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ULTRAMAN VH
11-15-2006, 07:57 AM
Pelosi draws fire for backing Murtha
By Charles Hurt
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
November 14, 2006


House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi is under fire from fellow Democrats and outside liberals for publicly backing Rep. John P. Murtha's bid to become majority leader, saying that the presumed speaker's acts have cast doubt on her party's promise to clean up the "culture of corruption" in Washington.
"How can Americans believe that the Democrats will return integrity to the House when future Speaker Pelosi has endorsed an ethically challenged member for a leadership position?" said Melanie Sloan, executive director of the liberal group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW). "Representative Murtha is the wrong choice for this job."
Most notably, Mr. Murtha was an "unindicted co-conspirator" in the Abscam scandal of the 1980s when FBI agents posed as emissaries of an Arab sheik and lured several congressmen into a Capitol Hill town house to hand out $50,000 bribes. Mr. Murtha was among those offered money, but he declined.
"I'm not interested. I'm sorry," he said, adding: "You know, we do business for a while, maybe I'll be interested, maybe I won't."
The following year, the ethics panel in the then-Democrat-controlled House declined -- on a "near party-line vote," according to press accounts at the time -- to file ethics charges against the Pennsylvania Democrat.
More recently, according to press reports and a dossier compiled by CREW, Mr. Murtha abused his position as ranking member of the defense appropriations subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee to benefit clients of his brother, Robert "Kit" Murtha, who is a registered lobbyist. The $417 billion defense appropriations bill that went through the subcommittee in 2004 benefited at least 10 companies represented by Robert Murtha's firm, which lobbied the congressman directly, according to the group.
"Future House Speaker Pelosi's endorsement of Rep. Murtha, one of the most unethical members of Congress, shows that she may have prioritized ethics reform merely to win votes with no real commitment to changing the culture of corruption," Ms. Sloan said.
Pelosi spokeswoman Jennifer Crider dismissed the concerns and said Mr. Murtha "has addressed these issues."
"Leader Pelosi will show that Democrats will change the way business is done in Washington," Ms. Crider said.
But many Democrats adamantly oppose Mr. Murtha and say Mrs. Pelosi blundered badly by throwing her public support behind a tainted figure just one week after winning so many campaigns that promised to clean up corruption in Washington.
"This is cloakroom conversation," one Democrat said. "This sends a very bad message as the first thing she's gotten involved in. The whole Abscam thing is a problem, and so is the whole wheeler-dealer thing."
Rep. Steny H. Hoyer, the Maryland Democrat who now holds the whip position, has said he has the votes needed to win the majority-leader post in this week's elections among Democrats. Hoyer allies say he has the support of 13 of the 19 top Democrats in the House and public statements of support from at least 28 of the 40 new members.


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Copyright 2006
Pelosi draws fire for backing Murtha
By Charles Hurt
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
November 14, 2006


In addition to concerns about Mr. Murtha's background, many Hoyer supporters also say they are concerned about too much power in the hands of Mrs. Pelosi and one of her closest confidants -- Mr. Murtha. Mr. Hoyer provided a counterbalance as a Pelosi rival in past leadership elections, they say, which is why so many committee chairmen-to-be support him.
Many centrist Democrats, whose ranks ballooned in the last election, also support Mr. Hoyer.
"If moderates don't feel they have a voice in the leadership, Pelosi will have a problem because the moderates will revolt," one Democrat said.
While Mr. Murtha has fewer public supporters, he's picked up one of the most influential.
"I salute your courageous leadership that changed the national debate and helped make Iraq the central issue of this historic election," Mrs. Pelosi wrote in a personal letter to Mr. Murtha. "Your leadership gave so many Americans, including respected military leaders, the encouragement to voice their own disapproval at a failed policy ... . The enthusiastic response of Americans all across this nation gave an enormous lift to our Democratic efforts, and your unsurpassed personal solicitations produced millions of dollars."
Republicans, meanwhile, sat back and enjoyed the first fight inside the new Democratic majority.
"If this is the way Nancy Pelosi plans to clean up Washington, Republicans could be back in the majority sooner than they think," said one Republican staffer.






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Warham
11-15-2006, 12:56 PM
I endorse Jack Murtha for this position.

ULTRAMAN VH
11-15-2006, 01:02 PM
Why??

Warham
11-15-2006, 01:03 PM
:D

ULTRAMAN VH
11-15-2006, 01:22 PM
Lol, gotcha, it is quite obvious she will shoot herself in the foot by picking Murtha. The guy is a stooge.

