Pelosi takes an early defeat from within the Dem Party

[DKW 86 7,440]

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20061116/D8LEC43O0.html

House Democrats Name Hoyer to No. 2 Post

Nov 16, 2:54 PM (ET)

By ANDREW TAYLOR

In remarks after being chosen for speaker, the Californian vowed that after 12 years in the minority, "we will not be dazzled by money and special interests." Pelosi also called for unity in the party, but within moments she put her prestige on the line by nominating Murtha.

Murtha, a Pennsylvanian, is a powerful lawmaker on defense matters, and he gained national prominence last year when he called an end to U.S. military involvement in Iraq.

He and Pelosi have long been close, and when Pelosi issued a statement supporting Murtha on Sunday night, it raised the stakes in a leadership election within a party that is taking control of the House in January for the first time in a dozen years.

"I didn't have enough votes and so I'll go back to my small subcommittee I have on Appropriations," Murtha said after the vote.

Murtha will chair the powerful defense subcommittee with responsibility for the war in Iraq and the Pentagon budget. "Nancy asked me to set a policy for the Democratic Party. Most of the party signed onto it," he said, referring to pulling U.S. troops out of Iraq.

"I was proud to support (Murtha) for majority leader, because I thought that would be the best way to bring an end to the war in Iraq," Pelosi said after the vote.

Pelosi and Hoyer, 67, have long had a difficult relationship. The two ran against each other in a leadership race several years ago. Pelosi won, but Hoyer rebounded more than a year later when he was elected the party's whip.

"Nancy and I have worked together for four years, closely and effectively, and we have created the most unified caucus in the last half century," Hoyer said after Thursday's vote. "It was not that somebody was rejected today, it was that a team that had been successful was asked to continue to do that job."

Hoyer's margin of victory reflected a pre-election strategy in which he showcased support from moderates, veteran lawmakers in line to become committee chairmen and more than half of the incoming freshman class - the majority-makers whose victories on Election Day gave the party control of the House.

"Steny was more where the mainstream of where the party was," said Massachusetts Rep. Barney Frank, who will become chairman of the House Financial Services Committee."

Of Pelosi's endorsement of Murtha, Frank said, "She's a very smart woman who made an error in judgment."

The intraparty battle had preoccupied Democrats, overshadowing Pelosi's promotion to speaker - a position that is second in line of succession to the presidency.

Many Democrats were dismayed that the family feud had broken out in the first place and objected to heavy pressure placed on longstanding Hoyer supporters.

Pelosi officially becomes speaker in January, succeeding Rep. Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., when the House convenes and formally elects her in the next session of Congress.

Pelosi's selection was more history than mystery; that was reserved for the Hoyer-Murtha faceoff.

Murtha, 74, was a problematic candidate because of his penchant for trading votes for pork projects and his ties to the Abscam bribery sting in 1980, the only lawmaker involved who wasn't charged.

The race dredged up Murtha's involvement in the Abscam scandal. FBI agents pretending to represent an Arab sheik wanting to reside in the United States and seeking investment opportunities offered bribes to several lawmakers. When offered $50,000, Murtha was recorded as saying, "I'm not interested ... at this point." A grand jury declined to indict Murtha, and the House ethics committee issued no findings against him.

"I told them I wanted investment in my district," Murtha told MSNBC's "Hardball" on Wednesday. "They put $50,000 on the table and I said, 'I'm not interested.'"

Democrats also selected James Clyburn of South Carolina as majority whip, their No. 3 post. Clyburn is the second black in history to reach as high as a party whip. Former Rep. William Gray of Pennsylvania held the same title 1989-91. Campaign chair Rahm Emanuel of Illinois was rewarded with the caucus chair post, the No. 4 position for Democrats, for his efforts in leading the party back into the majority.

Meanwhile, House Republicans, soon to be in the minority for the first time since 1994, met in private Thursday to hear presentations from candidates for their leadership posts. Their election was scheduled for Friday.

Finding a replacement for Hastert, R-Ill., as the caucus leader turned into a two-man race between Majority Leader John Boehner of Ohio and conservative challenger Rep. Mike Pence of Indiana after Rep. Joe Barton of Texas dropped out and endorsed Boehner.

In the Democratic race, Murtha came forward for the job despite a record of not always being a leadership loyalist. He often supplied votes to GOP leaders who were struggling to pass bills. The none-too-subtle trade-off: Murtha and his allies would do better when home-state projects were doled out by the Republicans.

