Congressman John Murtha Has Died

First my deepest and sincerest condolences to his loved ones. John Murtha was not a public figure to them; he was a Father, Brother, Husband and Friend.

But it's the Public figure we will comment on, and how his death will affect the future of this country.

Incumbents are always a special case. Usually (unlike this year) they are not seen as a member of a party, but as the holder of an office, and party affiliation is less important than when running for an open seat.

This means that as a Democrat he could win in a Conservative leaning district.

But can his possible replacement? Without the current anti-Washington trend a Dem maybe able to hold that seat. Now? I doubt it- unless that Dem has Tea Party support.

So another seat, in Democratic hands for 35 years, become Republican. Pelosi was only able to muster 218 votes the first time health Care went through the House. One of those votes is now a Republican; and one just died. It's beginning to look like we have (barely) dodged the Socialist agenda.

Hopefully it was close enough for the voters to see what the Democrats were all about, without any actual pain of living through it.