Pelosi Backs Murtha For Majority Leader

Vietnam Vet Known For Iraq War Criticism Is Running Against Hoyer

(CBS/AP)  Murtha, who is from Pennsylvania, and Hoyer, who is from neighboring Maryland, engaged in some pre-election jockeying for the Majority Leader position each hoped would soon be a Democratic position.

Murtha said last fall he intended to run for Majority Leader if the Democrats won control, a pre-election jab at Hoyer at a time when the Marylander was pledging support for Pelosi.

Both Hoyer and Murtha traveled on behalf of Democratic candidates during the campaign. Hoyer's office said he visited 82 congressional districts and raised or contributed $8.2 million to the party's candidates in the months leading to the elections. No comparable figures were immediately available for Murtha's efforts.

Since the election, Hoyer has released letters of support in the leadership race from senior Democrats as well as from more than half of the incoming lawmakers who won their seats last week.

One of Hoyer's supporters, Rep.-elect Baron Hill of Indiana, argues that Pelosi's letter is good news for the Maryland lawmaker.

Hill interprets Pelosi's words as a statement of personal intent.

"She's not," he observes, "asking other members to vote for Murtha."

Pelosi began her letter by saying that Murtha has asked for her support. Noting his opposition to the war, she added: "Your leadership gave so many Americans, including respected military leaders, the encouragement to voice their own disapproval at a failed policy that weakens our military and makes stability in that region even more difficult to achieve."

Uproar over the handling of the war is believed to be one of the main reasons voters gave Democrats control of the House for the first time since 1994.

"It goes back to mischaracterizing the war, saying how well it was going. Of course, it's not going well, obviously," Murtha said last week, as election returns showed that the Democrats had been victorious. "The country has spoken and this country, when they speak, things happen. I don't only feel vindicated. I'm inspired and anxious to go to work and get this thing over with."

[pakaal]

"The dems pretended to be conservatives so they could win an election "

ANGRYliberal, of the members of House elected, all 27 candidates support raising the minimum wage, all 27 candidates advocate changing course in Iraq, all 27 candidates oppose efforts to privatize Social Security, only two of the 27 candidates do not support embryonic stem cell research and only five of the 27 candidates describe themselves as "pro-life." Whoah, pretty conservative bunch there!

You're right Ozilot, it's fascinating how everything becomes a Republican win, even their dramatic election loss. The bad news for folks like angryliberal is that the facts are not on their side.

[pakaal]

Rep. Murtha did a lot to bring the failures of the Bush administration in Iraq to light, and focused America on the problems there, but CREW is right. He didn't take the ABSCAM bag 'o loot, but he also said he might consider it when he knew the "Sheik" better. He got off on a technicality. I say Hoyer's better for the position - and it looks pretty favorable for him to win. I doubt Murtha will be able to get the majority vote, for a variety of reasons.

[one_american]

Dear Katie Couric,
Do you still think John Murtha is, in your words, "vindicated"?

You must be blinded by ignorance!

From the New York Times:

"While Mr. Hoyer has been a fixture in leadership, Mr. Murtha eschewed the spotlight and seemed content to wield his considerable influence well behind the scenes until he took a high-profile stand against the war.

But Mr. Murtha is also coming under the spotlight on another subject that dominated the campaign: Congressional ethics. Mr. Murtha helped block ethics changes that Democrats had proposed last year. He has been an astute backroom dealmaker known for trading votes for the pet projects known as earmarks. He has had family members who lobbied on issues under his control, and he was caught up in the Abscam scandal more than 25 years ago, though he was never charged.

The leader of one watchdog group said today that Mr. Murtha%u2019s record should disqualify him from the job, particularly since Democrats campaigned so hard against Republican corruption and have promised to make new ethics and lobbying rules a priority.

"How can Americans believe that the Democrats will return integrity to the House when future Speaker Pelosi has endorsed an ethically challenged member for a leadership position?%u201D asked Melanie Sloan, the head of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics, a "mainstream" group that focuses of government integrity in Washington. %u201CRepresentative Murtha is the wrong choice for this job.""

[b4815]

Talk about your double standard.

[tomadeimy]

Good choice Nancy. Jack Murtha will give the Democrats credibility when it comes to the Nation's security. He spoke up when everyone was afraid to say anything; and he was way ahead of the curve when it came to a exit strategy in Iraq. He will be a part of the solution, proposed by the previously impotent Democrats, who were afraid to say anything, for fear of castration by the neo-cons.

[houser123]

I will go back to my earlier statment that Jack Murtha is the right person at the right time for this position. Although Mr.Hoyer has experience, Murtha talks the talk when it comes to the military. For years and still today he is a stalwart when it somes to supporting the needs of our combat personnel. He was a favorite of the republicans in that regard. we msut first fins a solution to get out of this war and leave the country stabilzed with the Iraqis determining their own fate. Afterwards we can look into why and how we entered into this mess that has taken the lives of 150,000 plus innocent Iraqi civilian, 2,848 American service people and 300 plus allied troops. Lets stop the killing first, then set out to determine what went wrong.

[mikewilsonw]

Bushrocks1 and ShutUpMurtha -- You are right in what You said -100 % .. Its a sad thing that so-called wise-educated - people in American and on this forum are finding it difficult to grasp the scenario .. Most of them live i a closed cube where nothing but their 6 walls exist !! Shame on them ... Hopefully We americans get it right before it is too late !!

[one_american]

Just as expected, CBS will ignore the corruption of Democrats.

Jack Murtha is the Democrat's "rock star".

[angryliberal-2009]

The dems pretended to be conservatives so they could win an election and then they want Pelosi and Murtha as their leaders, Dont you people who voted for these dogs feel like you just got had?

[angryliberal-2009]

You give the dems an inch they take a mile. We vote them in office and now they want to put the most corrupt person in washington as their leader. The only way they could get away with this *** is if the American people have no say in the matter.