Wisconsin Rep. Dave Obey, who will chair the Appropriations Committee, said the divisions exposed by the race doesn't pose a problem for Pelosi.

"There's such universal respect and affection for Nancy. She's gutsy as hell and she's willing to take a chance..., push the envelope. "It was bitter between the two candidates, I suppose, but it wasn't bitter among the members of the caucus. People get over this stuff."

[Tiger in Spain 0]

Good! Too bad this defeat didn't require him to jump off a cliff. Murtha is a piece of trash.

[otterinbham 0]

Well, Hoyer is much more of a moderate. I'm heartened that the Democrats overwhelmingly chose him rather than Murtha, who is nothing more than a cynical opportunist. But it also demonstrates who weak the Democratic hold on Congress really is. The party will prove undisciplined and won't be able to push through any legislation whatsover. And it certainly will prove unable to overcome a veto by the President. That is, if he knows how to use one.

[AURaptor 1,126]

This doesn't bode well for her pick to head the intelligence committee, Alcee Hastings. The disgraced , impeached judge is full of courruption, but San Fran Nan wants to appease the Congressional Black Caucus and black voters and risk our nations security to this low life , regardless of his incompetence.

First elected in 1992, Hastings holds the distinction of being the only member of the Congress to have been impeached and removed as a federal judge. As a footnote, John Conyers, the man who would be chairman of the Judiciary Committee, made the case for impeachment. Hastings was a strong supporter of intervention in Kosovo and opposed to force in Iraq.

[Tiger in Spain 0]

The American people will (hopefully) see that the Dems are just a bunch of clowns dressed as politicians. My biggest fear is that we are going to be completely distracted with all this crap for the next two years and get hit again by Al Qaeda.

The Democrats, in their quest to get back into power, have literally sabotaged the war from the beginning. They have effectively given aid and comfort to the enemy. Look at who cheered the loudest (other than our own "unbiased" media) over the Democrat’s victory. I, for one, was happy to see General Abidzaid give a smackdown yesterday to that witch Hillary.

Murtha’s condemnation of the Marines, his stance on the war, his idiocy of “Okinawa”, his posing in a “Code Pink” T-Shirt with Traitor Medea Benjamin, made him totally unsuitable under any circumstances to be Majority Leader. He shouldn't even be one of our nations representatives.

[DKW 86 7,440]

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/17/opinion/...agewanted=print

NYT finally shows some reality creeping into their editorial pages.

November 17, 2006

Editorial

Speaker Pelosi Tempts Disaster

Nancy Pelosi has managed to severely scar her leadership even before taking up the gavel as the new speaker of the House. First, she played politics with the leadership of the House Intelligence Committee to settle an old score and a new debt. (The Alcee Hastings Chair) And then she put herself in a lose-lose position by trying to force a badly tarnished ally, Representative John Murtha, on the incoming Democratic Congress as majority leader. The party caucus put a decisive end to that gambit yesterday, giving the No. 2 job to Steny Hoyer, a longtime Pelosi rival.

But Ms. Pelosi’s damage to herself was already done. The well-known shortcomings of Mr. Murtha were broadcast for all to see — from his quid-pro-quo addiction to moneyed lobbyists to the grainy government tape of his involvement in the Abscam scandal a generation ago. The resurrected tape — feasted upon by Pelosi enemies — shows how Mr. Murtha narrowly survived as an unindicted co-conspirator, admittedly tempted but finally rebuffing a bribe offer: “I’m not interested — at this point.”

Mr. Murtha would have been a farcical presence in a leadership promising the cleanest Congress in history. Ms. Pelosi should have been first to realize this, having made such a fiery campaign sword of her vows to end Capitol corruption. Instead, she acted like some old-time precinct boss and lost the first test before her peers.

As incoming speaker, Ms. Pelosi will be dogged by skepticism — from within the party and without — about her political smarts and her ability to deliver a galvanized agenda.

It was a no-brainer for the caucus to end the misguided fight for Mr. Murtha, who belittled the need for reform. Now the pressure is even greater for Speaker-elect Pelosi to recover by leading the House to something actually worth fighting for — starting with credible anticorruption strictures. For this she needs gaffe-wary advisers, among them Mr. Hoyer, who has his own questionable record of flourishing in big-money politics. The new majority — led by a presumably wiser speaker — must realize by now that intramural vendetta is hardly a substitute for productive government.