And he says this as tangible progress is being made toward victory.

The Washington Times has led on this story all day and now provides video along with a roundup of reaction.

This week, around our Thanksgiving tables, there will be two families: One who say they support the troops, and they do, but they have sacrificed very little. They haven’t had their taxes raised, they haven’t been drafted, and they don’t really participate in the war. The other are military families who have husbands and wives, sons and daughters, mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters in the war theater. It’s them who shoulder the burden of the President’s Iraq policy. America owes them our thanks in this Thanksgiving weekend.

So having your taxes raised somehow makes your support for the war more special? All that does is give Jack more of everyone else’s money to play with. To call him “contemptible” is to define that word down.

“Look at all the people that have been displaced, all the [lost] oil production, unemployment, all those type of things,” said Rep. John P. Murtha, chairman of Appropriations defense subcommittee. “We can’t win militarily.”

The Pennsylvania Democrat conceded violence was down dramatically and some normalcy restored on Iraq’s streets, but he said U.S. victory remains unattainable as long as Baghdad fails to pass national reconciliation laws.

“To change the political law, it doesn’t seem to me you need the military stability,” Mr. Murtha told reporters on Capitol Hill.

Even the New York Times has recognized that there is real progress being made in Iraq, and it’s obvious that the surge strategy has played a starring role in that progress. But that’s not good enough for ol’ Abscam Jack. Click to head over to Fishwrap and scroll down to see the clip. The video covers the first quote above.