Murtha v. Hoyer

Even with the election over, there is still a lot of politics to follow. Yesterday's tidbit was that Rep. John Murtha is going to challenge Rep. Steny Hoyer for the #2 position in leadership of the House of Representatives. Speaker-elect Pelosi (love that) has supported Rep. Murtha.

I tend to think that you "dance with the one who brung ya", so I lean towards Hoyer -- but that's not really my issue. What's cracking me up are the pundits and their litany of:

"Nancy Pelosi shouldn't let this happen"
"Why is she wading into this?"
"No future speaker wants this battle."
"This is a rookie mistake"

Right. This woman just engineered the take over of the House of Representatives as an anti-war liberal from San Francisco. As minority leader, she kept the democrats in lock step and made sure they were positioned to ride the historically predictable wave of discontent. Note that she supported Murtha without telling others they had to do the same. This battle is only happening because she wants it to happen.

Maybe she promised Murtha he could run in return for using his position as a veteran to back her plan for Iraq. Maybe she wants to show Alcee Hastings what happens when old ethics charges dog you. Maybe she wants to show give the newly elected, more conservative democrats a chance to vote. Maybe she wants to use the fight to see where the public stands on Iraq policy. Hell, anythings possible.

Except that Speaker-elect Pelosi wouldn't have a plan.