Embracing defeat

In the Washington Post, Dana Milbank more or less celebrates Rep. John Murtha in connection with his call for immediate withdrawal from Iraq: “An unlikely lonesome dove.” It’s a wonder, however, that Milbank never gets around to noting that Murtha’s defeatism is old, old news. Jim Hoft has usefully collected Murtha’s past statements on the war at Gateway Pundit.

On the other hand, Murtha’s call for immediate withdrawal is news. Milbank notes that Murtha said he received a “standing ovation” when he announced his position to colleagues in the morning, although Milbank found the Democratic leaders to be distancing themselves from Murtha publicly in the afternoon. I guess Milbank couldn’t be bothered to verify the accuracy of the description of the Democrats’ private support for Murtha’s public position. But it would be nice to know whether John Murtha is a stalking horse for gutless Democrats whose political calculations happily countenance defeat in Iraq so long as it serves their own immediate purposes.

The invaluable Mac Owens brings the relevant historical perspective to bear in a column for the New York Post: “Iraq and Vietnam.”

UPDATE: Gary Gross has much more here and here over at California Conservative.

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