The Life and Times of John Murtha
He was a great, gruff, bear of a man who was quick to anger but the sort of fellow you wanted on your side in a political fight. He was proud of his Irish-American heritage, loved the Marine Corps, and for 35 years, represented the people of Pennsylvania’s 12th Congressional District.
It was only later in life when John Murtha became a poster boy for much of what was wrong with Congress that the unsettling truth began to dawn on many of his former friends and supporters — John Murtha had gotten so caught up in insuring his own incumbency that he sacrificed almost everything of value to maintain and augment his power in Washington, D.C.
The decorated Vietnam veteran and unofficial King of Pork died today at the age of 77.
You could start with his involvement in the Abscam scandal in 1980, where he was offered a bribe of $50,000 on tape but turned it down — saying, “I’m not interested … at this point. [If] we do business for a while, maybe I’ll be interested, maybe I won’t.”
Not exactly a ringing declaration of moral certitude, but not a smoking gun of wrongdoing either. And that dichotomy would mark his career in Congress for the last three decades. Murtha was a man who shamelessly wheeled and dealed to bring home the bacon. He once said: “Dealmaking is what Congress is all about.”
At the same time, until recently no one ever questioned his devotion to the men and women in uniform. There is no doubt that members of the armed forces are better off because of John Murtha’s battles to make their health care, pensions, housing, and pay better than it would have been if he had not been there to champion their cause.
He was a reliable vote for the defense buildup in the 1980s — one of the few Democrats who consistently went against their party to help Ronald Reagan rebuild the military. At the same time, he used his position as a member and then chairman of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee to steer plenty of contracts to his district. In the end, his problematic relationship with a former staffer who ran a consulting business and received millions from Murtha’s subcommittee in contracts was being investigated by both the FBI and the House Ethics Committee.
But it was the sheer volume of earmarks that flowed from his office back to his district that was truly mind-boggling. Hundreds of millions of dollars in pork for which he made no apologies — and indeed, in which he seemed to revel. He challenged his critics by simply stating that this is what a congressman does: takes care of the home folks. Others might say that Murtha’s shameless dealings were a classic illustration for why there should be congressional term limits.
He embodied what is wrong with our national government. His libelous attacks on our servicemen will be his legacy.
One of the very few ‘ex-marines’…’nuff said.
I think he was a despicable crook
Like Benedict Arnold before him. Murtha’s treason to his country later in life, erased any honor prior service bestowed.
Why does his death make me happy?
Like most men, Murtha was a dichotomy of good and evil, his service noble and his last years of public service pathetic and self-serving. Like many in Congress, I assume he started with good intent, and being of weak character begin to believe in his own power and enrichment.
Unfortunately, what I will remember of John Murtha was not his service, but the fact he was the public thief who pandered for votes, a weak constituency he represented who did not hold the man accountable while damaging the country for their own ill gains, and Murtha’s libelous charges against innocent men – an egregious misuse of power. The fact Murtha was granted immunity makes the sins all the more unforgiving for mortal men.
But also like all of us, justice is eventually served. And whatever the verdict, today Murtha received his just due.
1: NUFF SAID!
Ever since this man attacked servicemen of this country (I am an Honorably Discharged Viet Nam Era Vet United States Navy) I have been against him then with all the statements he made against Marines and learning of the corrupt policies of this piece of scum like his airport and family members getting lucrative contracts I hate him almost as much as Obama, may he be next in line to lose his position either by impeachment or rebellion or death by some means!
Obama is just a stupid man that somehow got elected and people are now seeing him for the empty suit he is. All he does is campaign but does not really do anything beneficial for our country, he has divided it and made people more decided to oppose him and his policies but are afraid to discuss his race (for fear of being called racist) but I am not! He and his ideas are absolutely awful and horrid and are destroying business and industry in this country and only promoting socialism and redistribution, that I am against, so therefore I HOPE he fails for a real CHANGE!
Murtha spewed hatred about our service people.
I don’t care if God personally anointed him years ago,
it’s what he did recently that shows who he was, crap.
Is there a chance of a “Scott Brown” scenario in regards to Murtha’s seat?
