Friday, November 18, 2005

Murtha and Bush's War

I expected that there would be some gnashing of teeth (on the right), alarums and excursions (on the left) and huffery-and-puffery from the White House when I heard about Representative (D-PA) John Murtha's call for the U.S. forces withdrawal from Iraq.

What I did not expect that the right, in blogs, in newspaper editorials and in the halls of the Congress itself, would try to do the best imitation of a rabid weasel since Disney stopped doing nature films.

To see the vitriol being hurled at this man, in so many ways a bastion of the GOP and White House war policy in regards to Iraq, a Marine with multiple decorations, and decades of service with the Corps, is astounding.

I simply cannot believe that this much hatred could be called forth on a critic of the Bush/Cheney administration at this late date.

Maybe it's because Murtha was such a stalwart companion to the Bush policy, until now, and it's a feeling of having your best friend turn on you.

Maybe it's because there is such a feeling of "take no prisoners" that prompted my own response to Alexandra'a attempt (at All Things Beautiful) to see if a civil discourse could be entered into between the opposing poles in the blogosphere.

Indeed, in that same article's comments thread, the bloggers from the Right who commented seemed to be more upset because the "left" didn't just roll over and play dead and (presumably) agree that the Right is the only viewpoint that matters?

Or maybe it's the shock and anger that they are having such a hard time to finally come to terms that the Emperor not only has no clothes, but the tailor has stolen the money and invested it in "beautiful seaside beaches" in Arizona.

As usual, The Moderate Voice has an exhaustive roundup of the voices, both left and right, on the subject.

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