama is a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in an allegorical sense, and yes, I agree with you that Obama is intrinsically and psychologically conflicted with no resolution in sight.
However, I would like to point out that when Obama broke bread with these violent pastors, he did it willingly, and with the momentum to garnish money and votes, which even complicates the matter even more as his Machiavellian ambition holds no boundaries of moral sttributes.
Once again, SusanNation, a great and thoughtful post.
RATE THIS COMMENT: (0)
NEO-CLOWNS
7:16PM Mar 23rd 2008
Go To www.needtoknowsite.com You will see what happens to societys take away citizens rights to bear arms.
Whether you agree or not, it's an interesting lesson in history. Something to think about...
In 1929, the Soviet Union established gun control. From 1929 to 1953, about 20 million dissidents, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.
In 1911, Turkey established gun control. From 1915 to 1917, 1.5 million Armenians, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.
Germany established gun control in 1938 and from 1939 to 1945, a total of 13 million Jews and others who were unable to defend themselves were rounded up and exterminated.
China established gun control in 1935. From 1948 to 1952, 20 million political dissidents, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.
Guatemala established gun control in 1964. From 1964 to 1981, 100,000 Mayan Indians
RATE THIS COMMENT: (0)
lois
10:15AM Mar 19th 2008
Jennifer
I appreciated you bringing out the Tim Russert program when he addressed Obama regarding Obama's talking points to his staff after S. Carolina. In his talking points Russert did ask Obama about it and asked him why he sent a message out to his staff saying we need to spread the word tht bill clinton is stirring up race. Obama did state that he should not have done that. However, he continued to allow Bill Clinton to take the wrap because the media's little darling Obama was on a role.
After doing this and realizing race was stirred by him. Obama now wants us to believe his speech about bringing this country together.
If you will think back, Obama began calling Hillary polarizing from the beginning and after his wife continueing to do so, the media gave Hillary that title. Then Obama's wife Michelle made the statement that if Hillary could not take care of her own family, then how could she run the white house. That went by. Then Obama accused Hillary of not releasing tax records as she and Bill have done for the last 20 years on or about April 15 as most of us do. Hoeever, no media are asking for Obama to release his records of the drug lord who is on trial presently. No one. The double standard is atrocious.
You may have read thecityedition.com. If not, you may want to do so. Go down on the left side and read Karl Rove's article regarding bamboozling the electorate once again and you will see how Obama has arranged to win this election.