Like his cohort in the Senate, Teddy Kennedy, Murtha’s legacy will be forever tainted by his misdeeds. Traditional Judaism teaches that since we were all crafted in the image of our creator, the death of one’s enemy is not a cause to rejoice.
If he is remembered at all by anyone other than his family and close friends, it will be for Abscam.
So, does this put a house seat in play for a special election, or is it a safe democrat district?
Not feeling the love here for the old fraud…
“Murtha has never apologized for slandering the Haditha Marines by accusing them of murder before any evidence had been presented.”
Don’t you mean “never did” apologize???
I doubt he will EVER have the chance now…unless they happen to meet “somewhere” in that great beyond.
For a guy who did alot for his district and served his country in many ways, as you point out, he sure screwed up his legacy BIG TIME with this!
#2:
Nail. Head.
“…no one ever questioned his devotion to the men and women in uniform. ”
Haditha? Ring a bell? There’s more, but that should be more than enough.
The career of John Murtha is a good lesson on how spending long periods of time in Washington DC can have a long-term corrosive effect on ones character. It is also an argument for term limits.
I hope they can rename the breast surgery center at Walter Reed now. I thought it was absurd that he allocated taxpayer money to funding it, and then had it named after himself.
Rick,
I would like to commend you for what I believe is the most balanced and accurate description of Murtha I’ve yet read.
R.I.Hell, ‘Mutha’
I feel overwhelmingly indifferent.
It’s interesting that the people of Pennsylvania returned this man to Congress even after he insulted them by calling them rednecks. I wonder what it says about the people of Pennsylvania?
Murtha is the shining example of what’s wrong with politics these days. He was corrupt, a hate-monger who paid service to his corrupt constituents who abused the power of his public office. He could spew intemperate, vile speech and be totally unapologetic. I only wish Sgt. Wetterich could have gotten his due in court. As the father of a Haditha Marine, we will not miss Murtha as he represents all that is wrong with mankind. We lost all respect for his Marine service through his political career that was filled with corruption and self-serving behavior; not a representative of the people, but a representative of his own greed.
Two proverbs:
1. Speak no ill of the dead.
2. Where there is death, there is hope.
The man had an adventurous life and did some good work. He went off the rails later, and I’ve seen many seniors do that. Good people who can’t cope anymore, and lash out at things they don’t understand. If I live long enough for that to happen I pray that I have the courage to accept the inevitable.
Term limits would be good. Mandatory retirement at age 70 might be better. We do that in the medical profession. It works.
RIP Colonel Murtha.
Charlie
He was no worse, nor better, than many, many other members of Congress, both Democrats and Republicans. Making him out to be some exceptional case or reveling in his death really makes no sense. Hopefully his family is at ease and he is at peace.
I do not rejoice at his death.
But I am quite thankful that he is no longer in Congress. Would that he had done the honorable thing and retired a long time ago.
Could some honest congressman please immediately introduce a bill to cut off all the pork still being sent to his district?
He was a crook and a traitor to our brave servicemen. It is because of politicians like him that our great nation is headed for fiscal collapse, putting the entirety of Western Civilization at risk.
Millions of American lives have already been ruined by the kind of government meddling he supported. He betrayed his oath to uphold the Constitution, his cynicism and arrogance knew no bounds. He bought votes with other people’s money and was as corrupt as they come. His prior military service does not excuse or mitigate that in any way.
rogoto, you need to chill a bit… Murtha destroyed the careers of top-of-the-line career military like no other politician… he called my son a murderer and would never apologize… his office stopped taking my calls asking for an apology, and on one occasion, when I got to talk to an older woman at his Johnstown office, I asked her what she would do if Murtha had called her son a murderer… silence… then I asked how she could work for such a despot… her response? I need the job…
he walked the corridors of the Pentagon and threatened those who questioned his judgment and earmarks… he overrode decisions of military procurement specialists by forcing contracts on the unqualified suppliers lobbied by his brother and those in his district… he wasted billions by allocating funds to cronies and represented the worst that Congress had to offer… ya, he got funds for companies that didn’t exist, and when they were discovered he walked away like a mob hit-man… there were none more disturbed than Murtha and his passing is a blessing to restoring integrity to Congress…
While it is apparently true that Murtha was awarded two Purple Hearts and a Bronze Star for valor, it’s odd that no one seems to know exactly what for. This website (http://sweetness-light.com/archive/murthas-purple-hearts-questioned) notes that there don’t seem to be any contemporaneous records for the Purple Hearts or any citation detailing the actions deserving the Bronze Star, and that Murtha was always evasive about where he got hit and what he did that was Bronze Star-worthy. If anyone has verifiable information about these awards, it would be interesting to see it.
