See previous: 2007.05.17 Dem Perfidy // Islamism Delenda Est Roundup

Below the fold, newest items at the top:

• John Edwards says celebrate Memorial Day the anti-war way
• Murtha accused of rules violation
• White House Rejects Democratic Plan to Fund Troops in Iraq
• No deal on war spending bill

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John Edwards says celebrate Memorial Day the anti-war way
Lorie Byrd (H/T: LB)

John Edwards has a Memorial Day message that is not earning high marks with many of the troops he claims to want to support. The Washington Post loved it, though. Enough, in fact, that they directly linked it from their website -- free of charge. (I am sure they will do the same for the GOP candidates with support the mission messages.)

Edwards' patriotic message follows (I know it is patriotic because he uses the word patriot and talks about “supporting the troops”): ...

After I picked my jaw up off the floor, I had to wonder whether I am just hopelessly out of touch with the pulse of those in the military or if John Edwards is truly one of the dumbest politicians ever. I know that the war in Iraq is unpopular. I get that. What I don’t get is how anyone, much less a politician, would think it makes good sense to choose the three-day weekend out of the year put aside to honor those who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country, to push a political anti-war message. After all, there are 362 other days of the year he could have chosen.

Wondering if I was out of touch with those in the military, I checked some of the reaction to Edwards’ Memorial Weekend plan. Here is a sampling of comments from some in the military and veteran online communities: ...

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Murtha accused of rules violation
By: Patrick O'Connor  (H/T: Kim Priestap)

Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.) threatened to deny any further spending projects to a Republican who challenged him over an earmark last week, the GOP is charging – a potential violation of House rules that could cause a spike in partisan tensions.

Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.), who questioned money that Murtha inserted into an intelligence bill last week, turned the tables Thursday night by saying he would call for Murtha to be reprimanded for violating House rules.

Rogers plans to insert a transcript of their exchange in the Congressional Record to document the potential violation. His resolution will also require a House vote to reprimand Murtha for his comments, according to a draft received by The Politico. Rogers is expected to file it on Monday.

Bob Owens comments:

I'd suspect nothing will come of the reprimand attempt. The accusation will likely be entered into the Congressional Record, the reprimand voted upon, and probably fail along party lines. I think the purpose of Roger's filing the accusation was to document the stupidity of Murtha making such a thread in front of multiple Republican congressional witnesses, and to ensure that if Murtha does attempt to make good on his threat, that more serious ethics charges could be on the table.

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White House Rejects Democratic Plan to Fund Troops in Iraq

WASHINGTON —  Democratic congressional leaders appeared to blink Friday in presenting the White House with a war funding proposal that did away with billions of dollars in domestic spending opposed by the administration, but President Bush's aides quickly rejected the offer on the grounds that it contained yet another timetable for withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq.

"To say I was disappointed in the meeting is an understatement," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. "I really did expect the president would accept some accountability for what we're trying to accomplish here."

White House chief of staff Joshua Bolten, representing Bush, turned down the Democratic offer that included plans for withdrawing U.S. troops, but would give the president the authority to waive compliance with a timetable.

"We consider that to be not a significant distinction," Bolten said. "Whether waivable or not, timelines send the wrong signal."

The Democratic plan also offered to take out billions of dollars of domestic spending included in the emergency supplemental bill.

"The president pummeled the Congress for two weeks because he said that we have inserted so-called domestic items that shouldn’t be in a war bill," said Rep. David Obey, D-Wis. "So what we offered today to drop all of that – all of those domestic items – and they turned that down."

Earlier Friday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi predicted that congressional leaders will reach an agreement on how to fund U.S. troops in Iraq by next week.

Pelosi told reporters that she is "absolutely certain that the troops will have what they need by the end of next week" after meeting with Bolten and other lawmakers on Capitol Hill.

The sticking point holding up the negotiations is how to hold the Iraqi government accountable for meeting benchmarks if it fails to implement political and security reforms.  ...

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No deal on war spending bill

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Democratic congressional leaders on Friday offered the first concessions in a fight with President Bush over a spending bill for Iraq, but the White House turned them down.

The Democrats, in a meeting with Bush's top aides on Capitol Hill, said they would strip from a war spending bill billions of dollars in domestic spending that the White House had opposed. They also pledged to give Bush authority to waive compliance with a timetable to pull combat troops out of Iraq.

But no agreement emerged.

"To say I was disappointed in the meeting is an understatement," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada.

White House chief of staff Joshua Bolten, who rejected the deal, said any timetable on the war would undermine the nation's efforts in Iraq.

"We consider that to be not a significant distinction," he said. "Whether waivable or not, timelines send the wrong signal."