Reply #16: For sake of completeness: Murtha often votes against abortion.

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He usually receives a 0 rating from NARAL.

It should also be pointed out that while he was one of the first supporters of the IRaq invasion to turn against it, he was one of the strongest supporters for a while. Unlike Kerry and Clinton, he actively supported it.

I understand what Pelosi is doing, and I'm not sure I disagree. Murtha did help turn the tide on support for the occupation of Iraq. We do owe him a debt. And it does balance the House leadership, putting a conservative (though only on some issues) Dem opposite Pelosi. This would make us appear stronger on national security (though my own belief is that we don't need to appear stronger, we just need to state our position more often).

But for all intents and purposes, we would be putting a pro-lifer in a leadership position in our party. I have mucho trouble with that.