Murtha madness and the left's shifting goalposts

Pennsylvania Representative John Murtha's name has been tossed around a lot lately after the House Republicans put his "immediate redeployment/withdrawl" idea to the test. The interesting thing is, though, that this is not the first time Murtha has endorsed an idiotic idea. Back when the House had a vote on Rep. Rangel's draft idea, Murtha was one of the two people who voted for it. Murtha also was one of the people who convinced Bill Clinton to pull the troops out of Somalia in 1993 - a move that is said to have emboldened Osama Bin Laden.

And now that the "immediate pullout" idea has been put to a vote, the left is trying to spin it as a victory for the Democrats. "It blew up in the Republicans' faces," they claim in various ways. Hardly. The idea has now been squashed flat. The "Bring the troops home NOW!" rhetoric spewed out by many on the left has been quickly and effectively put down. (That probably won't stop various individuals and groups from continuing to try to spread the idea, however.)

Also, the left has changed their tune since the vote. Initially, it was "Bring the troops home NOW!" Now it's, "That's not what we said! We never said 'immediately!' We said come up with an exit plan for bringing the troops home safely!" In a world without the internet, they could probably get away with that. Thankfully, their true words are archived for posterity.