Thursday, November 16, 2006
Rep. Murtha: Ethics Bill Is 'Total Crap'
The rules governing congressional ethics, proposed by House Speaker-to-be Nancy Pelosi, are "total crap," says Rep. Jack Murtha, D-Pa.
Murtha has been backed by Pelosi as a candidate for House majority leader.
Appearing Wednesday on MSNBC's "Hardball" with Chris Matthews, Murtha was asked to clarify remarks he made about the ethics bill to a meeting of the conservative Blue Dog Democrats group.
Matthews asked Murtha if it was " . . . total crap to tell people you can’t take a lunch from somebody? Where do you draw — where is your position on ethics right now?"
Murtha at first hedged, claiming that the "crap" he was talking about "is the crap that people have violated the law, the crap that the kind of things that have happened with Abramoff, the kind of things that have happened with some of the members."
"But that’s not what you said," Matthews shot back. "Didn’t you say it was total crap, what she was proposing?"
Said Murtha: "What I said was . . . it is total crap that we have to deal with an issue like this when we’ve got a war going on and we got all these other issues — $8 billion a month we’re spending . . ."
Murtha assured Matthews that he has the votes to win the majority leadership post.
The rules governing congressional ethics, proposed by House Speaker-to-be Nancy Pelosi, are "total crap," says Rep. Jack Murtha, D-Pa.
Murtha has been backed by Pelosi as a candidate for House majority leader.
Appearing Wednesday on MSNBC's "Hardball" with Chris Matthews, Murtha was asked to clarify remarks he made about the ethics bill to a meeting of the conservative Blue Dog Democrats group.
Matthews asked Murtha if it was " . . . total crap to tell people you can’t take a lunch from somebody? Where do you draw — where is your position on ethics right now?"
Murtha at first hedged, claiming that the "crap" he was talking about "is the crap that people have violated the law, the crap that the kind of things that have happened with Abramoff, the kind of things that have happened with some of the members."
"But that’s not what you said," Matthews shot back. "Didn’t you say it was total crap, what she was proposing?"
Said Murtha: "What I said was . . . it is total crap that we have to deal with an issue like this when we’ve got a war going on and we got all these other issues — $8 billion a month we’re spending . . ."
Murtha assured Matthews that he has the votes to win the majority leadership post.
