Yick and yuck

Rep. Jack Murtha or Rep. Steny Hoyer? Does it matter?

Murtha is, as Talking Points Memo points out, a bit tainted, possibly still ethically challenged and, until he came out against the war, one of the more conservative Democrats in the House.

But, as Robert Scheer writes, his leadership on the war cannot be denied:

Because of his credentials as a highly decorated Marine veteran and stalwart Pentagon supporter, US Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.) was more effective than any other member of Congress in crystallizing the changing American position on Iraq when he dramatically wrote last year, “It is time to bring them home.” Not intimidated by the President’s “cut-and-run” smears, he said what most Americans have come to believe: The war is not “winnable” and it is time–now, not in ten years–to let Iraqis make their own history and to get American troops out of the line of fire.

And he has taken the populist approach on trade.

Murtha represents Johnstown, Pennsylvania–the type of hardscrabble, working-class district Democrats have too often lost since President Bill Clinton joined with Wall Street to push free-trade pacts in the mid-1990s. In representing this kind of district, Murtha has opposed many of the most destructive trade agreements that sell out American workers. In the most high-profile example, he went up against Clinton by voting against the China free trade deal in 2000.

What about Hoyer? He is not exactly a leader on Iraq and he supported a bad bankruptcy deform (yes, I spelled it that way deliberately) bill. He is a DLC-type, a corporate shill who speaks (as one poster to TPM says, in Beltway doublespeak. He has the reputation of being a back-room dealer, like Murtha, and is no cleaner (he has been trying to set up the kind of legalized extortion ring on K Street that the GOP has relied on for years).

This is not exactly the pair I’d like to choose between, but they are the two on the table. Seems pretty clear which makes the most sense.

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Author: hankkalet

Hank Kalet is a poet and freelance journalist. He is the economic needs reporter for NJ Spotlight, teaches journalism at Rutgers University and writing at Middlesex County College and Brookdale Community College. He writes a semi-monthly column for the Progressive Populist. He is a lifelong fan of the New York Mets and New York Knicks, drinks too much coffee and attends as many Bruce Springsteen concerts as his meager finances will allow. He lives in South Brunswick with his wife Annie. View all posts by hankkalet