Via the AP:
A Democratic spokeswoman says that House Democrats have chosen Rep. Steny Hoyer as House majority leader, the No. 2 leadership post.
Murtha’s response:
“I didn’t have enough votes and so I’ll go back to my small subcommittee I have on appropriations,” Murtha said after the vote.
I despise Murtha but part of me wanted to see the Democrats make leadership decisions that were as bad, or worse, than those made by the Republicans. Still, this is better for the troops, and the rest of us, in the long run.
The Nation: There’s no way to spin this: this was a big loss for incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The vote wasn’t close. Her ally was rejected. This reflects poorly on her. And it will be remembered by her political opponents–particularly those who want to undermine Pelosi’s efforts to enact lobbying and campaign reform–that in this contest she endorsed a fellow who has long been accused of slippery ethics.
Respublica: What happens to Nancy Pelosi’s leadership role now? Probably nothing, this Murtha thing was most likely payback for some favors and everyone knows it.
The Dread Pundit Bluto: The vote wasn’t even close: 149-86. The only thing more surprising than this resounding rebuke to the new Speaker is Pelosi’s stupidity in endorsing Murtha in the first place.
ColdHeartedTruth: This was the first major test of loyalty for the House to their new speaker… I guess you would say that they failed. The loyalty simply doesn’t exist quite yet, or at least it doesn’t exist to any sort of degree.
IMAO: But now Murtha’s majority leader prospects just cut and ran into a wall. Who will be the leading voice against our military, trying to ruin all their effort and really really piss them off? Can Hoyer do that? I don’t think he has the patented Murtha senility. Neither does Hoyer have the tireless spirit and innovation of Murtha. Murtha was known to crap his pants rather than waste the time heading to the restrooms. That’s dedication.
Wizbang!: Before the election, I knew there was a chance we could both the Senate and the House. But with a Senate Majority Leader being investigated by the Justice Department, and the Democratic Senator from New Jersey the subject of a criminal probe by a top-notch US Attorney, and the Democratic Speaker of the House a seeming incompetent who can’t even obtain the support of 40% of her caucus for Majority Leader, I do not think there could be a better way to start the 2008 Presidential election.
The Moderate Voice: That she becomes the first woman to be speaker can hardly be a surprise to anybody. That battle was won at the moment the Democrats won the elections. However, I find it to be highly interesting that ‘her’ candidate, John Murtha, was quite easily so it seems beaten. The question is whether this will hurt Pelosi politically.
Redstate: The gavel rests uneasy in Nancy Pelosi’s hand. And with every passing day, her decision to throw herself into the leadership race looks dumber and dumber.
CQPolitics: That leaves Pelosi locked in an uneasy partnership with her leading rival, a man she considers disloyal. Hoyer, a 25-year House veteran, has served as minority whip for the past four years, and Pelosi has resented his occasional departures from the party line she was attempting to lay down. The unexpectedly bruising contest could leave deep scars. It fractured the caucus just as Democrats prepare to take control of the House for the first time in a dozen years. Many members were unhappy at being strong-armed by Pelosi and her lieutenants, and she may find it harder to go to them for favors in the future.
The American Mind: It’s better for the country that Hoyer won. First, Hoyer isn’t the darling of the anti-war Left. According to the San Francisco Chronicle “Hoyer has been less critical of the Iraq war than Murtha.” Those who want U.S. troops out of Iraq without regard to national security or Middle East stability shouldn’t be empowered. Second, if Murtha won Abscam would have made a reappearance. Not a way to be an alternative to the “Culture of Corruption” Democrats campaigned against.
Stop the ACLU: Only time will tell now if there will be internal strife within the House Democratic Caucus in the next 2 years.
Hot Air: I wonder how much of this was influenced by Abizaid (and Zinni and Batiste) all saying in the past 48 hours that a quick withdrawal from Iraq would be catastrophic. It’d be hard for the Dems to support that position with Murtha as majority leader.
Confederate Yankee: I somehow doubt that any of us outside the Beltway fully understand what kind of damage Nancy Pelosi has done to her credibility within the Democrat ranks over the past few days. She may find a way to earn that trust back, but I suspect it won’t come easy.
Michelle Malkin: Let the humiliation begin–Hoyer beats Murtha, 149-86.
Florida Cracker: Murtha was a terrible choice for such an important position, and she’s getting a well-deserved smack for having made it. Would that the Republicans give one to President Bush for his equally ludicrous choice of Mel Martinez for head of the RNC.
