OK...... I'll follow the time honored rule about not speaking adversely about the dead...

.... but it will be interesting to watch the coming race to fill the person's seat in congress...



Daily Caller

Congressman John Murtha dead at 77; competitive special election likely in Pennsylvania

Democratic Rep. John P. Murtha, who just Saturday became Pennsylvania’s longest serving member of Congress, died Monday at a Virginia hospital from an infection relating to a recent surgery.

Murtha, 77, the powerful chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, “passed away peacefully” at 1:18 p.m. Monday at Virginia Hospital Center in Arlington, according to spokesman Matthew Mazonkey.

Murtha had recently undergone gallbladder surgery at Bethesda Naval Hospital and had developed an infection.

Mazonkey said Murtha, who in 1974 became the first Vietnam War veteran elected to Congress, “dedicated his life to serving his country both in the military and in the halls of Congress.” In recent years, he was known for his ardent opposition to the Iraq War and his call for an immediate pullout of U.S. troops there....

....The Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza noted that Murtha’s death will set off a competitive special election, likely to be held on May 18, the date already set for federal primaries around the state. Cillizza writes that “Murtha’s district is the only one in the country won by Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) in 2004 and by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) in 2008, according to Republican sources, and that trend line coupled with the volatile national environment for Democrats ensures Republicans will heavily target the contest.”

Good by John.

xtnyoda, shalomed