Teaching Nancy

One interesting observation on the Washington scene this week was seeing Nancy Pelosi taken down a notch. She has been touted as the wonderful queen bee, and it was kind of nice seeing her own people sting her.

The backdrop here is, to quote her "it's going to take a woman to clean that house". She has promised to rid the house of the Republican Culture of Corruption and to establish a higher than ever ethics standard in the house. There you have it - her perspective on the current House and what she is promising to do about it.

Her first, and I do mean first, decision was to select the majority leader for the House. She chose John Murtha. Shall we ask why? First he his a personal friend, and second of all him and Nancy had teamed up against Steny Moyer in 2001 political race and Pelosi won. So not only is Murtha a friend, but Moyer is certainly not a friend.

Next of course would be Murtha's anti-war noise. Once again, you must appreciate the context. Murtha has a filthy history and as a matter of fact has been quoted as saying that Pelosi's new ethics standard is a bunch of 'crap'. He was nearly indicted in the Abscam scandal. Others took the bribe money, he only had the intention of taking it. The truth is that if it had not been for a fellow democratic senator campaigning hard to save his bottom, Murtha would also have been indicted. There is plenty of other corruption also. So now you have this 74 year old member of the House who basically sits in the background and doesn't say much. One day he turns on the TV and he sees that the news of the day is 'cut and run' from the Iraqi war. They are playing his two favorite songs, so he decides its time to dance. First, he has a long military history, and because of that anyone who has not been in the military is nothing, a nobody. He is on record of even saying that to other House members. Secondly, he is a liberal democrat, so 'cut and run' fits like a glove.

Murtha seizes the opportunity and boldly speaks out against the war. All of a sudden the Democrats see a use for this guy, since 'cut and run' is the main election promise for the Democrats. Murtha is bold, arrogant and rude so he gets the message out there. On the other hand, he is not much of a speaker and embarrasses the party a few times.

Nancy puts her foot down and says Murtha will be the next Majority speaker in the House - forget the ethics business for now! What happens next is just amazing. First of all while Nancy was making this decision, quite a number of seasoned House Democrats had decided to stand by Steny Moyer for the position. They were not of a mind to bend to Pelozi on this, so they began to tear Murtha down from his peak. There was a tape from the Abscam investigation that showed Murtha turning down the bribe, but letting his intent be known. The Republicans have tried to use this tape in campaigns, but can never get the media to play it. Well, now, all of a sudden this tape is all throughout the media and the liberal democrats are writing about how Murtha has too many ethical problems to be put in this position. Apparently he had served the purpose they had intended, and now they needed him no more. (I expect Jim Webb will get the same message some day). One another note to avoid confusion: The liberal democrats really do not care about ethics, they just don't want to slap their new found electorate this soon.

Two thirds of the House voted for Steny Moyer. The vote was not even close. The Democrats want Pelosi to be the face and image of the party, only. Can you see that she is not calling the shots? Can you also see that whoever is leading the Democrats is also telling the media what to do?

This clear example indicates the power struggles going on. It's nice to see Pelosi get her liberal butt kicked, and as she said, "It's now time for healing"

God Bless You and pray that the Republicans wake up before it's too late.
Dennis