In a blow to House Republicans who had made him one of their favorite targets of scorn and derision, U.S. Rep. John Murtha (D-PA) died today at age 77 of complications from gallbladder surgery.
Although he’d earned wide renown amongst D.C. insiders for his pork-barrel prowess (you know, the kinda bring-home-the-bacon politics folks here in our Washington like to abuse Rep. McDermott for not plying), Murtha didn’t become a lightning rod for Republican criticism until 2005, when the normally hawkish Democrat prominently came out in favor of withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq. A former marine whose honors include the Bronze Star and two Purple Hearts, Murtha was the first Vietnam War veteran to be elected to the U.S. House.
And in a curious historical note, Murtha has now become the third in a direct line of succession to have died in office, joining his immediate predecessor John P. Saylor (1973) and Saylor’s predecessor Robert L. Coffey (1949). So a word of caution to those seeking to succeed Murtha: few who hold this office manage to return alive.
UPDATE:
Speaking of pork, Murtha’s death bumps WA’s own Rep. Norm Dicks to the number two position on the all powerful House Appropriations Committee, where he will likely take over Murtha’s chair of the lucrative Defense subcommittee. Say what you want, but that can’t be bad for the military-industrial complex here in WA state.
More pork for the congressmen from Boeing!
Murtha left the world a lot better place than he found it. At the end of the day, that’s all you can really ask of anyone.
While we all acknowledge his military service, let us not forget that the FBI named him as “an unindicted co-conspirator” in a bribery case.
john425
shhhh shhhh on that and his ties to the PMA Group Puddy wrote about on this blog. ylb arschloch has it archived. He was also the House “King of Pork”. Most libtardos forgot these facts. Well with his death Pelosi won’t be looking for him when she finally decides to “drain the swamp”.
I wonder if repented and apologized to all the Marines he smeared before he died.
And the video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2ehCmaQ3Dg
shhhh sshhhh Everyone is in on the secret…
Right wingers are total idiots…
@2 Fortunately for Republicans everywhere, you can’t be indicted for idiocy in this country.
@3 For every Democrat in jail for bribery, there’s 10 Republicans in jail for bribery.
And if I have to be represented by crooks, I still like our crooks better than your crooks.
@4 Apologize for what? Being right about Iraq? When is Bush going to apologize to all the dead Marines he sent on a wild goose chase in Iraq for WMDs that never existed?
4
Murtha was right. Bush is a murdering pig. So, who in your mixed up world owes an apology? Remarkable how the reality of you people is so backwards.
The guy was a real douchebag.
Gave his son all kinds of perks.
Lucky he died before he was indicted.
Good riddance.
11
Ah, yes, Republican humanity on full display–forgiving, charitable, nonjudgmental.
re 2: “While we all acknowledge his military service….”
Big deal. You celebrate Bush and Cheney’s ‘military service’, also. And while we are on the subject, did you know that Dan Rather reported live (and occasionally under fire)during the Vietnam war?
Yep. That’s closer to a real war than either Bush or Cheney ever got.
Wingnut pundit George Will fantasizes about a GOP ticket consisting of Gov. Mitch Daniels and Rep. Paul Ryan occupying the White House in 2013. Here’s the part Will especially salivates over:
“Ryan proposes tax reform. … It would have just two rates: 10% on incomes up to $100,000 for joint filers and $50,000 for single filers; 25% on higher incomes. There would be no deductions, credits or exclusions, other than the health care tax credit. … Ryan would eliminate taxes on interest, capital gains, dividends and death.”
http://www.investors.com/NewsA.....?id=520346
Roger Rabbit Commentary: Yeah, I can see why the rich would drool over that! But why anyone who works for a living would vote for this scheme is a mystery. I did a quick calculation that shows my taxes would go up about 35% — just so the rich can get another tax break. And anyone who thinks the very rich, who get most of their income inheritances, capital gains, and dividends, would be paying 10% of their income in taxes has his head up his ass. With all these sources of income exempt, they’d be paying somewhere between 0% and 2% while the night shift janitor who cleans their offices pays 5 to 20 times what they do. I guess our existing outrageous tax system that already coddles the rich just isn’t unfair enough yet to satisfy these jerks. Why would you vote for them?
