John Murtha for House Majority Leader
My counterpart at the Bull Moose argued in a post this morning that Congressman John Murtha (D, PA) would be a terrible candidate for the position of House Majority Leader and that Speaker-Elect Nancy Pelosi (D, CA) made a dramatic error in supporting him was a huge error. His view was based on Mr. Murtha's opposition to changes in lobbying and campaign finance laws; a view that was also expressed by the editorial page of the Washington Post.
Let's simply be clear about one thing: when Ms. Pelosi made her first move into the leadership of the Democratic Party, the man who was guiding her campaign was none other than Mr. Murtha. Anyone who is suprised by her support of him now is, in my opinion, simply naive.
Let's also remember that Mr. Murtha who first started to question President George W. Bush's prosecution of the War in Iraq; something that he did when every other Democrat in Washington was huddled in a small circle, trying to figure out which way the winds were going to blow next. This is important because it was opposition to the War in Iraq that, in large part, moved the Democrats into power.
Congressman Steny Hoyer (D, MD) will, in all probabilty prevail against Mr. Murtha for the position of Majority Leader. There is simply no cause for anyone to be alarmed about who Ms. Pelosi supports in that race.