ULTRAMAN VH
11-15-2006, 01:26 PM
Public Statement
November 13, 2006

CREW Blasts Pelosi Endorsement of Unethical Murtha for Majority Leader
Washington, DC - Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) questioned soon-to-be House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's (D-CA) commitment to eradicating corruption with her endorsement of one of the most unethical members in Congress, Rep. John Murtha (D-PA), to be Majority Leader of the House of Representatives.

Rep. Murtha was listed in CREW's report Beyond DeLay: The 20 Most Corrupt Members of Congress (and five to watch). As reported in the study and by the news media, Rep, Murtha has been involved in a number of pay-to play schemes involving former staffers and his brother, Robert "Kit" Murtha.

Eight incumbents in CREW's report lost their races to ethics issues.

CREW's report can be found at www.beyonddelay.org.

FORD
11-15-2006, 02:01 PM
The spin on this is obscene. AIPAC is trying to force their treasonous fuck Steny Hoyer into a leadership position.

I watched a speech that motherfucker gave before a meeting of that lecherous organization a couple years ago, and it could have been written by Ariel Sharon himself.

Steny Whore wants to continue the occupation of Iraq, because he is 100% committed to the Likud/PNAC plan of controlling the entire Middle East in the name of a "Greater Israel" from the Nile to the Euphrates rivers.

Nobody like that belongs in ANY United States government job at all, let alone Congressional leaderhsip. If you put the interests of another nation above the security of the American people, GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY COUNTRY, let alone my party :mad:

And elect Dennis Kucinich as House Majority leader to send a REAL message to these right wing pigfuckers. Unlike Chimpy, we actually won an election with a mandate, and we should use it.

ULTRAMAN VH
11-15-2006, 07:29 PM
Pelosi is already displaying hypocritical behavior. She claims she will rid the political landscape of corruption? So I guess she can keep an eye on someone who is worse than Abramoff, if he is right by her side?? Ahh!!!! GOOD PLAN!!!!

LoungeMachine
11-15-2006, 08:03 PM
Originally posted by ULTRAMAN VH



Murtha. The guy is a stooge.



:rolleyes:

God you're a moron.

A clueless bowl of fuck posing as a human being.


Such insight too.

ULTRAMAN VH
11-16-2006, 06:20 AM
Originally posted by LoungeMachine
:rolleyes:

God you're a moron.

A clueless bowl of fuck posing as a human being.


Such insight too.

Top of the mornin to ya, Jackolope!!!

ULTRAMAN VH
11-16-2006, 08:25 AM
Special Report
The Rest of Murtha's FBI Tape
By David Holman
Published 7/12/2006 12:09:33 AM
What is on the rest of Congressman Jack Murtha's now infamous FBI tape? Much more than the available video reveals.

Thanks to the diligent efforts of conservative media and blogs in January and February of this year, many readers now know or remember that Congressman Murtha was an unindicted co-conspirator in the "Abscam" investigation of the late 1970s and 1980. (I wondered where the mainstream media's outrage was over Murtha's murky lobbyist relationships, besides the L.A. Times's lone, forgotten piece on the subject.)

In recent weeks, Murtha's Abscam past has enjoyed renewed attention in the higher echelons of conservative media, with even Rush Limbaugh and Bob Novak joining the chorus.

Still, only a brief, 13-second snippet of a tape of the FBI's undercover meeting with Murtha is widely available. The agent tells him, "I went out, I got the $50,000. OK? So what you're telling me, OK, you're telling me that that's not what you know...." Murtha replies, "I'm not interested. I'm sorry. At this point [emphasis Murtha's]."

In his column, Novak hinted at the content of the tape. "The videotape showed Murtha declining to take cash but expressing interest in further negotiations, while bragging about his political influence." We have seen him declining the cash and expressing interest, but not the bragging. What is on the rest of the tape?

An article from the August 6, 1980, Washington Post, inexplicably unavailable on LexisNexis, fills in some of the gaps. Written by Jack Anderson, the sometimes controversial yet Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative columnist, the article details Murtha's conversation with the investigators and sheds further light on his status as an unindicted co-conspirator. Anderson's reporter, Gary Cohn, apparently reviewed the tapes.

Anderson framed Murtha's performance as "perhaps the saddest scene on the secret Abscam videotapes.... He refused to take the money, but his reason was hardly noble." The column continued:


"I want to deal with you guys awhile before I make any transactions at all, period.... After we've done some business, well, then I might change my mind...."

..."I'm going to tell you this. If anybody can do it -- I'm not B.S.-ing you fellows -- I can get it done my way." he boasted. "There's no question about it."...

