New York Times columnist Paul Krugman called her “a Speaker for the ages” after she ramrodded the national health care reform bill through the House of Representatives. “The most powerful woman in American history,” declared The Economist.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi
on Thursday condemned vandalism and threats of violence against members of Congress who voted for sweeping health care change, saying such behavior “must be rejected.”

She told a news conference Thursday that “I don’t want this to be a distraction,” but also said that such actions have “no place in a civil debate in our country.” She vowed not to let incidents of vandalism and hate-mongering distract the work of Congress.

At least four Democratic offices in New York, Arizona and Kansas were struck and at least 10 members of Congress have reported some sort of threats, including obscenity-laced phone messages, congressional leaders have said. No arrests have been reported.

Pelosi spoke to reporters shortly after Republican House members went to the floor to plead with those who oppose the Democratic health care plan to refraim from violence and threats.

Opposition to the health care bill that President Barack Obama
signed into law is “no excuse for bigotry, threats or acts of vandalism and I condemn such things in the strongest possible terms,” said Rep. Mike Pence of Indiana, the House’s third-ranked Republican.

“Some of our colleagues have received threatening phone calls. A brick has been thrown, a window has been smashed. This is not the right way to respond,” added Rep. Joseph Pitts, R-Pa., a leading anti-abortion lawmaker.

Said Pelosi: “From it’s origins, our country has had a lively debate.

But it is also important for us to be able to express ourselves freely, not to diminish that in any way, but also to hit a standard that says some of the actions … must be rejected.”

The California Democrat said she did not mean her criticism to “paint everyone with what has happened here with the same brush.”

And she said, “I don’t subscribe to the theory that these acts sprang from the comments of my colleagues.”

But Pelosi also said, “I think we have to manage this issue very carefully, recognizing we are a democracy. We do not want to stifle debate, or free expression of it.”

She will be turning 70 tomorrow.

Rep. Murtha died at Virginia Hospital Center in Arlington, Va., surrounded by his family, his office announced. He had been hospitalized for a little more than a week with complications from gallbladder surgery.

The Democratic congressman recently underwent scheduled laparoscopic surgery at National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, to remove his gallbladder. The procedure was “routine minimally invasive surgery,” but doctors “hit his intestines,” a source close to the late congressman revealed to the press.

Murtha was initially hospitalized in December and had to postpone a hearing with Defense Secretary Robert Gates on the administration’s strategy in Afghanistan. The congressman returned to work after a few days in the hospital and helped oversee final passage of the 2010 defense appropriations bill.

Although his turn against the war in 2005 made him a national figure, Rep. Murtha was known inside Washington for decades as the consummate behind-the-scenes dealmaker, an old-line power broker who unrepentantly delivered billions of federal dollars to his home state. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a longtime ally of Murtha’s, said in a statement that he always put “the troops and their families first.”

Murtha was “incredibly effective in his service in the House,” said Wisconsin Rep. David Obey, chairman of the Appropriations Committee. “Every person who serves in the military has lost an advocate and a good friend.”

A right-hand man of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, he was considered one of the most influential lawmakers on Capitol Hill and credited for her ascension.

Murtha “will be missed,” said House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio. “The House of Representatives has lost one of its own.”

Murtha had represented Pennsylvania’s 12th Congressional District since 1974, making him the chamber’s eighth most senior member. According to his biography on the House of Representatives Web site, Murtha was the first Vietnam War combat veteran elected to Congress.

“Our military’s done everything that has been asked of them,” Rep. Murtha said then. “The U.S. cannot accomplish anything further in Iraq militarily. It’s time to bring the troops home.”