I wonder, were any of Murtha’s caregivers ex-military, and could that explain why he died of a simple gall bladder operation?
All of the negatives that have been said and posted are true…yet somehow I wish that such postmortems could wait a day. A day for his loved ones to grieve. To remember the hero that was Jack Murtha and not the grifter that “brought home the bacon” at the end of his career.
I probably suffer from approaching old age in that I wish for an era…that perhaps never was… in which we gave the recently departed a moment before the slings and arrows that can never be answered are slung.
A hateful, bitter old bully. A crude thug, a criminal who dealt in blood libel against our loyal troops and was not man enough to apologize when his despicable “charges” were proven false. A king of graft and wanton corruption who didn’t even try very hard to conceal what he was doing. It’s too late for Murtha to ever repent for his sins, but the Pennsylvania constituents who kept re-electing him ought to look themselves in the mirror and ask themselves what they were thinking. You, who voted for him repeatedly after his moral bankruptcy was impossible to deny, should be deeply ashamed for inflicting this petty little tyrant on the rest of your nation. Shame on you.
Right, skeeziks. Hold your head high. You think Murtha was great? Because? he was a Democrat, and no one dare speak ill of your tribe, no matter the depths of their perfidy? Is there any level of crime, corruption or blood libel you would not accept to protect your tribe?
35. Victor Erimita:
I didn’t say a word about Murtha. I said you people were despicable. And I said is that liar Reagan still dead? I stand by both in condemning your tribe. Any questions? I’m pretty sure i can answer them without looking at my hand.
JAckpot, people, jackpot!! Oh man have I been waiting for this day. OK, so here’s the deal – I have him sleeping in a Baker tent and everytime he is about to fall asleep – in steps a soldier blasting revelry into his ear on a bugle. The old bastard leaps up screaming “it was the rednecks that made me do it, mommy!!” every single time. Cracks me up! And can you believe the SOB has the nerve to ask me for a bottle of Lunesta. I says to him, “Jack ole’ boy, what do you think this is- the Congressional Prescription Counter?” Well, gotta run, gotta get the kerosene and crosses ready for Mr. Byrd. His time’s a comin’.
Sincerely,
Satan
The investigations were underway, but the Devil got him first.
As my Dad would say: well, since this is a family-friendly blog and I don’t want to get banninated, I won’t write what my Dad would say.
Several people have asked how he could get re-elected in his district, given his obvious corruption and the various things he got into over the years (the Abscam fiasco, the rednecks comment). The answer is pretty simple, even if I’m not conversant with the district in question. Congressional elections are below most people’s radar. Many (I would guess a majority) citizens don’t even know their Congressman’s name, let alone who their opponent in the next election is, the candidates’ stands on the issues, or anything else to do with the House of Representatives.
There are elections every other year, for the House of Representatives, and the incumbent wins almost all the time. This means the races are typically boring and no one much pays attention. This, in turn, means that challengers rarely have any name recognition–no one cares about the election–so everything happens under the radar. As a result, money is king in such an election; if you’re a well-financed incumbent it’s practically impossible to defeat you. It’s very rare that one of these guys gets defeated; they tend to serve until they choose to retire, they go to prison on corruption charges, or they die in office. There’s also the issue of Congressional PACs, which these days try to spend their money on races where they have a chance of winning. That means since Murtha’s impregnable, the Republicans didn’t even bother to really try, probably.