While I respect Murtha’s stand on the Iraq War and his support for the military, he abused the earmark system and directed hundreds of millions of dollars to clients of the lobbying firms managed by his brother and his former chief of staff. CREW has long identified him as one of the most corrupt members of Congress. Here’s their report on him: http://www.crewsmostcorrupt.or.....murtha.php
On the other hand, the fact that Rep. Norm Dicks becomes #2 overall on the Appropriations Committee and chair of its Defense Subcommittee is huge news for Washington State. Boeing and Hanford both stand to benefit, as do Tacoma and the Olympic Peninsula. With Dicks in the House and Patty Murray serving as one of the cardinals of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Washington State is in its strongest position in Congress since the days of Scoop and Maggie.
@9
Murtha was wrong about the Marines in Haditha. Wrong on ABSCAM. Wrong on pork. He was a pig.
@9: You’re only 50% correct, which is about 10,000% better than usual.
As for Murtha being a pig, I can only comment that this shows you to be a lickspittle ideologue, a contemptuous cur, and a totally unprincipled liar. you denounce the deceased like the good little Stalinist prig you are.
My fondest wish is for you to be struck and killed by a Communist butch biker leaving the abortion clinic on her way to her job at ACORN.
May you rot eternally in the Hell you allegedly fear.
@4
Right after Bush apologizes to the entire armed forces after he made fun of all the sacrifice our soldiers did in Iraq. I mean, what commander in chief would send soldiers to do a dangerous job, then mock them by looking under the couches in the Oval Office for weapons of mass destruction? Not one Republican called for his resignation/impeachment.
I’m sure Pennsylvania will honor the late representative by voting a republican in his place when his term is up. It’s just a hunch.
@16 “Marines in Haditha”
You call those trigger-happy child rapists and murderers “Marines”? No discipline, didn’t follow orders, committed vicious crimes? They may have worn “Marine” uniforms, but any real Marine would be insulted if you called those animals “Marines.” They are criminals.
Conservatives assure us that tax cuts for the rich are necessary to create incentives for savings and investment. Let’s see what happened to the U.S. Personal Savings rate under the Reagan and Bush tax cuts for the rich:
http://www.chartingstocks.net/.....savert.png
Ooops! That didn’t work! Another wingnut theory blown to hell! Maybe we should reinstate the 1960 tax rates and see if that’ll work better!
@19 Got any stock market hunches? I want to know, so I can do the opposite.
First Kennedy, now Murtha! Those two fuckwads finally did something good for the country.
17: “My fondest wish is for you to be struck and killed by a Communist butch biker leaving the abortion clinic on her way to her job at ACORN.”
Damn, that’s good. Kudos.
Mark @ 23:
And, I’m guessing you’re “pro-life,” aren’t you, Markie? Of course, like most Republicans, the only “life” you would protect and promote is that of fetal cells and the brain dead.
@25 Mark has no civilized manners because he was raised by wolves in a cave.
26
Yet Obama still is willing to give Republicans a place at the table. Why? If I were in his position, I wouldn’t even let them into the kitchen to beg for table scraps.
Teleprompter Hypocrite
Huffington Post reports:
“Closer inspection of a photo of Sarah Palin, during a speech in which she mocked President Obama for his use of a teleprompter, reveals several notes written on her left hand.”
[Roger Rabbit: Does anyone besides me find that ironic? =:-D< ]
"There were no specifics on there, just general concepts and things she supports. The takeaway is that this presidential contender apparently can’t remember her supposed core principles and needs a cheat-sheet when simply asked about her beliefs.”
Roger Rabbit Commentary: I already know what some troll will say: “Huffington Post is a liberal website, so why should anyone believe that?” Ummm, well, if you’re skeptical you could just look at the photos …
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/.....52458.html
@27 I’m glad you asked that! Jon Meachem of Newsweek answers this very question:
“The ethos of the Founding is also about give-and-take, compromise, and ultimate unity of purpose.”
