In a post yesterday about the Military Times editorial calling for Rumsfeld's resignation I wrote:

Obviously, what's angering the troops is that a publication purporting to speak on their behalf is actually a subsidiary of Gannett Newspapers (which makes it a sister pub to USA Today, among others) that is in no way affiliated with the professional military and, according to the numerous responses I've gotten, doesn't seem to in any way represent the majority views of U.S. troops. Furthermore, given both of these things, the timing of the editorial just days before the election is viewed by many as clearly inappropriate.

Since the paper isn't associated with the U.S. military and the editorial page seems to in no way represent the views of U.S. troops, I guess it only makes sense that Pennsylvania Democrat Jack Murtha would not only use the editorial as a political tool but also tout it as more important than the news that Saddam is going to hang:

Representative John P. Murtha, the Pennsylvania Democrat who has become the face of his party's opposition to the war in Iraq, said the verdict was the right one but predicted it would not make a difference in this campaign. What would matter more, Mr. Murtha said, were editorials in military papers being published Monday calling for the resignation of Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld.

"When The Army Times, The Navy Times, The Marine Corps Times, they have all said that we're not supporting the troops, that they're losing confidence with the administration, that's what's important," Mr. Murtha said, campaigning in Croydon, Pa., outside Philadelphia, for Patrick Murphy, a Democrat seeking to unseat Representative Michael G. Fitzpatrick.

Since Jack Murtha often claims to have the pulse of the United States military, one has to assume that he knows the Military Times isn't part of the military and that the editorial doesn't represent the views of the troops. Thus it's hard to escape the fact Murtha is willfully misreprenting the nature and importance of the editorial to play politics before the election.