Doing the bidding of Karl Rove as usual, NPR's Melissa Block pressed Rep. John Murtha on impeachment.

A. There are 4 ways you can influence a president.
First of all there's the polls which didn't influence him.
Second of all there's an election, which should have influenced the president and had some influence- he fired his secretary of defense.
Third there's impeachment.
And fourth there's the power of the purse.
We're using the power of the purse to negotiate with the president.
And I hope we'll be able to work out a compromise.
We want to work with the president to end this long conflict where our troops are caught in a civil war.

Q. Congressman Murtha, when you include impeachment are you raising that as a realistic possibility of something that could happen here?

A. Well I'm just saying that's one of the options that Congress has on the table.
I'm getting more and more calls from the public about impeachment.
Realistically, obviously the power of the purse is the most powerful influence that the public has and we have to exert that influence to our utmost ability.

Q. You're saying you're getting calls from the public on impeachment, is the call for impeachment anything you would consider?

A. It's just one of the things that we always consider.
That's part of the process.
We're very careful about that.
I've been thru two impeachment proceedings.
It's a very difficult proceeding.
And I don't think it's appropriate at the time.
But it's one of the things certainly that I always consider.

Update 1: Greg Sargent misreads Murtha. No one claims Murtha was starting impeachment proceedings - just that he was putting impeachment on the table after a year in which Nancy Pelosi insisted impeachment was off the table. Sargent is openly hostile to impeachment - I wonder why?