That’s why the President is giving it the old College Try. But Meachen also is realistic:
“‘I know … it can seem like a return to civility is not possible, like the very idea is a relic of some bygone era.’ Unfortunately, the president is probably right.”
http://www.newsweek.com/id/233182
But even if it’s hopeless, the President has to give it a try, if for no other reason so the onus of incivility will be on the conservatives who refuse to be civil.
In other words, the GOP’s “my way or the highway” approach is un-American.
Good riddance. Some say Murtha was one of the most corrupt members of Congress.
Some “right wingers” say. Right wingers who have already forgotten about Republicans like Bob Ney and Duke Cunningham who’ve gone to jail..
for corruption…
I don’t recall Murtha spending any time in a jail cell..
Here’s some other corrupt guys:
http://www.republicanoffenders.com/
re 31: I don’t think so. Any Republican congressman would be far more corrrupt than any Democrat.
Tom DeLay comes to mind.
Here’s my source. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. They cite Murtha as one of the most 15 corrupt members of congress.
http://www.crewsmostcorrupt.org/
Anyone see that piece of shoe scraping coward lately?
Goldy said:
“Speaking of pork, Murtha’s death bumps WA’s own Rep. Norm Dicks to the number two position on the all powerful House Appropriations Committee, where he will likely take over Murtha’s chair of the lucrative Defense subcommittee.”
No kidding! I live in Norm’s district, and I can attest that he’s good at bringing home the bacon, ham, sausage – whatever pork is available!!
Funny that Andy Warhol died after gall bladder surgery as well.
But 19 years earlier Warhol had been shot like 5 times so his health was somewhat delicate. Funny that the years after that shooting incident were probably his most productive and lucrative.
@27 If I were in his position, I wouldn’t even let them into the kitchen to beg for table scraps
If you were in his position you might do just that . . . but, of course, you’ll NEVER be in that position.
@20
I guess you missed that they’ve all been found innocent of the charges.
You slimy fuck.
34. Troll spews:
Precisely. Murtha was a real douchebag.
So is President Obama, Rahm Emmanual and David Axelroad.
Thankly Americans are understanding how corrupt these guys are.
Democrat(Crookocrat) presidential ticket for 2012: James Trafficant/Ray Nagin
As ACORN would say, “vote often”……
McDermott does not bring home the bacon, not because he doesn’t want to, its because nobody in Congress will give him anything. He is a complete moron, that could only be elected from Seattle. I suspect some mental malady (seriously). There are plenty of good liberal politicians in Seattle who could/should replace him. What an embarrassment!
@39
Courts do not prove innocence, that’s not their job. Not guilty does not mean they didn’t do it, only that guilt couldn’t be proved. Remember the OJ trial?
Another progressive goes down in flames today in the great state of Illinios.
see you later lieutentant gov wannabe Scott Lee Cohen..dont let the door hit you on the way out…….
oh, and Scott, crying is for bitches. Man up you puss.
@43
You are correct. A finding of not guilty does not eliminate the possibility that they committed the act. You can’t prove a negative.
But it doesn’t excuse or justify the rush to judgement without any of the facts by the late John Murtha – “cold blooded killers”. Or the continued accusations by the resident lunatic @ 20, the slimy fuck.
Translation: The King of pork (figuratively and literally) was killed by national healthcare…one more reason to reject Obama-care.
John Murtha was a deplorable man in life- and yes, I say that as a former Marine like Murtha. A microcosm of what it wrong in Washington D.C. when self serving jackasses disregard the American people and instead, bring home the bacon to their district and build monuments to themselves with our American taxpayers monies. http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....02128.html
He accused Marines (who were later exonerated in a court of law) of “cold blooded murder” in Haditha without an ounce of evidence put forth or seen and never issued so much as a mea culpa or apology for having recklessly doing so after their exoneration.
http://www.bootmurtha.com/Murt.....meline.htm
Mourn a sad, sorry person like Murtha? You’re fucking kidding, right?