The result is that these guys stay in office as long as they care to, unless they go to prison or die in office. Just the way it is. I’m against term limits (I think elections by themselves ought to be sufficient) but an age limit for Congressmen and Senators might be a good idea. Problem is they’d have to sign off on it themselves; I doubt they’d do this, given that so many of them would be affected by it.
Murtha was a bully and an ass. I remember how he would try to physically intimidate Republican members of Congress when they disagreed with him. He was no better than John Kerry, another military imposter, who refused to say what he did to deserve his war medals. His life was a lie, and his treatment of real Marines was despicable. He may have called himself a Marine, but he was not worthy of the title. Good riddance to vermin like him.
Just look at Murthas face in the ABSCAM tape. He is glowing with excitement ready to do business with the bribe offering Arab sheik.
Its an obvious bribe..and Murtha isnt offended in the slightest.
What saves Murtha is that a far more honest man Larry Pressler reported it to the FBI before Murtha
could cash in. Murtha was a “unidicted conspirator” who ratted on his pals and and then had ethics charges dismissed by a party line vote.
The next 26 years were just the same kind of sleaziness. Pork barrel giveaways to Western Pennsylvania..bribes in return for votes…no matter what the cost to the country.
Also, Rick: what were you smoking when you wrote this puff piece? Your glorification of Murtha makes you sound like Nancy Pelosi.
Murtha in Action.
I had some experience with Rep Murtha when I was at the Pentagon in the early 1990’s.
First, while I was there he was head of the committee that controlled military appropriations for the House of Representatives. And he was good at it, as people go. He was not afraid to send a letter to the DoD saying “Okay, I know you have a problem with such and such a program. Never mind what the official budget request is. How much money do you really need to fix things?” And this was sometimes in response to some political favors other congressmen were pushing in order to bail out a home state contractor who had screwed up.
But on the other hand…. One day I had to discuss a piece of Sen. Stevens’s pork with a 3 star general. And I heard a discussion of one of Murtha’s pork projects. It seems that one of his constituents had come up with a mod to a piece of Air Force equipment. The Air Force not only did not need the mod, but the equipment was scheduled to be disposed up within the next few years. It would go to Murtha’s buddy to be modded and then to the junk yard all at cost of 2 or 3 $million. People were outraged over this, with some officers and government civilians vowing to write THEIR congressmen. But the Air Force wearily took the position that they had to fork over the $3M, it was already in the appropriation and if they did not ship it to Penn., then Murtha would cut some other program we needed in retribution.
At least Sen. Stevens’ pork was actually useful for something, someone, somewhere, sometime, and I think that was generally the case with him. It appears that was not true of Murtha.
“I probably suffer from approaching old age in that I wish for an era…that perhaps never was… in which we gave the recently departed a moment before the slings and arrows that can never be answered are slung.”
Why? Those slings and arrows came while he was alive and he never answered them. So his being dead isn’t any change.
AS far as his “awards”, all he had to do to answer his critics is release his DD 214. His, like mine and EVER other discharged vet, has a block where military wards are listed. There used to be an addendum where the actual citation is given.
http://www.archives.gov/veterans/military-service-records/dd-214.html
Perhaps the people of Penn., will come to their senses and vote a good man into office. I do not understand why he was returnd by them
Maybe there will be a Brown type election in Penn..but the drunk (family trait?)Patrick kennedy called Brown’s election/campaign a joke, and Patrick is from the original “joke” family..so who knows. Murther called the people of his state rednecks, is derogatory towards our service people and still go back to office….what can we say…Wake up Pennsylvania!!!
I agree, Cache. The voters of Pennsylvania who put this crook and slanderer of America’s warriors back into office bear the shame and guilt of Murtha’s bad acts. I can’t blame a dog for being a dog. It’s the dog’s owners who are responsible for keeping it on a leash. Repeatedly, Democrats elect a hound and take it off the leash. Next thing you know, the neighbors’ chickens are being killed, the cows are being chased till they give no milk, and the pork you raised is being eaten by the dogs. A lot of people’s little piggie banks ended up in Pennsylvania because of Murtha’s marauding of the treasury. The voters of PA didn’t care what Murtha called them, as long as he called them when the checks arrived. Pe on PA.
