The Whole Delivery

A somber day in Washington, as news has broken that John Murtha has passed away. One of the more prominent figures on the Hill in the last score, the veritable figure has passed away in part because of a complication of his gallbladder in surgery. Murtha's most prominent moment came when he switched his staunch of support for invading Iraq to criticizing the Bush Administration's handing of the technically illegal war in 2006. TWD will have more stuff on John Murtha later on. Condolences to his family, friends, and his closest allies. Update: A wonderful bio from his office staff . It is really touching. And David Obey's words : Appropriations Chairman David Obey (D-Wis.) was also quick to issue a brief statement of praise and condolence. Murtha, Obey said, was so effective on defense issues because “he understood the misery of war.” “Every person who serves in the military has lost an advocate and a good friend today,” Obey added.

Once again, thinking they are Presidents of the United States, since it is now the new hot thing to do in the Beltway streets, Senators Larry, Moe, and Curly said something this morning in a WSJ op-ed piece (what a surprise) about how we need to stay strong in Afghanistan just like they said with Iraq. And Spencer Ackerman noticed this interesting thing in that piece of debris early in the morning : In the interim, the president and his allies— and we count ourselves among them on this issue —must invest significantly greater effort to explain why, as the president recently put it, Afghanistan is a “war of necessity. [Emphasis added.] Now, let's be clear here. Obviously, they will be angry as hell if Obama does the opposite, which would be the common sense thing to do for this country and the soldiers fighting a war that has gotten out of control to the point of not favoring us. It is a war when the agenda has shifted drastically over the years, where the question of "Why are...