PA-08: Blogger conference call with Patrick Murphy
I just got off a conference call with PA-08 Democratic candidate Patrick Murphy. As I wrote about earlier today, his opponent, freshman GOP Rep. Mike Fitzpatrick, decided to open a series of Swiftboat-style attacks on him on Friday. It appears that the Democratic Party has learned its lesson with rapid response, and tonight, the campaign sent out a notice to speak with many prominent liberal bloggers about the upcoming response. The bloggers on tonight’s call included Chris Bowers of MyDD, Huffington Post contributor Taylor Marsh, mcjoan and Armando of Daily Kos (yes, that Armando), and Susan Kreuger of Democracy Cell Project. On the other side of the phone with Patrick were Captain Koby Langley and General Wesley Clark.
First, it’s a pretty heady experience to say ‘hello’ and have the first voice come back being General Clark. It’s difficult to introduce oneself after that; I stated my name and introduced myself as a blogger and a current college student. “You’re not just a blogger,” Clark said. “The pen is mightier than the sword.” It’s apparent that Clark is a clear supporter of the netroots and is quite engaged in what we are doing.
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General Clark was the next to speak, and you could hear the anger in his voice. He praised Patrick’s service, and although he noted that while there can be different feelings that run between different units in the army, Fitzpatrick has ‘no place in saying who’s qualified’. He said that the Swiftboating was ‘baloney’, and that we have got to stand up to it. Additionally, Clark railed against the ‘cowardice of the Bush administration and the complete corruption of the Republican Party’. He called Fitzpatrick a ‘phony patriot’, noting that he had no right to wear the American flag on his lapel after condoning such remarks. The Republicans, the general noted, ‘will destroy anything to hang on to power, even the reputation’ of a soldier who served America honorably and with distinction. He thanked all of us for being on the call, and he told us not only to raise the outrage meter on the Internet, but to also raise money for Patrick to fight back against these claims and to write letters to the Philadelphia-area papers.
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Susan Kreuger from Democracy Cell Project had the first question. She asked General Clark if such criticism of fellow soldiers would weaken our armed forces, which must work together as a team to get their jobs done. Clark stated that any criticism of one’s service was inappropriate. Even if the opposing candidate was a Republican, he said, he would respect the time that they served in their country. Soldiers ’should be proud of their service’, and it is a disservice to everyone when they are assailed for it. After answering this question, the general thanked us for our time and left, as he had to catch a flight to Iowa.