Good riddance to bad rubbish!
He polluted the halls of congress with his stench for far too long!
Leave it up to a Dimwit-crat to figure a way to actually make an ex-Marine! Even that much association with those fine warriors is too much for Murtha. The only way he could have stooped lower would have been to commit “desertion in the face of the enemy”!
As far as I’m concerned, he committed treason against his country and dishonor to the USMC.
Wanna’ bet they buty him at Arlington?
Who inherits his book of business; all the pay-offs, kick backs and under the table deals? Does it go with the Congressional seat? Does his nephew get it? Are all deals off forcing Obama’s lobbyists to buy another dem Congressman?
Murtha’s estate should go through probate (in Pennsylvnia) annd it will be interesting to see how many millions he has accumulated during his career of public service. Of course, some may not want this information to be public.
This is about as sad as the death of Teddy
“serving as a S-2 intelligence officer in Vietnam. He was awarded two Purple Hearts and a Bronze Star during his tour of duty”
Sure he was. Just like Kerry had THREE purple hearts, right?
Anyone, who has served anywhere, knows Officers fudge paperwork like Government employees fudge working hours.
They are OFFICERS they hold an OFFICE, they produce oversee and transact OFFICIAL ADMINISTATIVE PAPERWORK ALL THE TIME. No difficult task to know exactly how, where and when to “get stuff through”
Any Veterens here? Any of you EVER see an S-2 officer in the field? Ever see one weapon in his hand, EVER?
A Bronze Frigging STAR!?
Like Obammies Nobel Prize, I dont doubt its EXISTENCE,
I know its been awarded…..
I just know better.
I’m sure there are many other Vietnam Veterans who returned from Vietnam and went on to have successful careers in their chosen field. There may even be more of them in Congress. But I haven’t heard of very many, perhaps with the exception of Kerry, voice their vitriolic dislike of America as loudly as Murtha. Action speaks louder then words and Murtha’s actions in Congress expose him as a money grubbing back slapper who would do anything to and/or for anyone to make a buck. Whatever values that Murtha leaned in the Marine Corps he totally forgot in the halls of Congress. And I have to agree with “Bubblehead”. Yeah, dammit, unfortunately he’s probably going to be buried at Arlington.
Ya, Seth, I’ve been deluged all day long by 1/1 Vietnam Marines who know he never saw combat, so the medals are suspicious. And as you point-out, whatever values he learned in the Corps left him when he got to the legislature. Time for the PA 12th to elect someone with integrity.
He gave encouragement and succor to our enemies during time of war, and for this I can not forgive him.
“Honor is a gift a man gives to himself”
-Anonymous
Murtha obviously was never in the ‘gift’ giving mode. Corruption is now synonymous with the name Murtha. As a retired veteran, I am embarrassed that this individual (as well as Kerry)ever wore a military uniform.
Ya, Walt, and as a resident of Cambridge in the early 70s, John Kerry (who served in Vietnam) would parade his butt around to the Cambridge bars wearing his medals on his cammies – what an embarrassment.
One less corrupt demtard who lost his honor and his soul,for a seat at the Public Trough.Good riddance! Now let’s take his seat!
MURTHA DEMOCRAT TRAITOR
The enemy within is always more dangerous than the enemy without. And Murtha was an enemy of America of the most dangerous sort. He was a true Benedict Arnold in the mold of John (The Traitor) Kerry.
He faked his own medals just like Kerry did, and then tried to do more harm to America and be more comfort to our enemies, as a Congressman.
I am sure he is burning in hell as I speak, and I am enjoying every minute of his death and his burning in hell.
We Conservatives must get over the false idea that ALL military men are loyal Americans. We have plenty of Benedict Arnolds serving right now at the highest levels of the Pentagon. RobertFounder@Gmail.Com
RIP, John Murtha (Rest in Purgatory).
You will be remembered by few and loathed by many. The PA 12th deserved better.
I don’t believe that a person who served in the US Military would change his values just because he was a civilian. I expect he was as evil in the military as he was in Congress.
I am glad he is gone, he long ago wore out his welcome.