Well, as I stated here,Mehlman Attacks Murtha With Report Retracted Six Weeks Ago
White House officials and surrogates have fanned out in a coordinated Rovian campaign to smear their opponents as “defeatists” and “cut-and-runners.” In a mass email yesterday, former Rove deputy Ken Mehlman turned his guns on Rep. John Murtha:
The message from Connecticut is clear, and Ned Lamont isn’t alone. He is joined by Rep. John Murtha…who claims America is more dangerous than Iran and North Korea.
Mehlman is referencing a 6/25/06 story in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, which reported that Murtha said he believed the “American presence in Iraq is more dangerous to world peace than nuclear threats from North Korea or Iran.”
Three days later, the paper retracted the report. Murtha was actually citing an international public opinion poll, not expressing his own views. But why let facts get in the way of a perfectly good smear?
Murtha has yet to make any kind of statement that suggests that he disagrees with the sentiments as expressed in the Pew Poll he purports to quote from. As a matter of fact, I would venture to opine that Murtha's anti-American rhetoric that he has been spouting since last November is entirely consistent with those sentiments. I would also venture to opine that Murtha's anti-American rhetoric, being spread on the world stage, while perhaps not a cause for those sentiments, at the very least serves to perpetuate them.Again, since that speech in Florida, John Murtha has yet to make any statement whatsoever that the poll results he supposedly cited did not mirror his own personal views. Rather, he used that poll as ammunition in a feeble attempt to bolster his failed "blame America First!" policy!
I wrote the above-quoted post back on July 9, 2006, and I'm still waiting for Murtha to state that he disagrees with the premise of that poll.
But I won't hold my breath...
