Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:
This city once had a steel-based economy and critics now say it has a John Murtha-based economy but, in what used to be the 11-inch rolling mill of Bethlehem Steel, nobody's apologizing.
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Rule number #1: Never begin a sentences with "If I am corrupt. . ."
The people of his district are mainly republican! Murtha knows how to bring the money and keep the jobs in his district! That's what earmarks are, bringing home federal money back to your district! We pay taxes, so why shouldn't are districts benefit! The place I work is getting 325 thous and we are thrilled! We pay into it so why shouldn't we get some back!
Oh, please! All you complainers are jealous because you dont have a representative who takes care of your district as well as Mr. Murtha takes care of his.
What is a representative elected to do but take care of his constituents? You are condemning him for doing the job he was elected for.
As for your whining about corruption, PROVE IT! He is NOT the ted stevens of Pennsylvania. It seems to me that he just about singlehandedly saved the economy in his district. He should be praised for that, not villified!
Sorry Representative Murtha...Y
If you are defending Rep. Murtha because he brings home the bacon to his district, you have apparently missed the thrust of the story. This story is about the Representative bringing home the bacon (in the form of campaign contributions) from the very receipents he brought home your bacon to. Don't you get it, you are in affect funding Rep. Murtha's re-election campaigns with funding earmarked for presumably worthy projects in his district.
To be fair, it is unfair to target Representative Murtha for doing nothing more (or less) than what most on Capitol Hill do. If there is to be a story about this kind of money laundering, let's call it what it is, then the story must include all that are allegedly guilty. We must expose not only the politicians but the contributors as well. It is time Main Street made a real effort to regain it's voice on Capitol Hill. A voice lost years ago to PACS, Wall Street, the banking industry, and other special interest groups. The one thing more aggravating about this story however, is the special interest groups used your money, not theirs, to silence your voice so theirs could be heard. Only in America will the people allow this sort of thing continue unabated year after year. Shame on all of us, our parents ought to take us out back of the wood shed and give us a good whuppin!
No, you're corrupt because you take care of your district at the expense of the country.
It's sad to see a once great man taken down by his own desire to hold onto power past his time. It happens far too often on both sides of the aisle.
He's been taken down?
Who knew?
term limits needed....
Four year terms, two terms maximum, eight years lifetime maximum?
Heh, sounds like the perfect motto for Congress, they should chisel that baby in granite at their front door.
Murtha's under the scope for taking donations from lobbyist Paul Magliocchetti and family ($3,300 in the past 2 years).
Oh, but wait a minute... the Magliocchettis have donated more to lindsey graham-wagner!
Where's the msm reporting on that?
He has done some very good things and we should appreciate his courageous stand on several critical issues, but his entrenched image as the corrupt "old school" politician does not help the cause. These issues have trailed him for a long time and my friends with the Dem Party in Penn. feel that it is just a matter of time before there are official charges filed. Some even call him "our Ted Stevens"..
What are people whining about here? There is no indication that he did anything illegal. There are no indictments, no charges, no US attorney waving his finger at a press conference.
As someone who visited Johnstown and many small towns in Pennsylvania, I see how corporate giants moved major capital infrastructure to other regions of the country and overseas in order to cut costs for their shareholders- the same thing that's happening everywhere in America. Corporations are betraying the American people for the greed and riches for the board of directors and majority shareholders. Unless they find illegal cash in his refrigerator, Murtha is a hero.
The American people need to wake up from their narcissistic nagging. Yeah there are some Muslim terrorists who want to cause people harm, but they are a handful of fools. The real threat to the American people is the corporate giants who are globalizing and moving overseas everything that America gave them. Halliburton has officially left the stadium- but they're still playing the game.
Murtha did for his people and most of America would be so lucky to have someone like him with a 30 year plan making it work.
As long as there's not major malfeasance, Murtha deserves respect for fighting for the average American people.
Bush made him do it!
Alas,... apparently the end does justify the means,....
I generally respect some of the things that Murtha has said & done over the last couple of years,... but here is another prime example of WHY we need term limits.
Occasionally the old guard needs to retire, or be put out to pasture. Murtha's time has come, and gone.
let's see now....Mur
"If I'm Corrupt, It's Because I Take Care Of My District"
omg, what a statement. every politician in the country can say the same thing.
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First Posted: 03-30-09 04:55 PM | Updated: 04-30-09 05:12 AM