Let the Swiftboating Begin!

CNN.com - Defense official: Rumsfeld given Iraq withdrawal plan - Nov 18, 2005:

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The top U.S. commander in Iraq has submitted a plan to the Pentagon for withdrawing troops in Iraq, according to a senior defense official.

Gen. George Casey submitted the plan to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. It includes numerous options and recommends that brigades -- usually made up of about 2,000 soldiers each -- begin pulling out of Iraq early next year.

Why does Gen. Casey hate our troops! Why is he emboldening the "terrorists"?

The WH smear machine launched itself into full attack mode on Rep. Murtha for suggesting as much:

Press secretary Scott McClellan released this statement : "Congressman Murtha is a respected veteran and politician who has a record of supporting a strong America. So it is baffling that he is endorsing the policy positions of Michael Moore and the extreme liberal wing of the Democratic party. The eve of an historic democratic election in Iraq is not the time to surrender to the terrorists. After seeing his statement, we remain baffled -- nowhere does he explain how retreating from Iraq makes America safer."

Here's the problem with Scotty's missive (empahasis mine):

Known as a friend and champion of officers at the
Pentagon and in the war zone, it is widely believed in Congress that Murtha often speaks for those in uniform and could be echoing what U.S. commanders in the field and in the Pentagon are saying privately about the conflict.

No wonder the cheerleader-in-chief is always speaking to military units, reiterating his "stay the course" talking points.

During last night's debate on the so-called Murtha resolution (which was actually a Republican resolution, submitted by Rep. Hunter, not Rep. Murtha's motion at all), the cowards in the GOP leadership put up Rep. Jean Schmidt (R-Wingnuttia and the lowest ranking Republican in the House) who launched into a direct attack on Rep. Murtha's patriotism, effectively calling him a coward on the floor of the House... words that, once the House was called back into order following the ensuing melee, she had to have removed from the record:

The battle boiled over when Representative Jean Schmidt, an Ohio Republican who is the most junior member of the House, told of a phone call she had just received from a Marine colonel back home.

"He asked me to send Congress a message: stay the course," Ms. Schmidt said. "He also asked me to send Congressman Murtha a message: that cowards cut and run, Marines never do."

Democrats booed in protest and shouted Ms. Schmidt down in her attack on Representative John P. Murtha of Pennsylvania, a Vietnam combat veteran and one of the House's most respected members on military matters. They caused the House to come to an abrupt standstill, and moments later, Representative Harold Ford, Democrat of Tennessee, charged across the chamber's center aisle to the Republican side screaming that Ms. Schmidt's attack had been unwarranted.

"You guys are pathetic!" yelled Representative Martin Meehan, Democrat of Massachusetts. "Pathetic."

There's also the matter of the suspicious timing of a GOP-led ethics investigation of Rep. Murtha. Seriously, you can't make this shit up. They are desperate.

On Countdown tonight, Newsweek's Howard Fineman was tapped with commenting on the Republican attack on Murtha, which has now devolved into Republicans asserting they will launch an ethics probe of Murtha in explicit retaliation for his stance on the Iraq War. Fineman is a frequent guest on the program, an expert commentator, a solid reporter, and usually meets the challenge with the same plays of detached though good-natured bemusement that most reporters choose for such occasions. Punditry has to be light, it seems, to make up for the subject matter.

But this time around, on the heels of a report on the Iraq War debate in the House, Fineman was somewhere between somber and simmering, from the first moment of the interview to the last. Professional, yes, but the raw darkness of the mood was striking.

Fineman was remarkably blunt in his assertions that the "ethics" and other attacks on Murtha are being orchestrated by Karl Rove -- by name -- and the White House, which intends to hit Murtha with everything "necessary". He stated directly that the White House sees everything as a political operation. He was blunt in Murtha's record and leadership position in the war, and in attributing to Murtha the behind-the-scenes voices of many top Pentagon voices who are unhappy with both the state of the war effort and with Rumsfeld's planning in the specific.

In short, he made it perfectly, bitterly clear that the White House itself sees Murtha as a tremendous threat, considers itself at war with Murtha, and that Rove -- again, by name -- intends to hit him with everything at the administration's disposal.

This is going to backfire bigtime on the Bu$hCo slime machine. The American people have had enough of this bullshit. We don't want petty politics, we want some frickin' answers and a real plan for dealing with the disasterous quagmire in Viet Nam Iraq, not pithy talking points from Chimpy McSmirk. There were over 100 people killed yesterday in suicide bomb attacks. This has been one of the deadliest months in Iraq for U.S. troops, 57 dead in just 19 days. Last month, 99 dead with god only knows how many wounded.

Iraq is beyond FUBAR.

It's time for some adult supervision.