I can’t believe the guy was ever proclaimed a hero.  “Democrat Opposes War!” is hardly news, even when the Democrat in question is a fat, ugly old white guy who opposes abortion and flag burning and who fought in Vietnam.

But that’s going to be his epitaph, in terms of how he’s remembered: the Democrat who was against the war(s) after he was for it/them.  Wow, I can dimly recall a presidential campaign whose loss might have hinged on that same concept.  (I can’t, though, think of a cleaner illustration of the difference between a liberal and a progressive.  Strongly-pro labor people who won’t try sushi?  A progressive is a fighter while a liberal is a cowardly dinosaur, out of sync with his/her district, who will be replaced by a Republican when s/he drops dead.)

Because let’s not forget that Jack Murtha was one fucking corrupt bastard, and that’s what he should be remembered for.  That and calling his constituents racists.  Nancy Pelosi handpicked him to be her majority leader, and he lost to Steny Hoyer (although I don’t think I’ve ever heard a peep about any dissension after that incident).  Murtha earmarked $38 million for clients of a lobbying group in his district and gave plum jobs to his family members.

There’s lots of shitty Democrats like that, actually.   Lots of them wind up serving in Congress since 1974 or something–Charlie Rangel, Chris Dodd, the consummately unprincipled Arlen Specter.  I think I could support term limits if they were high, because institutional memory is an important thing.  But it’s really rare to find someone doing much good after 25 years in office.

But Murtha was dead weight for sure.  How the fuck can you vote to prohibit pregnant minors from crossing state lines to get an abortion?  That’s ghoulish.  Just because you think abortion is wrong doesn’t mean you treat teenage girls like a trunkful of cigarettes.