Mary Katharine Ham: Not quite as self-destructive for the Democratic Party asMurtha would have been, but Pelosi is severely weakened by this. What a dumb move on her part.
Flopping Aces: The netroots must be going absolutely crazy!
Blue Crab Boulevard: She hasn’t even taken the gavel and she’s been damaged politically. She is going to have very limited effectiveness at curbing her committee chairs. In fact, they are probably pretty much going to do their own thing as soon as they take their seats.
Scared Monkeys: Spin it anyway you want Madame Speaker Pelosi, you just lost some major street cred. House Democrats defied Nancy Pelosi and named Maryland Representative Stenny Hoyer as House Majority leader. This after Nancy Pelosi openly backed and stumped for John Murtha.
Free Republic: Seriously, Murtha’s a lying, corrupt, bombastic a-hole, and he would have been a great poster boy.
Iowa Voice: We heard yesterday how Murtha “had the votes” to be Majority Leader. Either that was an outright lie, or everyone was for him before they were against him.
Wake Up America: Once again, Pelosi and the Democratic Party shows that they cannot even agree with each other… so who actually holds out any hope they are even capable of working in a bipartisan fashion with another party?
186k Per Second: When Pelosi said she was going to drain the swamp, I guess she did not count on Murtha’s abscam sting tape showing up on the bottom and still playable!
The Jawa Report: The only thing more surprising than this resounding rebuke to the new Speaker is Pelosi’s stupidity in endorsing the baggage-laden Murtha in the first place.
The Llama Butchers: Meanwhile, Nancy Pelosi is off to the ladies’ room in order to wipe about a dozen eggs’ worth of yoke off her face. Probably not for the last time.
Church and State: It was widely believed that Murtha had the votes to get the position. He had the tenure and the influence too. Could it be that the frosh weighed heavily his corrupt reputation? Hopefully so. For America to survive, we are going to need consistent voting from these new conservative Democrats.
The American Check-Up: You see, the Murtha’s of the party SHOULD be in control for they represent the core values of the party (or in his case - the House of Horrors). Let the Dems stand up in all their liberal glory and represent their true selves instead of hiding behind the curtains.
Polimom: You know what’s truly sad about all this? Hoyer really isn’t much of an improvement over Murtha, ethically.
Conservative Outpost: Seeing as how it was a secret ballot, this says that much more about how much the caucus belongs to her, as opposed to the newly empowered old warhorse liberal committee chairs. The real power in the new congress will be w/those guys and their fiefdoms, more so than under the old GOP guard, (which dumped seniority and made committee chairs run for election among the whole conference).
And now for the Left:
I don’t know what glue Arianna is huffing but she calls this a win for Pelosi:
And don’t shed any tears for Speaker-elect Nancy Pelosi. Even though her guy lost, this was still a big win for her. A victory for taking a stand — and for her leadership. Because that’s what real leaders do, they take stands. They listen to their hearts and follow their gut.
And the always different Democratic Underground offers up the unhinged perspective.
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November 16th, 2006 at 8:00 pm
Since Murtha’s signature issue was ending the US deployment to Iraq and he only received 89 votes doesn’t this mean his redeployment plan doesn’t have much more than 36% support among dems which = 20% of the House? These numbers aren’t much different than they were under rep leadership in the last Congress are they?
November 16th, 2006 at 8:24 pm
Too bad! Murtha’s so much fun to kick around when he’s in the public eye, but this puts him back in the shadows…
And message to Pelosi, when picking your best buds, the term “unindicted co-conspirator” should at least make you uneasy, even if alarms don’t go off.
November 16th, 2006 at 11:52 pm
Murtha gets stomped…
Well, I guess John cut and run Murtha got a thumpin’. Looks like the reat of the Democrats are not going to put their tail between their legs and crawl home and say uncle. Or at least not as fast…
November 17th, 2006 at 1:37 am
Murtha can still be quite ‘ethically challenged’ on his “small subcomittee on appropriations”. Which appropriation subcomittee is this? More pay to play?
November 17th, 2006 at 3:32 am
Hoyer Beats Murtha For House Majority Leader…
House Democrats on Thursday chose Maryland Rep. Steny Hoyer to be House majority leader over Rep. John Murtha, the choice of Rep. Nancy Pelosi, in line to become speaker. Hoyer was elected on a vote of 149-86. The balloting marked a personal triumph …..