Murtha was Pelosi’s choice for House Majority Leader, but they’re taking complete opposite sides on two significant issues: The Armenian genocide resolution and the war surtax proposal.

Murtha renewed his call for a surtax to fund the Iraq War, an idea Pelosi has shot down, and he cautioned against bringing up legislation to condemn the Armenian genocide, a measure Pelosi supports.

On Wednesday, Pelosi appeared to acquiesce to one of Murtha’s demands, indicating that the vote on the Armenian bill was now in doubt. Many others besides Murtha lobbied her to abandon or postpone the vote. The Turkish government, a key Muslim ally of the United States, was vehemently opposed, as was the Bush administration, which feared losing Turkey’s support in military operations in the region.

Despite being rebuffed by Pelosi on the war surtax earlier, Murtha and Reps. Dave Obey (Wis.) and Jim McGovern (Mass.) wrote their colleagues Tuesday to gather support for the idea.

“Some people are being asked to pay with their lives or their faces or their hands or their arms or their legs,” the Democrats wrote. “If they are being asked to do that, it doesn’t seem too much to ask the average taxpayer to pay $112 for the cost of the war so we don’t have to shove it off on our kids.”

For the record, both proposals are moronic. The resolution would strain relations with a critical ally in the war on terror. Why? So we can condemn them for something that happened 90 years ago before Turkey was a nation.

The war surtax is another opportunity for Democrats to suck $112 more from Americans.

Why would Murtha and Obey go against Pelosi, pushing a pro-tax agenda they know will fail? Beyond me.