Attack of Amnesia or PR Ploy?

Murphy gets Reamed by the Liberal Press – Was it Real or…?

Bucks County PA –  Politicians are seldom known to make such giant gaffs as the several reported recently concerning our struggling Democrat Congressman. They actually entitled the article in the Doylestown Intelligencer – “Attack of Amnesia“!

On March 2nd the story read, in part:

…Congressman Patrick Murphy warned the party faithful not to allow Republicans “to misstate the facts, to try to do a magical spell and give us amnesia.”

That warning apparently came too late to save the congressman himself. Several times, his memory clearly failed him as he tried to blame all of the country’s ills on George W. Bush. And not only Bush. At one point, he said, “I feel like the cleanup crew. After eight years of George Bush and eight months of Sarah Palin, we need to clean up their mess.”

Uh, Sarah Palin, congressman? Sarah Palin has never held any federal office or been in any position of any kind where she could influence federal policy. Just what was Murphy talking about? Throwing out a little red meat for the party crowd, maybe?

Maybe it was just a bad day for him, but the rest of the article (well worth reading, we think) faults him on many other factual points and concludes:

As the election season begins to heat up, voters would do well to understand that it is the nature of ALL veteran politicians to employ selective memory, massage the facts and try to pin everything bad on the other guy. It’s only March 2. Be prepared for a great deal of selecting, massaging and pinning in the months ahead.

Some of us believe, perhaps a little cynically, that as bad a he is, our soon-to-be Ex-Congressman is not really a dummy.

It could all be PR (You know: I don’t care what they say about me as long as they spell my name correctly) trying to get him in the news and provoke some sympathy for a “hard-working” office seeker.

Maybe he  was seeking the sympathy vote by demonstrating that he is either (a) overworked, (b) suffers from sleep apnea, (c) needs to distance himself from all Democrat policies, or (d) all of the above.

Check the article online and then read the comments, too; they must be scary to him.

Part of the good news of this story is that the Phillyburbs.com website, the web outlet for the Intelligencer and Courier Times, both noted for their liberal slant on the news, seems to have moved a lot closer to the political center…perhaps.

You may have missed it, too, but on a recent TV Show “Mad Money“, host Jim Cramer stated that the Democrats and President Obama despite being skilled campaigners, have failed miserably as leaders. Further, he opined, that they have irked both the opposition and their “friends” to the point that the Republicans would win nearly every 2010 Congressional race, even if their candidate was a dead person!

We are really fortunate here in Bucks County to have a plethora of live and kicking candidates ready to step into the 8th Pennsylvania spot, including our well-liked and favorite son, Mike Fitzpatrick the previous office holder, running in the Spring Primary.

(Mike actually won the Congressional vote in Bucks in 2006; it was a small section of Philadelphia that is included in the Eighth Pennsylvania Congressional District that put Murphy’s over the top.)

See Mike in action at the The Bucks County Public Policy Round Table HEALTH FORUM on Friday Evening, March 17th.

Mr. Murphy was also invited to the same Forum, along with four physicians, but as of St. Patrick’s Day (not Murphy’s day, pleeze!), he had not indicated he would attend. Perhaps he got mixed up or forgot or wasn’t willing to show up in public again.

A footnote: A recent NBC poll, reported on March 16th,  showed that both the majority of Democrats, Independents and Republicans think Congress has done a rotten job, with only about 17% approving of their actions. That’s an indicator of a major change in the wind and possibly what’s ailing Mr. Murphy, he knows that he is on a downward-facing, slippery slope! In that case, pity is better than nothing!

Maybe Mr. Murphy, or his PR staff, thinks if he acts silly, stupid or scared in public, people will take pity and vote for him anyhow. Those and his family’s votes look to be about the only ones he can count on now, in our view.

(Sorry, no sympathy in this quarter!)