Benedict Murtha shoots himself in the foot - again

From The Washington Post:


The plan was bold: By tying President Bush's $100 billion war request to strict standards of troop safety and readiness, Democrats believed they could grab hold of Iraq war policy while forcing Republicans to defend sending troops into battle without the necessary training or equipment.


But a botched launch by the plan's author, Rep. John P. Murtha (Pa.), has united Republicans and divided Democrats, sending the latter back to the drawing board just a week before scheduled legislative action, a score of House Democratic lawmakers said last week.


It is a very good thing that the "Murtha Standard" wasn't applied to the US armed services during WWII or those of you seeing this on the East Coast would be reading it in German while those of you on the West Coast would need the "translate into Japanese" feature.


If every troop sent into a war zone had to be trained and equipped to the Murtha standard there would not have been enough warm bodies to hold the Pusan Perimeter until MacArthur's landing at Inchon turned the tide.


The size of the military and the fluid nature of a war do not provide the leisure to do things as Murtha would have them done. Not to mention that the Pentagon doesn't have the budget to do things Murtha's way. Now I would support defunding every social program that the government is currently throwing money away on and transferring the cash to the military, but try getting Pelosi and her cast of clowns to sign onto that.


In a related matter, every time you see a photograph of Murtha don't you just want to kick him? That pudgy, petulant look he always seems to wear. Like he is always on the verge of bursting into tears at the injustice of a world which would insist on judging him on merit and therefore deny him the greatness to which he feels entitled.