Murtha's "Cronkite Moment"

Expanding on Fixer's post a little bit, here's Editor & Publisher's Greg Mitchell on my new hero, Congressman Murtha:

For months, media watchers have wondered if we would any time soon witness another "Cronkite moment" -- some sort of dramatic statement by a mainstream media figure that would turn hearts and minds against an ill-advised war, for good. It hasn't happened. But perhaps a not-very-famous, 73-year-old gentleman named John Murtha will be the new Cronkite.

But Rod Dreher, the conservative newspaper columnist, quickly posted this at NRO Online, the National Review site:

"If tough, non-effete guys like Murtha are willing to go this far, and can make the case in ways that Red America can relate to -- and listening to him talk was like listening to my dad, who's about the same age, and his hunting buddies -- then the president is in big trouble. I'm sure there's going to be an anti-Murtha pile-on in the conservative blogosphere, but from where I sit, conservatives would be fools not to take this man seriously."

This man: After serving in the Marines in the early 1950's, he re-enlisted in 1966 and served in Vietnam, earning a Bronze Star, two Purple Hearts and the Vietnamese Cross for Gallantry. Today, in a not-so-veiled response to Vice President Cheney's recent attacks on the patriotism of antiwar critics, Murtha said: "I like guys who got five deferments and (have) never been there and send people to war, and then don't like to hear suggestions about what needs to be done."

And on President Bush: "You know, the president said it's tough to win a war. You know, it's tough to WAGE a war. That's where the fallacy's been. To WAGE this war is where the problem's been."

The text of Congressman Murtha's speech then follows. It's good.

Fixer called the guy a "pissed-off Jarhead". He's right, but then I'm a "pissed-off Jarhead" as well. The difference is that Rep. Murtha is a respected elder statesman "pissed-off Jarhead" with some clout, a bully pulpit, and TV coverage. If I had those things, I'd go to jail. Rep. Murtha will go down in history.

Thank you, Congressman, from the bottom of my heart. Git some!

Update:

WaPo's Dana Milbank calls Rep. Murtha "An Unlikely Lonesome Dove".

As a Democratic congressman from Pennsylvania for the past 31 years, he has been a fierce hawk, championing conflicts in Central America and the Persian Gulf.

Yesterday, he was called a coward.

After Murtha stunned the Capitol with a morning news conference calling for a pullout from Iraq because our "troops have done all they can," the denunciations came quickly.

Go read who did the denouncing. There are some besides the usual suspects, and I'm ashamed of them. For now. If Rep. Murtha's "redeployment" plan catches on, I'm sure they'll come around. He did kinda spring it out of left field, and some react quicker to winds of change than others due to the normal institutional paralysis of Congress, if not their own natural reluctance to publicly say what they recognize as right due to electoral cowardice.