Yesterday in the House

House Rejects Iraq Pullout After GOP Forces a Vote

Armed Services Committee Chairman Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) drafted a simpler resolution calling for an immediate withdrawal of troops, saying it was a fair interpretation of Murtha’s intent. Members were heatedly debating a procedural rule concerning the Hunter resolution when Rep. Jean Schmidt (R-Ohio) was recognized at 5:20 p.m. Schmidt won a special election in August, defeating Iraq war veteran Paul Hackett, and is so new to Congress that some colleagues do not know her name (and she is the most junior member of Congress – Blogula Rasa).

She told colleagues that “a few minutes ago I received a call from Colonel Danny Bubp,” an Ohio legislator and Marine Corps Reserve officer. “He asked me to send Congress a message: Stay the course. He also asked me to send Congressman Murtha a message: that cowards cut and run, Marines never do.”

Dozens of Democrats erupted at once, pointing angrily at Schmidt and shouting repeatedly, “Take her words down” — the House term for retracting a statement. For a moment Schmidt tried to keep speaking, but the uproar continued and several GOP colleagues surrounded her as she sat down, looking slightly dazed. Presiding officer Mike Simpson (R-Idaho) gaveled in vain for order as Democrats continued shouting for Schmidt to take back her words. Rep. Martin T. Meehan (D-Mass.) yelled “You guys are pathetic!” from the far end of the Democratic section to the GOP side.

Just as matters seemed to calm a bit, Rep. Harold E. Ford Jr. (D-Tenn.) suddenly charged across the aisle to the GOP seats, jabbing his finger furiously at a small group of GOP members and shouting, “Say Murtha’s name!” Rep. David R. Obey (D-Wis.), who had led the chants for striking Schmidt’s comments, gently guided Ford by the arm back to the minority party’s side.

At 5:31, when order was finally restored, Schmidt rose again and said softly, “My words were not directed at any member of the House.” She asked that they “be withdrawn” from the record.

Meanwhile, some Republican suggested an ethics investigation against Murtha, which is highly ironic considering that Miss Most Juniorest Member of Congress is already under investigation for ethics violations, as already noted in Quicklinks.

Please God, let the electorate remember that this “poison pill” bill was a complete twisting of Murtha’s original resolution, which called for withdrawal of troops as soon as practicable, rather than immediately. Thus the Dems were forced to vote down a resolution that was a noisome, disgusting mutation of the original Murtha entry. They howled, they screamed, they voted it down, knowing that this vote will be held against them in future campaigns for years to come.

Please, everyone, remember the dirty pool played by the Republicans. Remember that Murtha stood up to support the troops by calling for them to come home “at the earliest practicable date.”