The American Spectator

Once in blue moon an op-ed can open readers’ eyes. Wade Zirkle’s in today’s Washington Post is one such. Congressmen John Murtha and Jim Moran don’t come off too well, as in this description of a MoveOn.org backed anti-war town hall meeting that Virginia congressman Moran sponsored and Iraq war critic Murtha spoke at earlier this year:

The tenor of the town meeting was mostly what one might expect, but during the question-and-answer period, a veteran injured in Afghanistan stood up to offer his view. “If I didn’t have a herniated disc, I would volunteer to go to Iraq in a second with my troops,” said Mark Seavey, a former Army sergeant who had recently returned from Afghanistan. “I know you keep saying how you have talked to the troops and the troops are demoralized, and I really resent that characterization. The morale of the troops I talk to is phenomenal, which is why my troops are volunteering to go back despite the hardships….”

“And, Congressman Moran, 200 of your constituents just arrived back from Afghanistan — we never got a letter, we never got a visit from you, you didn’t come to our homecoming. The only thing we got was a letter from the governor of this state thanking us for our service in Iraq, when we were in Afghanistan. That’s reprehensible. I don’t know who you two are talking to, but the morale of the troops is very high.”

What was the response? Murtha said nothing, while Moran attempted to move on, no pun intended, stating: “That wasn’t in the form of a question, it was a statement.”

Now who was the dolt Virginia governor who sent that letter? Mark Warner better hope it was his successor…