Two weeks ago, John Murtha (D-PA), the Vietnam veteran who is currently being sued by two former Marines for slandering them on national television as “cold-blooded killers,” let his “tolerant man of the people” mask slip and told his constituents outright what he thought of them: that they’re pathetic, dirty, unrepentant and unvarnished racists (video below).

Now, Congressional Democrat leaders are fighting to save his seat, dropping $84,000 on a Pittsburgh ad buy designed to smear Murtha’s Iraq war veteran Republican opponent worse than Murtha has already smeared himself.

After catching just a bit of heat for that faux pas, Murtha attempted to revise and extend his remarks, explaining that he didn’t actually mean the people of western PA were racist — just that they “have a problem voting for someone because they are black.” Okay…

Murtha went on to explain that “This whole area, years ago, was really redneck” (nice clarification!), though he attempted to smooth over the entire affair by claiming that the people of the region have suddenly been cleansed of their sins since the primary, saying “It’s better than it was a few weeks ago.”

As a result of this series of events, Saturday Night Live plucked this low-hanging fruit for its opening sketch last week, and likely voters flooded to Murtha’s opponent, Iraq veteran Bill Russell, bringing him just a shade outside the margin of error in a Susquehanna poll.

Further, the amazingly still-publishing lefty magazine The New Republic featured a blog post entitled, “If John Murtha Loses, Do We Care?,” in which writer Eve Fairbanks said Murtha’s corruption and verbal diarrhea no longer outweighed his “courage on Iraq,” which has consisted, in a nutshell, of toeing his party’s line in opposition to the postwar effort there, his accusing American Marines of cold-blooded murder of civilians, and his public declaration of a Democratic “slow bleed” strategy designed to slowly deprive our troops overseas of funding, weapons, and supplies until enough were dying due to lack of proper equipment that President Bush was forced to capitulate to al Qaeda and the rest of the terrorist militias in Iraq and withdraw from that country in shame and defeat.

Nancy Pelosi and Chris Van Hollen are now attempting to come to the rescue with an $84,000 Pittsburgh ad buy that seeks to convince voters not that Murtha really didn’t mean to call them racist rednecks — they apparently have enough of a grounding in reality to know that the racist, redneck voters in western PA would never suspend disbelief long enough to take such an ad seriously — but that opponent Bill Russell, a man who just retired from the U.S. Army and has never held office, is somehow a BushCo clone who has less respect for his country and prospective constituents than Murtha.

The ad isn’t up on the DCCC’s YouTube channel yet, but here’s the text, courtesy of Roll Call:

What do we really know about William Russell?

William Russell supports George Bush’s failed economic policies. He supports George Bush’s plan to privatize Social Security, cutting guaranteed benefits. He supports raising the Social Security retirement age, too. And William Russell supports more tax breaks for corporations that ship jobs overseas.

Congressman Jack Murtha served his country in Vietnam, and now he’s fighting for our jobs.

Nice try, Nancy, Chris, and Rahm. The trouble is, Col. Russell served his country even more recently — and he isn’t calling the people he wants to represent “racist” or “redneck.” I think he wins this exchange. However, it is nice to know that you’re so willing to rush to the aid of someone who speaks so highly of his constituents. I’m sure redneck racists all over the country appreciate it, and are clamoring to give the DCCC even more money as a result.

Or not, especially with veterans groups like Vets for Freedom still taking dead aim at the ex-Marine who turned on his own without reason and releasing ads like this: