The American Spectator

p> NO MORE MESSRS. NICE GUYS br> Re: Jed Babbin’s Time to Push Back : /p> p>Amen. I couldn’t agree more! I have posted a link to your excellent column at Polipundit.com . br> — Lorie Byrd /p>

Fighting words by Mr. Babbin. We’ll see how many journalists step up to the plate on this one! A good place to start in pushing back might be for someone to suggest that John Murtha release his military medical records so we can all see what got him his two Purple Hearts. (Another Hero Mystery.) I have read in only one place that Mr. Murtha shares the military modesty of John Kerry in this regard. Do we need a group comparable to the Swifties to ask this reasonable question? After all, Mr. Murtha has enjoyed wounded hero status for some years. Even to using it as his bona fides for making his irrational statements of late. If he was brain damaged or mentally impaired in some way in his service in Vietnam (not a disqualification for Congress), we could be more forgiving of his rantings.

Frankly, I never heard of John Murtha or his glorious service to his country until a few months ago. I follow politics fairly closely and I am not aware of any of John Murtha’s contributions on the floor in Congress. Now, suddenly, an old coot who might otherwise be wearing his VFW cap in some Grange Hall if he weren’t a congressman, spouts off in opposition to the war in Iraq, and he is an “expert” in the tactics of war. If everyone who served in any war is entitled to a congressional seat (and increasingly they view this as a qualification), then my brother, who served three tours in Vietnam should be riding the Political Gravy Train. This is as silly as Murtha’s maunderings.

p>Perhaps we should change the campaign laws so that anyone using his service record as a political ace-in-the-hole should release his ENTIRE military record during his campaign. Then we’d finally know what kind of discharge John Kerry got — if he runs again.