Pelosi Criticizes Murtha...Again

The sweet thing is that she likely didn't even realize she was criticizing him. The basis for the headline is found in this Irey press release:

"Yesterday, in criticizing a resolution expressing the Sense of the Congress regarding the attacks of September 11, 2001, Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, the Woman Who Would Be Speaker, criticized the legislation, calling the resolution 'self-congratulatory,' and saying, 'It praises Congress for some reason. Instead of having the focus on the innocent victims of 9/11, it talked about the accomplishments of this Congress. I can't even imagine why they thought that was a good idea.'

The thing is, John Murtha congratulated himself on 9/11 by highlighting his getting approved funding for the Memorial to be built in Shanksville where Flight 93 crashed. Here's a little sampling of Murtha's 9/11 press release:

2001: Championed the "Counter-Terrorism and Defense Against Weapons of Mass Destruction" section of the Defense appropriation which increased the funding for national security programs aimed specifically at the terrorist threat from three percent to over 29 percent. The legislation also included $1 million to provide security at the Flight 93 crash site over two years.
2002: Introduced legislation to designate the Flight 93 crash site as a National Memorial
2003: Obtained $300,000 for the Flight 93 Memorial and worked with PBS Coals to encourage their donation of 29 acres around the crash site to permanently protect this hallowed ground.
2004: Obtained $298,000 for the planning of the Flight 93 Memorial
2005: Obtained $806,000 for the Flight 93 Memorial/National Park Service Construction and another $250,000 for Security Costs for the Memorial site for Somerset County. Introduced legislation with Congressman Bill Shuster to commemorate the heroes of Flight 93 with a memorial in the U.S. Capitol. Furthermore, in 2005, the Interior Appropriations Subcommittee proposed to kill the funding for the Flight 93 Memorial. Congressman Murtha, however, convinced the committee to not only reinstate funding, but to provide $12.5 million as the federal share for the project over several years with an equal match by other memorial fundraising.
2006: Obtained $1 million for the Flight 93 Memorial Planning

It seems to me that, using Ms. Pelosi's standards, that Mr. Murtha used 9/11 to congratulate himself "instead of focusing on the innocent victims of 9/11." It also seems to me that Murtha politicized 9/11 by telling people to vote for him because he's able to influence their lives through the appropriations process.

Technorati: Murtha, Pelosi, United 93

Cross-posted at LetFreedomRingBlog