Jesus, Not This Again...

Representative John Murtha's going to be on 60 Minutes this weekend, and here's a preview from Reuters:

U.S. Rep. John Murtha, an outspoken Democratic critic of the Iraq war, said in remarks to be aired on Sunday that voter pressure in the November congressional election could force President George W. Bush to pull U.S. forces from Iraq. "I think the vast majority will be out by the end of the year and I'm hopeful it will be sooner than that," Murtha, a decorated Vietnam combat veteran who retired as a colonel after 37 years in the U.S. Marine Corps, told the CBS "60 Minutes" show.
[...]
"You're going to see a plan for withdrawal," said Murtha, the top Democrat on the House of Representatives subcommittee that oversees defense spending.

"I think the political people who give (Bush) advice will say to him, 'You don't want a Democratic (controlled) Congress. You want to keep a Republican majority, and the only way you're going to keep it is by reducing substantially the troops in Iraq.'"

Now, wait for it... wait for it... ah, here it is:

Having ascended to the national stage as one of the most vocal critics of President Bush's handling of the war in Iraq, Pennsylvania Democratic Congressman John Murtha has long downplayed the controversy and the bitterness surrounding the two Purple Hearts he was awarded for military service in Vietnam.

Murtha is a retired marine and was the first Vietnam combat veteran elected to Congress. Since 1967, there have been at least three different accounts of the injuries that purportedly earned Murtha his Purple Hearts. Those accounts also appear to conflict with the limited military records that are available, and Murtha has thus far refused to release his own military records.

Do these people simply lack shame genes? That little bit of "journalism" comes from CNSNews.com, which is an organization under the umbrella of Brent Bozell's Media Research Center, so I'd take this swift-boating with an extreme grain of salt. No doubt, we'll see this top o' the Drudge by the end of the weekend.

[UPDATE 6pm PST] HuffPo's also got this note about proposed Murtha smears:

The Huffington Post has learned the Bush administration recently asked high ranking military leaders to denounce Congressman John Murtha. Congressman Murtha has called for the Bush Administration to withdraw US troops from Iraq.
[...]
Though the White House has backed off publicly, administration officials have nevertheless recently made calls to military leaders to condemn the congressman. So far they have refused.

Rep. Murtha spent 37 years in the Marine Corps earning a Bronze Star, two Purple Hearts and a Navy Distinguished Service Medal. His service has earned him the respect of the military, and made him a trusted adviser to both Republican and Democratic presidents and leaders of the armed forces.

[UPDATE - 10:55pm PST] Read Congressman Murtha's response to the CNSNews smear at the HuffPo--succinct and to the point.

[UPDATE - Sat 8:05am PST] Here's some more on this matter from the WaPo:

Cybercast is part of the conservative Media Research Center, run by L. Brent Bozell III, who accused some in the media of ignoring the Swift Boat charges, but Thibault said it operates independently. He said the unit, formerly called the Conservative News Service, averages 110,000 readers, mainly conservative, and provides material for other Web sites such as GOPUSA. "We won't run anything against anybody if we don't have the goods," he said.

Former representative Don Bailey (D-Pa.), who was quoted in the article, confirmed his account to The Washington Post yesterday.

In a conversation on the House floor in the early 1980s, said Bailey, who won a Silver Star and three Bronze Stars in Vietnam, Murtha told him he did not deserve his Purple Hearts. He recalled Murtha saying: "Hey, I didn't do anything like you did. I got a little scratch on the cheek." Murtha's spokeswoman would not address that account.

Bailey, who lost a House race to Murtha after a 1982 redistricting, said "Jack's a coward, and he's a liar" for subsequently denying the conversation. "That just really burned me," he said.

[UPDATE - Sat 1:25pm PST] Another related item at HuffPo, here's a post noting some of the comments elicited during a town hall meeting that Congressmen Murtha and Jim Moran (D-VA 08) held:

The soldier who asked the first question served in Afghanistan and said that morale among troops is high and that he would gladly serve in Iraq today. His comment was the only one replayed by Fox News the next day.

But the majority of soldiers in attendance spoke out against the current policy. Fox News did not broadcast their remarks.

Be sure to check out some of the excerpts, and follow the link to the CSPAN telecast.

[UPDATE - Sun 2:40pm PST] Be sure to check out this post by journalist Murray Waas (who had a lot of great scoops during the march toward Libby's indictment for the National Journal), which pulls together some great debunking of the CNSNews.com story and responding to the WaPo story about it.