But the reluctant Murtha wouldn't touch the $50,000. Here on secret videotape was this all-American hero, tall and dignified in a disheveled way, explaining why he wasn't quite ready to accept the cash.

"All at once," he said, "some dumb [expletive deleted] would go start talking eight years from now about this whole thing and say [expletive deleted], this happened. Then in order to get immunity so he doesn't go to jail, he starts talking and fingering people. So the [S.O.B.] falls apart."...

"You give us the banks where you want the money deposited," offered one of the bagmen.

"All right," agreed Murtha. "How much money we talking about?"

"Well, you tell me."

"Well, let me find out what is a reasonable figure that will get their attention," said Murtha, "because there are a couple of banks that have really done me some favors in the past, and I'd like to put some money in....["]

The dialogue continued as follows:

Amoroso: Let me ask you now that we're together. I was under the impression, OK, and I told Howard [middleman Howard Criden] what we were willing to pay, and [This is where the available videotape begins]I went out, I got the $50,000. OK? So what you're telling me, OK, you're telling me that that's not what you know....

Murtha: I'm not interested.

Amoroso: OK.

Murtha: At this point, [This is where the available videotape ends] you know, we do business together for a while. Maybe I'll be interested and maybe I won't.... Right now, I'm not interested in those other things. Now, I won't say that some day, you know, I, if you made an offer, it may be I would change my mind some day.

It is damning stuff. But the mainstream media has yet to question Murtha aggressively about that short snippet of tape, much less the full reel. After my February article questioned Murtha's ties to defense contractors while chairing the defense appropriations subcommittee, John McLaughlin interviewed Murtha on his obscure One on One program. Besides suggesting that my article originated with a "sinister genius at the White House," McLaughlin asked Murtha about the tape:

MR. MCLAUGHLIN: ...Murtha was approached by an undercover FBI agent, and you're on tape telling the agent, quote, unquote, "I'm not interested." Is that true?

REP. MURTHA: Not only that, John; they pulled a drawer out and they had $50,000 there and I said, "I'm not interested." I said, "I'm interested in investment in my district, period."

Not interested, period? The only "period" that Anderson reported Murtha using in the conversation was, "I want to deal with you guys awhile before I make any transaction at all, period." No wonder Murtha has kept a generally low profile through most of his political career.


David Holman is a reporter for The American Spectator. He may be reached at dave[dot]c[dot]holman[at]gmail[dot]com.






www.spectator.org

FORD
11-16-2006, 12:41 PM
Well, they got away with this scam.

Welcome to the United States of AIPAC :(

Lqskdiver
11-16-2006, 03:12 PM
Originally posted by FORD
The spin on this is obscene. AIPAC is trying to force their treasonous fuck Steny Hoyer into a leadership position.

I watched a speech that motherfucker gave before a meeting of that lecherous organization a couple years ago, and it could have been written by Ariel Sharon himself.

Steny Whore wants to continue the occupation of Iraq, because he is 100% committed to the Likud/PNAC plan of controlling the entire Middle East in the name of a "Greater Israel" from the Nile to the Euphrates rivers.

Nobody like that belongs in ANY United States government job at all, let alone Congressional leaderhsip. If you put the interests of another nation above the security of the American people, GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY COUNTRY, let alone my party :mad:

And elect Dennis Kucinich as House Majority leader to send a REAL message to these right wing pigfuckers. Unlike Chimpy, we actually won an election with a mandate, and we should use it.


Looks like YOUR mandate is getting pigfucked.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061116/ap_on_go_co/congress_leaders_51&printer=1

House Democrats name Hoyer to No. 2 post

By ANDREW TAYLOR, Associated Press Writer 16 minutes ago

Democrats picked Rep. Steny Hoyer (news, bio, voting record) to be House majority leader on Thursday, spurning Rep. Nancy Pelosi (news, bio, voting record)'s handpicked choice moments after unanimously backing her election as speaker when Congress convenes in January.

A Marylander and 25-year veteran of Congress, Hoyer defeated Rep. John Murtha (news, bio, voting record) of Pennsylvania in a vote of 149-86.

His election to the No. 2 job came just a short time after the Democratic caucus put Pelosi in line to become the first woman to be speaker, a position which is second in line of succession to the presidency. It marked a personal triumph for Hoyer.

Earlier, an ebullient Pelosi declared: "We made history and now we will make progress for the American people."

