As opposed to that thug, Murtha

John Murtha, Democratic representative from western Pennsylvania, is now impugning his own constituents:

John Murtha said Monday some of his constituents in western Pennsylvania are "rednecks" and the entire region just five to 10 years ago was "really redneck." The comments come one week after he called his own constituents "racist" in an interview with his local newspaper. "What I said, that indicted everybody, that's not what I meant at all. What I mean is there's still folks that have a problem voting for someone because they are black," Murtha said.
Murtha said the history of southwestern Pennsylvania is teeming with racism. "This whole area, years ago, was really redneck," he told WTAE-TV Pittsburgh. Murtha, a Democrat, apologized last week for calling the area "racist," but challenger Bill Russell said it was a reckless insult to the people in his district and the "cheapest of cheap shots." Russell, an Iraq war veteran, swiftly put out a thirty-second web video on Murtha's quote and plastered his website with references to it, using it as a fundraising pitch with nineteen days to go until the election.
Murtha has held his seat for seventeen terms, and Democrats outnumber Republicans by two-to-one in the state's 12th District -- but Russell, a first-time candidate, said the latest development should give him a boost. Russell, a 28-year Army veteran who recently retired, has been railing against Murtha, also a veteran, for calling for the withdrawal of troops in Iraq and for voting for the financial bailout package. "We're very much running a race and it may or may not have occurred to him yet," Russell said.
Russell said some voters will always hold "racist attitudes," but that voters in western Pennsylvania who break with Obama will mostly do so over his views on issues like abortion and gun control.

Rico says he doesn't live in the 12th district, which is too bad; he'd have enjoyed voting for a real veteran to unseat a political veteran...