And so yesterday it was made official-- our Little Nancy is now Speaker of the House. No matter what you may think about her-- ultra-liberal, corporate sell-out, uninspirationalparty hack, and inspirational career woman-- it's a pretty big deal. Among other things it means, yes, pork, tons of pork headed to us. More pork than an All You Can Eat night at Jimmy Dean Sausage Emporium
The rise to Speaker didn't go without a hitch, however, as Pelosi's choice to replace her as House Majority Leader didn't go so well. Pelosi backed John Murtha, the big bear of a guy from Pennsylvania who became the leading anti-war Democrat, while all of her co-horts backed the previous #2 Dem, Steny Hoyer. After much back and forth and salivating from the press, Hoyer beat out Murtha. Cue stories about Democratic backbiting and infighting.
Now Hoyer and Pelosi go way back as not really liking each other. At one point, Hoyer tried to wrestle Pelosi's position away from her. They made nice for awhile but then Nancy went for Murtha over Hoyer. Most pundits thought it an interesting choice as Murtha is known for pretty much nothing other than rolling in pork and getting bribed by the FBI during ABSCAM. The thinking is because Pelosi used Murtha as cover the past year over Iraq and it was some sort of back-scratching type thing. And they apparently actually respect each other.
Now things like this happen-- Newt Gingrich had the same thing happen to him in '94 and the result was Tom DeLay. But as we all know, the Democrats are the infighting party so this falls according to script. We don’t' remember any sort of negative stories about Gingrich back then about all this the same way there's stories about Pelosi. In fact, the chattering classes are already saying it'll cost the Dem's some sort of approval point. It should also be said that the Republican Senate had a fractious debate over a new Minority Senate person, with Trent Lott winning and not only is anyone debating it, but nobody seems that upset that the Republicans once again moved somebody into a leadership position who loves those gold old days of segregation.
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Murtha's record is a lot more detailed than the pr put out by Hoyer and assorted folks. He has been the "go to" guy for the military leadership for decades in the House, is a decorated Vietnam Veteran, pro life and pro gun, and a hard working lawmaker representing a part of Pennsylvania that has needed a strong, pro-defense, legislator who can get federal dollars to folks who really do need it.
Pelosi's pick of Murtha was about personal loyalty, but it was also because she needed a dealmaker to work with the various wings of the House Democrats to put through legislation. Hoyer is more of a lobbyists' guy - he is more interested in getting in good with K Street than helping legislation get passed.
Courtesy of the miracle that is the interweb/Feedburner/AdSense, I'm also reading about how I can "save $1.00 on any one Jimmy Dean product!" Thank you, SFist!
Did you see that ABSCAM video? I saw a couple minutes but that was enough. It's not "unfounded allegations that occurred 26 years ago", as Murtha described it. Obviously, the tape wasn't enough to convict him of anything, but it's pretty damaging.
Nancy is better off without him in high leadership. This thing Murtha/Hoyer is blowing over already. Footballwise, Pelosi has 14:30 mins and three more quarters left in the game.
Good to hear, Mister Kimchi. We aim to please.
well, technically she's not speaker. she's the majority nominee for speaker. she won't actually be speaker until the new congress convenes and votes on the speaker.