In remarks after being chosen for speaker, the Californian vowed that after 12 years in the minority, "we will not be dazzled by money and special interests." Pelosi also called for unity in the party, but within moments she put her prestige on the line by nominating Murtha.

Murtha, a Pennsylvanian, is a powerful lawmaker on defense matters, and he gained national prominence last year when he called an end to U.S. military involvement in Iraq.

He and Pelosi have long been close, and when Pelosi issued a statement supporting Murtha on Sunday night, it raised the stakes in a leadership election within a party that is taking control of the House in January for the first time in a dozen years.

"I didn't have enough votes and so I'll go back to my small subcommittee I have on Appropriations," Murtha said after the vote.

Murtha will chair the powerful defense subcommittee with responsibility for the war in Iraq and the Pentagon budget. "Nancy asked me to set a policy for the Democratic Party. Most of the party signed onto it," he said, referring to pulling U.S. troops out of Iraq.

"I was proud to support (Murtha) for majority leader, because I thought that would be the best way to bring an end to the war in Iraq," Pelosi said after the vote.

Pelosi and Hoyer, 67, have long had a difficult relationship. The two ran against each other in a leadership race several years ago. Pelosi won, but Hoyer rebounded more than a year later when he was elected the party's whip.

"Nancy and I have worked together for four years, closely and effectively, and we have created the most unified caucus in the last half century," Hoyer said after Thursday's vote. "It was not that somebody was rejected today, it was that a team that had been successful was asked to continue to do that job."

Hoyer's margin of victory reflected a pre-election strategy in which he showcased support from moderates, veteran lawmakers in line to become committee chairmen and more than half of the incoming freshman class — the majority-makers whose victories on Election Day gave the party control of the House.

"Steny was more where the mainstream of where the party was," said Massachusetts Rep. Barney Frank (news, bio, voting record), who will become chairman of the House Financial Services Committee."

Of Pelosi's endorsement of Murtha, Frank said, "She's a very smart woman who made an error in judgment."

The intraparty battle had preoccupied Democrats, overshadowing Pelosi's promotion to speaker — a position that is second in line of succession to the presidency.

Many Democrats were dismayed that the family feud had broken out in the first place and objected to heavy pressure placed on longstanding Hoyer supporters.

Pelosi officially becomes speaker in January, succeeding Rep. Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., when the House convenes and formally elects her in the next session of Congress.

Pelosi's selection was more history than mystery; that was reserved for the Hoyer-Murtha faceoff.

Murtha, 74, was a problematic candidate because of his penchant for trading votes for pork projects and his ties to the Abscam bribery sting in 1980, the only lawmaker involved who wasn't charged.

The race dredged up Murtha's involvement in the Abscam scandal. FBI agents pretending to represent an Arab sheik wanting to reside in the United States and seeking investment opportunities offered bribes to several lawmakers. When offered $50,000, Murtha was recorded as saying, "I'm not interested ... at this point." A grand jury declined to indict Murtha, and the House ethics committee issued no findings against him.

"I told them I wanted investment in my district," Murtha told MSNBC's "Hardball" on Wednesday. "They put $50,000 on the table and I said, 'I'm not interested.'"

Democrats also selected James Clyburn of South Carolina as majority whip, their No. 3 post. Clyburn is the second black in history to reach as high as a party whip. Former Rep. William Gray of Pennsylvania held the same title 1989-91. Campaign chair Rahm Emanuel of Illinois was rewarded with the caucus chair post, the No. 4 position for Democrats, for his efforts in leading the party back into the majority.

Meanwhile, House Republicans, soon to be in the minority for the first time since 1994, met in private Thursday to hear presentations from candidates for their leadership posts. Their election was scheduled for Friday.

Finding a replacement for Hastert, R-Ill., as the caucus leader turned into a two-man race between Majority Leader John Boehner of Ohio and conservative challenger Rep. Mike Pence (news, bio, voting record) of Indiana after Rep. Joe Barton (news, bio, voting record) of Texas dropped out and endorsed Boehner.

In the Democratic race, Murtha came forward for the job despite a record of not always being a leadership loyalist. He often supplied votes to GOP leaders who were struggling to pass bills. The none-too-subtle trade-off: Murtha and his allies would do better when home-state projects were doled out by the Republicans.

Wisconsin Rep. Dave Obey, who will chair the Appropriations Committee, said the divisions exposed by the race doesn't pose a problem for Pelosi.

"There's such universal respect and affection for Nancy. She's gutsy as hell and she's willing to take a chance..., push the envelope. "It was bitter between the two candidates, I suppose, but it wasn't bitter among the members of the caucus. People get over this stuff."

___