The editors of the NYT (of all people) say that Rep. Murtha is becoming a dangerous liability to the Democrats. An ongoing investigation has found that
[Confessed bribe-taker Richard] Ianieri’s company hired the lobbying firm of Mr. Murtha’s brother Kit. The company soon was blessed with money from an $8.2 million defense earmark. The Capitol newspaper Roll Call reported last month that Representative Murtha, using a 2005 tsunami relief bill, took the $8.2 million from another contractor that had severed ties with his brother’s lobbying firm. The Department of Justice alleges that Mr. Ianieri’s company then illicitly distributed $1.8 million of the money to other companies, some of them represented by Kit Murtha’s firm.
I must confess to bit of schadenfreude. Just two years ago, Jack Murtha was a fixture on the Sunday morning talk shows. With the indignation of the prophets of old, he thundered against the folly of those who would sacrificing his beloved soldiers and Marines on the altar of a futile war in Iraq. Apparently, Mr. Murtha knows first hand about betraying the best interests of our military.