Kids say the darndest things

So do politicians. I'd be glad to hear this from anyone else. Allow TM to fill in the details:

John Murtha defends his reported characterization of a proposed ethics reform bill as "total crap":

"...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."

Right, then - so when Henry Waxman, muckraking chair of the Government Reform Committee, announces that he hopes to probe, per the Sun-Times, "the response to Hurricane Katrina, government contracting in Iraq and on homeland security, decision-making at the Environmental Protection Agency and the Food and Drug Administration, and allegations of corporate profiteering", we can expect Murtha to denounce the effort as "total crap". We need to look forward, not backward, yes?

That gets my vote for absurdity of the day. But it's barely even 7 AM, so we got lots of day left...

Who the heck does Murtha think he's kidding?

Meanwhile, with the obligatory Hat Tip to Glenn Reynolds, here is this...er...summary of the Murtha-esque state of affairs in the House:

Today offers the kind of spectacle that is a small consolation prize for a party out of power: the victors pummeling each other over the spoils. The election having been lost, today's majority leadership race is a win-win.If Pelosi wins, she exalts John Murtha, an extreme anti-war zealot with a "Kick Me" sign taped on his back. This will clearly define the stakes in one of the most critical issues Americans face today. Our place in the world.

A Murtha win the day after Gen. John Abizaid told Congress the United States needs to maintain troop levels and boost advisors and training for Iraqi forces should send a clear message to American voters what their narrow, fickle majorities have wrought. Murtha brings the added benefit of a right-leaning record on issues such as abortion and gun rights. Combined with a lot of harumphy codgerness, that may offset the San Francisco agenda but, we can only hope, will drive a lot of his rank and file crazy.

Sit back and enjoy.

We've got a war goin' on, don't you know!