Murtha Laughed in a Dark Corner

I was simply going to update the last post about Congressional pork spending and the bad side effects of it. But this news article deserves its own post:

WASHINGTON - House Democrats rejected a Republican bid Tuesday to reprimand Rep. John Murtha (news, bio, voting record), a senior lawmaker accused of threatening legislative reprisals against a GOP member who had crossed him.

Before and after the largely party-line vote, which caused some Democrats discomfort, Republicans taunted Democratic leaders about their campaign promises to run a more ethical and open Congress.
[...]
In conversations with colleagues and reporters, Democrats played down the incident. Murtha is known for blowing off steam, they said, and his comments to Rogers were too vague to constitute a genuine violation of ethics rules. "It's time to put on your long pants and grow up," Rep. George Miller (news, bio, voting record), D-Calif., said in an interview when asked how Democrats would respond.

Oh alrighty then.

Let's see how Murtha reacted during this vote:

During the vote, Murtha sat in a darkened corner of the House floor, laughing with colleagues who surrounded him during the vote. As the clock wound down, other Democrats him to congratulate the senior member of the Appropriations Committee who oversees a massive defense spending bill every year.

The bully gets his way, and as a bonus, he gets his ego brushed up a little more.
Onward we go: Our elected officials are about as ethical as a car salesman. There is little difference between the two.