My mom always used to tell me: "You can tell a lot about somebody by the friends they keep."
Judging by Andy Warren's friends, he would not only make a lousy Democratic nominee in PA-08, but is a pretty detestable type of guy. [By the way, Warren is a 41-year veteran of the Republican Party, who magically made the switch to D when he couldn't find a job in Republican politics.]
To catch you up to speed - Patrick Murphy's first experience with one of Andy's friends was when Andy encouraged a former Republican committeewoman, convicted in 1996 of forging signatures (and consequently barred from holding elected office), to file a worthless petition challenge on his behalf? This deservedly earned Andy the wanker of the day over at Eschaton.]
However, it gets a WHOLE lot worse. See Andy's surrogates are now out there attacking Patrick Murphy's military record.
First it was his campaign co-chair - who was
resoundingly smacked down by the Liberaldoomsayer. Ginny's main charge is that Patrick has been hand-picked by DC, which is nonsense. Doomsy rightly points out that Pat's campaign took off after being featured as a
Fighting Dem. This grassroots support, is coming from Kos (and the liberal blogosphere), the same outfits that gave Ginny her main support and spearheaded her fundraising efforts. How soon she forgets.
Then it was a member of Andy's "leadership" team who had the audacity to call the Bronze Star getting Captain a "claims adjuster" and questioned his paratrooper credentials. Jane makes the good point in the previous link that:
A lawyer in the 82nd Airborne still has to jump out of a few planes. A lawyer on the field in a war doesn't have a magic bubble around him that keeps the bullets and bombs out. A recent letter to the editor of the Bucks County Courier Times referred to his work in Iraq as that of a "claims adjustor," but I think resolving disputes in a war zone is a little different than looking at the damage from a fender bender on the Blue Route. Unless you were over there yourself at the same time in the same place and can speak to the circumstances personally, I don't think you should say a whole lot. So, I would request that those who do not want Murphy in office find something else to hang their hat on.
It should also be noted that Murphy also prosecuted a few insurgents for criminal acts.
This is what the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America Political Action Committee had to say about Warren's despicable "swiftboating" tactics:
We veterans of the war in Iraq immediately call on Andy Warren to stop all backhanded and disgraceful attacks on Patrick Murphy's honorable service in war in Iraq, and tell his staff and advisors to do the same.
Only someone who never served in combat could so cavalierly discount its benefits to the making of a person and a leader.
. . . .
Patrick Murphy has shown courage, maturity, and leadership under the most challenging of conditions, and has shown an incredible understanding of his community, and its local issues, as well. The people of the 8th district should cast their vote with pride for Patrick Murphy, who will be their warrior in Congress.
This "swiftboating" is right out of the Republican playbook. For Andy, who claims to have supported John Kerry, who was also "swiftboated", as the democratic nominee for President in 2004, I guess Republican dirty tricks die hard.
Andy should tell his friends to stop the shenanigans, so the last 12 days of his political career can actually have some integrity.