Jack Murtha Targeted by Right-Wing
28 October 2008 8:30 am by Taylor Marsh
Murtha really stepped in it recently with his comments on Pennsylvanians
and race. The right-wing are making the most of it. Now even the swiftboaters
are entering the fray, as Veterans for Freedom pile on. It’s a full court conservative
press to take Murtha down. His challenger, William Russell is not even from
Murtha’s district. He’s a Washington D.C. Republican.
Russell, who moved here from the Washington, D.C., area to challenge Murtha,
finished 90 days of active military duty and began campaigning last week.
What does Russell know about the Pennsylvania district Murtha has served for
34 years? Absolutely nothing. He’s simply running against Jack Murtha.
There are also serious questions about William Russell’s candidacy. Via National Journal
on Monday (subscription
required):
Murtha’s camp, meanwhile, “said the congressman is taking his reelection
seriously.” Murtha spokesperson Matthew Mazonkey: “Jack Murtha has
a distinguished career of serving his country in the military and in public
service, a record of creating jobs and working for Western Pennsylvania. Our
opponent is someone who doesn’t live in Pennsylvania, wrote himself a paycheck
of $185,000 for the last three months, and is under investigation for illegal
campaign work while on active duty.”
When Hillary Clinton moved into New York she took the work she had to do seriously. She did a listening tour all over the state and earned the trust of the voters of New York.
This guy Russell sounds like he just walked in, sat down, without doing any homework at all, and decided to go after a decorated veteran who has been serving his constituents passionately for years.
During the ‘04 election cycle I worked for John Kerry’s group the Patriot Project. Murtha was targeted then too, but a ditz ran against him who couldn’t get any
traction, even with the swiftboaters helping the cause. This time there’s a
different candidate, Ret. Army lieutenant colonel William Russell, who is making the most of the wingnut money, as well as Murtha’s rhetorical gaffe.
Murtha, who has served the 12th Congressional District for 34 years and beat
his last opponent by 20 points, is still the favorite. But unlike most incumbents,
he faces a financial deficit to his challenger, who’s campaign has been spurred
by national conservative commentators like Michelle Malkin and Sean
Hannity.
Jack Murtha is not a progressive. Far from it. Many don’t like him because
of his earmarks, nursing other grudges as well. But I remember
a time when Murtha standing up changed the whole ballgame.
When Murtha spoke out against the Iraq war the whole political ground war changed. When
things were bleak and some of us were trying to get traction on the notion that
we needed to get out of Iraq, it was Jack Murtha who gave the speech on the
House floor that got things moving. He helped turn a lot of heads in the traditional
press, making a real difference on the Iraq war argument. I was on the blogger
calls he did about the efforts to move more Dems our way, when it got very difficult.
His passion for the troops cannot be questioned.
John Murtha is in a political dogfight, with wingnuts pouring in money and resources, supporting a candidate who doesn’t even know the district Murtha has represented, and who just moved there to run against Murtha. Donate if you can. It’s all about Murtha to William Russell, with the voters he says he wants to serve the last thing on his mind.
