Nice Place For A Tea Party? Welcome To The Jack Murtha Airport

Thanks for the use of pictures from the Wordpress blog of Josh Blackman goes to Josh Blackman, a legal blogger who currently blogs at Josh Blackman, and who has kindly given me permission to use his work.

The next Tea Party Convention should strive to accommodate more of the regular folks who are the life blood of the movement, as opposed to the recent affair in Tennessee which charged admission, and which was attended by a relative handful of Tea party leading personalities of the day, such as Sarah Palin and Andrew Breitbart. This is something the media has gleefully latched onto as evidence that there might well be a divide building up between the rank-and-file and an apparent cadre of elites.

Of course, every movement will produce its leaders, which will inevitably rise to the top as spokespersons for any mass of people. That is to be expected, though of course it is also to be monitored.

There should nevertheless be occasion for a wider convergence of the movement faithful, and naturally there should be a facility to accommodate them. It need not be all in one place. It can easily be a synchronized meeting across the country, facilitated through satellite link-ups with media coverage. It is probably unrealistic to expect the entire country of Tea Party faithful to converge in one spot. However, one place in particular stands out in my mind. But first, a word about the founder.

Jack Murtha is dead, and there are those that will grieve his passing. I will not, like a great many others, though there are many who are, going by their past assessments of the man, whistling past the graveyard as we speak.

I started out doing a hit piece on Murtha, but changed my mind because, like all of us, he wasn't all bad, though he was doubtless one of the most crooked, corrupt politicians to infest the planet. This was widely recognized even by most of his present day defenders.

He won election to his office in the early seventies, when he was supported by conservative Democrat Henry "Scoop" Jackson of Washington. He built a career as a supporter of the armed forces, including the men and women who serve, whose interests he was always a staunch champion of. At the same time, this former Vietnam War hero was among the largest contributors to the Pentagon budget of his and arguably of any day.

However, he had his run-ins with the law, even going back to the eighties and the Federal ABSCAM probe, which ended in him named as an unindicted co-conspirator. He maintained his seat through the support of various conservative causes. For example, he was Pro-Life, which was practically a requirement for election to the office from his Western Pennsylvania district.

At first, he was a staunch supporter of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, but when things went south, he moderated his position to a remarkable degree, turning against the Iraq War, which he considered to have been ill-planned and executed. He called for an end to the war, and became wildly popular in Democratic circles, even among those factions of the party which previously viewed him with a great deal of suspicion.

In what was possibly his most controversial move, he denounced a group of Marines who had participated in what has been termed a massacre, in a place in Iraq called Haditha, going to the extent of pronouncing their guilt in public media interviews, even on network and cable news programs, before the men were actually even charged with a crime. He inferred in his statements that he had inside sources to this effect. This still would have been improper conduct by a public official, but what made matters worse was the fact that he actually seemed to be relying on published magazine articles as his source.

As it turned out, this was all mainly a political ploy meant to shore up support for a run for the Majority Leadership position in the House of Representatives, for which he seemingly had the support of future and present House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Unfortunately for Murtha, the majority of support went to Maryland Representative Steny Hoyer.

Murtha seemed to drop out of the spotlight, though he remained in charge of the powerful House Armed Services Committee, and resurfaced briefly during the 2008 presidential primaries, when he proclaimed that a large segment of the voters of his district were racists. This statement was used against him in his own re-election campaign of that year, but Murtha nevertheless prevailed.

He died just a few days ago as a result of complications from gall bladder surgery, when one of his intestines was accidentally cut, which resulted in the onset of Sepsis.

Murtha will be remembered for many things-opposition to the Iraq War, the Haditha Marines, advocacy for the armed forces etc., but his most lasting legacy will certainly be his penchant for bringing the pork home to his district, perhaps the most obvious example of which would be The John Murtha Johnstown Airport.

This large, sprawling complex is served by one airline, which conducts three daily flights from Johnstown to Washington DC. The average occupancy of any given flight is well under fifteen passengers. For the most part, the place, though well maintained and sufficiently staffed, is veritably void of public customers. In fact, it is probably not an exaggeration to state that the majority of public presence at The John Murtha Johnstown Airport would probably be due to attendance at Sassy's-a public restaurant at the airport which is a popular breakfast spot among the locals.

It would be easy to see why this would be a sufficient place for a tea party. It has ample grounds, both outside and inside, and more than adequate facilities, including public restrooms, as well as the aforementioned Sassy's Restaurant.

Not only is the open grounds considerable, as it is basically in the middle of nowhere, but there are ample parking grounds. And of course, it goes without saying it is accessible by air.

It would seem to me that this would be an ideal place for such a large gathering, due not only to the available space, but due to the symbolic value for a movement that exists mainly as a protest against ever-increasing government, taxes, and public debt.

There might be two options. One, the facility might be leased or rented for an event or, failing that, it might be taken in the context of civil disobedience. After all, this airport was built on the backs of the taxpayers, at great expense and for seemingly minimal legitimate purpose at best.


The Control Tower. Note the expansive surroundings.


Outside the terminal


And, inside the terminal.


An uncharacteristically busy day at the Murtha Airport.

It would be poetic justice were The John Murtha Johnstown Airport to become the setting for the largest Tea Party gathering in the country thus far.