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i am a new voter this year i turned 18 in september and i am part of the democrat this comment made today had me very upset. john murtha is speaking for the people he represents and that is not what i believe in. i feel that my name has been slandered and our whole area is now publiclly accused of being racist… i live in a very white dominated area and i have friends that are of different races. i feel john murtha has a few problems himself to work out because i’m not racist, he may be but im not

Again, Murtha sticks his foot in his mouth. This seems to be commonplace with him.

First he insults the Marines of which he WAS a reservist in the Marines (I wouldn’t claim this poc on that)
and now he has a lawsuit against him (of which I hope he gets slammed).

Now, if you don’t agree with Obama’s views, you’re a racist. Why oh why do the good people of PA
keep electing this IDIOT?!!

Look — I lived in Western PA for 10 years (in 4 different towns); I went to school in Pittsburgh for 4 years before that; I have family still in Zelienople, Slippery Rock, Pittsburgh, Greensburg, Uniontown, Youngwood, … that 14 year experience leads to me to agree with Murtha wholeheartedly … in general, there is a strong strain of prejudice and racism in Western PA … it’s not a cruel or divisive thing to say, in my mind, it’s a simple statement of fact. Now, that doesn’t mean that everyone is a racist, it simply means that there’s a general feeling of mistrust of (and in many, a dislike and fear of) people who don’t fall into the white, Christian, conservative, working-class mold. I routinely heard extremely ignorant and vile things said about (and witnessed mistreatment of) black folks, Jewish folks, Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, Muslims … they’re not bad people, but in my experience, it’s a rather insular, isolated and parochial part of our country — many Western Pennsylvanians were born there, raised there, married there, worked there, and retired there … there’s a large low-income working class, they don’t travel much, and their world view is therefore narrower. They feel threatened by “the other.” All Murtha did was describe a discernible characteristic of his area — maybe it’s unwise to do that, but it’s not an untrue statement, in my opinion. He could have provided some context to his statement — for example, he could have said “Not everyone is racist, of course, but there is a strong strain of it here, more son than in many other areas of the country.” Still not diplomatic, but not a lie. I travel for business quite a bit — Florida, California, Illinois, Née, NJ, Boston, Charlotte, Kansas City, Denver, Dallas, etc. In my opinion, I was more aware of race in PA than anywhere else. The people make it an issue more often other places I’ve been.

Maybe Pennsylvanians appreciate the 1st amendment and blunt honesty, even when they may not like what they have to listen to.

That’s true democracy. Either that or people just don’t know what Mr. Murtha really thinks of them.