Via Arianna Huffington, who quotes Rep. Jim McDermott explaining to his fellow Dems why they should vote for Jack Murtha for Majority Leader:
“The president’s worst nightmare is to have to sit at breakfast with Jack Murtha…Jack will be a real leader.”
That’s my man, Jim. Proud to be his constituent.
Except that Jack Murtha is one of the most conservative members of the house, either party.
As well as one of the most corrupt.
It’s amazing how, because of Murtha’s belated recognition that war in Iraq was a bad idea, that he has become a darling of some of the left.
But hey, if you like someone with a 0% rating from NARAL and a 100% rating from the NRA, Murtha’s your guy.
Well if the choice was between Murtha, and, say Dennis Kuchenick (sp?) I’d certainly agree with you – but the choice isn’t so clear. You certain raise some good issues about Murtha – but as David Corn points out in The Nation Hoyer has plenty of baggage himself.
Clearly Pelosi (and Richard by extension) are following the “It’s the Iraq War, Stupid” meme – in which case it’s a clear choice of Murtha over Hoyer…
I don’t necessarily mind having moderate or conservative democrats as part of the leadership. Right now it’s shaping up to be Pelosi, a classic liberal, as speaker.
Hoyer and Murtha are battling for majority leader. Hoyer is moderate-conservative, Murtha is very conservative.
James Clyburn will be Majority Whip. He’s a member of the Congressional Black Caucus. Although liberal, he’s also an ordained minister and has taken steps to help Democrats bridge the G-d gap.
Rahm Emanuel will be Caucus leader. He’s a somewhat moderate democrat and the Dem’s “street fighter.”
All in all, I like this lineup. My concern with Murtha is that although he is very very conservative, he doesn’t give the Democrats the benefit of having a moderate in the leadership, since he is just labeled as the “antiwar” guy. The democrats have made clear that they want a change of course in Iraq. I’m not convinced Murtha gives them anything special in a leadership position.
“One of the most conservative?” Really. By what standards? He is a conservative Democrat. That doesn’t bring him anywhere near being as conservative as some of the whacko Republicans serving there (though thankfully a few of them were knocked off last wk).
One of the most corrupt? Really. By what standards? He turned down a bribe 20 yrs. ago & testified against those who took one. He probably wasn’t pure as driven snow since in refusing the bribe he said he wouldn’t take it “at this point.” But he wasn’t even charged let alone convicted. To call a man corrupt you should at least have an indictment or conviction to confirm your claim. Or failing that an ongoing series of ethically compromised actions. I haven’t heard of this regarding Murtha.
And regarding Hoyer, most people would call him a liberal. I’ve never heard him described as conservative.
But I’m glad to hear you like the upcoming Democratic leadership list. It’s good to have things that we agree on once in a while.
It’s Dennis ‘Kucinich’ btw.
According to NPR report on Wednesday’s “Morning Edition” – insiders are saying that Hoyer will most likely win. The intersting part of the story is that Pelosi ran against Hoyer for Minority leader and Murtha was one of her biggest supporters. Sounds like this is a sort of “payback”. Pelosi will try to “twist some arms” but the vote is by secret ballot – so I wonder how effective that will be….
And on the Repub side – looks like the same old same old will be running the house – Hastert certainly is departing leadership – but Blount and Boehner are most likely to run the minority.
I read yesterday somewhere like Huff Post that during the Pelosi-Hoyer race Hoyer constantly claimed he had more votes than Pelosi & on election day she had 118 & he had 95. So I’m not giving up on this yet.
Can you believe that Trent Lott? He no longer has to say a la Schwarzenegger: “I’ll be back!” Now he can say: “I AM back.” If he did something heinous enough to disqualify himself from leadership before, what changed to make him qualified today?