Watching Jack Murtha on Hardball I feel like I'm witnessing the unveiling of a great American. It surprises me because he's not my usual type. I'm a Bobby Kennedy liberal, and guys like Murtha usually scare the hell out of me.
But every once in a while, it takes someone of plainspoken truthfullness to haul our nation out of its collective stupor and steer it back from the brink of its dark side. Someone who knows so clearly, so simply, and so passionately what it is to be "American" that he is willing to lay it on the line, unequivocally. Without nuance. Clear.
Patrick Henry said, "Give me liberty or give me death."
Watergate had Sam Ervin.
Iraq now has Jack Murtha.
This man has all the clarity and all the credibility that we hoped for but never got from John Kerry. He's Wes Clark with a blue collar and without the smooth gloss.
It is impossible to mistake what this man has to say. His voice is clear and brutally tough. He takes the positions that all of these guys should have adopted back in '03, much less right now.
flip for the poll...
He's unashamed to confess his vote for the war was based on a bogus premise. He sees clearly that we are now in the midst of somebody else's civil war, and that it needlessly destroys young American lives and, dangerously, diverts precious resources away from the real war on terror. He sees how we squander our moral authority and the respect of even our staunchest allies by our imperial adventurism.
And it BOTHERS him. He's pissed and he can tell you exactly why.
The real deal? It wasn't Kerry. It's this guy. Or is he? Take the poll.