Unforced Error
That's what Ed Morrisey calls the decision by Nancy Pelosi to jump into the House Majority Leader battle by publicly backing John Murtha. And none other than Charles Rangel has publicly and openly broken with Pelosi on this.
Nancy Pelosi has won few plaudits for her first major decision as presumptive Speaker of the 110th Session of Congress. Throwing her support to John Murtha over Steny Hoyer has caused an eruption of criticism and indignation from within her own political coalition, who wonder how a party leader could campaign against corruption and then support one of the biggest porkers in Congress for a leadership position. Rather than attract support for passing over Hoyer, Pelosi has inspired public opposition to her decision — the latest from Charles Rangel, her choice to chair the Ways and Means Committee:
Some of Mr. Hoyer's backers in New York are asking why the likely new speaker of the House, Rep. Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco, has endorsed Mr. Murtha rather than the Maryland congressman, who is the minority whip and the second-ranking Democrat.
Rep. Charles Rangel of Harlem, who called Mr. Murtha "a friend" and received support from him in 2004 in his push for the reinstitution of a military draft, said yesterday that Mr. Murtha would make a good majority leader. But Mr. Rangel is going to vote for Mr. Hoyer.
"My kind of politics is, if you do your job, you are supposed to be rewarded," Mr. Rangel, who was one of 105 co-sponsors of Mr. Murtha's resolution to redeploy American troops in the Middle East in 2005, said. "I think Steny has done his job. I cannot think of any reason why this is happening."
We saw the seeds of this split five months before the election, when Murtha first announced his candidacy for the Majority Leader position. At the time, we noted Pelosi's impotence in controlling her caucus and wondered whether it would doom her leadership. That, however, was when she made the wise decision to remain neutral on the question of leadership positions in the next Congress, a wisdom that has escaped her in the past week.
One can't help but wonder if Pelosi is setting herself up for a potential battle over the Speakership. It probably won't come to that, but it could if she ticks off enough people. Captain Ed thinks so , too.
UPDATE: And if this is true, this just took a very, very ugly turn. One of Murtha's supporters told The Hill that Pelosi would ensure Murtha wins. Or else.
House Speaker-to-be Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) will ensure that Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.) wins his race for majority leader, a key Murtha ally said Monday night.
"She will ensure that they [the Murtha camp] win. This is hard-ball politics," said Rep. Jim Moran (D-Va.), a longtime Murtha supporter. "We are entering an era where when the Speaker instructs you what to do, you do it."
Pelosi recently endorsed Murtha’s bid for majority leader against House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), but it was unclear whether she would use her clout as the first Democratic Speaker in 12 years to help Murtha win or whether her letter simply expressed a personal preference as a favor to Murtha.
Pelosi’s move was deliberate, Moran said, and she was already leaning on her colleagues to affect the outcome.
"Yes, she’s making calls to people. She is contacting people and letting them know that it’s an unequivocal letter," Moran said.
A spokeswoman for Pelosi could not immediately confirm that she had made the calls. Pelosi returned today from New York City after attending the birth of her sixth grandchild. She voted on the floor and then attended Murtha’s reception Monday night for newly elected members.
If Moran’s claims are true, Pelosi is taking an enormous gamble only a week after the election propelled her into the Speakership. If she prevails, she will likely banish her onetime rival Hoyer to the back benches and send a clear signal to her colleagues that she intends to rule with an iron hand. If Hoyer wins, she loses substantial political capital and alerts the caucus that they can successfully oppose her.
What was that about thuggish Republicans again?
What was that about thuggish Republicans again?
By mokus, Tuesday, 14 November , 2006 @ 6:03 pm
No matter who wins the Majority Leadership position, Nancy Pelosi is going to come out on the short end of the stick. Why in the world would she put herself in a no-win situation? It violates tradition, and it exposes her to a serious loss of credibility before she’s even been elected speaker.
I think the old dogs in the Democrat Party have concluded her usefulness is over. She was a good public face for the party as long as they were attacking GWB and the GOP. But, now Dems are in the majority, they need a more moderate voice as Speaker of the House if they’re going to have any chance to take the presidency in 2008.
Dems will never persuade voters they can be trusted with national sexurity so long as the nutty grandmother from San Francisco is doing the talking.
Nancy Pelosi was elevated and now she’s going to be eliminated, and the ones who talked her into openly supporting John Murtha are the ones who stabbed her in the back.