Why Murtha matters. On the inside, anyway.

Although it was a big deal on the blogosphere when a hawkish, Democratic member of the House of Representatives decided that it was time for the US to begin planning a withdrawal from Iraq, it wasn't such a big deal with the mainstream press. But something I've learned since the initial dust-up was an account of just how connected Rep. Murtha is with the US military.

Pulitzer-prize winning journalist Seymour Hersh was interviewed on Majority Report this evening, and to hear him describe it, the White House most likely took his dissent as a serious affront. To paraphrase Hersh, there isn't a general Murtha isn't friends with. His inference is that the military's top brass no longer supports the mission, and the White House is none too pleased.

My guess is that we're about to see a whole lot of stage-managed Bush cheerleading sessions about staying the course and victory. Which isn't a policy, obviously, and won't do a thing to sway the public.