Pelosi Deserves Credit for Backing Jack Murtha

by Paul Hogarth, 2006-11-16

UPDATE: Steny Hoyer defeated Murtha this morning by a vote of 149-86. Read Beyond Chron tomorrow for a follow-up story of what this result means.

Democrats selected Steny Hoyer as House Majority Leader today, in a contest that pitted the House Democratic Whip who has long been a cautious Beltway insider against Jack Murtha, the ex-Marine who shifted the Iraq War debate when he came out last year in favor of bringing our troops home. The national media has pounced on this story to show how “divided” Democrats are in Congress, but what is more significant is how Nancy Pelosi has put her reputation on the line for Murtha in this contentious battle. On November 12th, Pelosi formally endorsed Murtha to be the next House Majority Leader because of his strong opposition to the war in Iraq. Pelosi’s action confirms her progressive credentials, and rebuts claims that she is “out of touch” with her San Francisco constituents. Nancy Pelosi may not be as progressive as left-wing activists want her to be, but as House Speaker she will greatly advance progressive interests.

As Matt Stoller of MyDD.com wrote this week, “I’ve become both more positive on Murtha as majority leader and more convinced that this vote does matter … The American people delivered a mandate on Iraq. And on this issue, Steny Hoyer just has no credibility, whereas Jack Murtha is a voice and a leader. We owe Murtha as much as anyone for our Democratic majorities. The public voted for change in Iraq. Only Jack Murtha represents that change.”

Of course, this vote will not matter much in the long run. Whether it’s Hoyer or Murtha who gets elected House Majority Leader, the other one is likely to be elected Majority Whip. But in the short term, it matters a great deal for its symbolic importance. A vote for Murtha will set a new tone in Washington that the Democrats will no longer roll over and play dead on Iraq, and that the White House can finally start being held accountable for its actions. Fairly or not, the press has painted this vote as a referendum on the War in Iraq – although the November elections clearly showed that the public wants us out.

Because the mainstream media simply can’t help itself, the coverage of this race has been unreasonably slanted against Pelosi. The Washington Post reported that Nancy Pelosi “draws fire” for supporting Murtha, and that leading liberals like Maxine Waters and Charlie Rangel have endorsed Hoyer. But Waters and Rangel have always been Beltway insiders (despite having progressive voting records), so the fact that they support the status quo shouldn’t come as a surprise.

According to the November 10th issue of Roll Call, a bare majority of freshmen Democrats (21 out of 41) have already endorsed Hoyer. First, it’s a secret ballot so that could change. In 2001, when Hoyer challenged Pelosi for House Minority Whip, he lost because some of the votes he had counted on ended up going to Pelosi. Second, what’s noteworthy about the list of 21 freshmen is how many of them come from red states – not where the Democrats made their biggest gains. Some who are not on that list include Jerry McNerney of California -- who beat Richard Pombo after the national party ran a more “moderate” candidate against him in the primary – and Carol Shea-Porter, the New Hampshire Democrat who likewise challenged the party elite.

Pelosi’s stance shows that, notwithstanding the heat that she gets from some local progressives, she’s also willing to take the heat from Congress. While she may have been weak in fighting the Bush Administration on Iraq, it’s a lie to claim (like some have done) that she was ever “late in opposing the war.” In October 2002, when House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt cut a deal with the White House and co-sponsored the Iraq War Resolution, Pelosi broke away from the party leadership and rallied House Democrats in opposition. “I have seen no evidence or intelligence that suggests that Iraq indeed poses an imminent threat to our nation,” she said at the time. “If the Administration has that information, they have not shared it with Congress.” In the end, 126 House Democrats openly defied Gephardt and voted against the Resolution – including Pelosi.

It’s easy to sit in San Francisco and complain that Nancy Pelosi “doesn’t represent us,” but that’s not the way other progressives around the country see it. After the 2002 elections, John Nichols of the Nation magazine (who lives in the left-wing bastion of Madison, Wisconsin) wrote a strong editorial about Pelosi, where he pointed out that she was the best hope for progressive Democrats to take back their party in Congress. Local progressives always complain that Pelosi is not as outspoken as other Bay Area Democrats – like Barbara Lee or Lynn Woolsey, who have sponsored legislation to bring our troops home now. But there’s also another clear difference – Nancy Pelosi has power. The fact that a liberal woman from San Francisco can become third in line to the presidency is nothing short of remarkable.

Now that Pelosi supports Jack Murtha for Majority Leader, local progressives who have always complained about her say that he’s “anti-war but also anti-abortion.” Give me a break. Murtha may have an anti-choice voting record, but so does Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid – and Reid deserves enormous credit for unifying Democrats in the Senate over the last two years far more effectively than Tom Daschle ever did. The standard for Congressional leaders is not ideological purity – it’s whether or not they can unify the troops and stand up to the Bush Administration.

Murtha struck a chord last year when he supported withdrawing our troops from Iraq. Republicans freaked out, as Ohio Congresswoman Jean Schmidt (who may or may not have lost re-election in a very conservative district after provisional ballots are counted) went on the House floor and called him a “coward.” Does anyone reasonably believe that George Bush and the Republicans want Murtha to be the House Majority Leader? Now that he’s on the cusp of joining the House leadership, allegations that Murtha was involved in a bribery scandal in 1980 (which, by the way, he was never charged for) have suddenly surfaced. If there really was something substantive there, why didn’t it become a news story last year when Murtha became a media celebrity?

By putting her enhanced reputation on the line by supporting Jack Murtha for House Majority Leader, Nancy Pelosi has shown that she’s willing to take risks. And that’s something that Democrats haven’t known how to do – for a very long time.

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