Now this is a hoot!
House Democrats picked Rep. Steny Hoyer to be House majority leader on Thursday, spurning Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s handpicked choice moments after unanimously backing her election as speaker when Congress convenes in January.
A Marylander and 25-year veteran of Congress, Hoyer defeated Rep. John Murtha of Pennsylvania in a vote of 149-86.
His election to the No. 2 job came just a short time after the Democratic caucus put Pelosi in line to become the first woman to be speaker, a position which is second in line of succession to the presidency. It marked a personal triumph for Hoyer.
She is picked as the Democratic leader and then a few seconds later is swatted down by her own party for her idiotic backing of Mr. Cut & Run. Ouch!
Even better news is that Hoyer is the one they chose. Hoyer is more centrist in his thinking and that will piss of the DummiesU crowd mightedly:
Since entering Congress in 1981, Hoyer has forged an identity as a centrist, particularly on foreign-policy issues, that has helped make him the leadership’s unofficial liaison to the Blue Dog Democrats–a group of the caucus’s more conservative members–but has at times created tension with the more liberal Pelosi. On the day last December that she publicly backed a call from Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.) for withdrawal from Iraq, Hoyer released a statement declaring that such a policy “could lead to disaster.” And earlier that year, he angered the leader by supporting a bill being pushed by the credit-card industry designed to make it harder for people to declare bankruptcy.
And now they will be butting heads for the next few years:
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 netroots must be going absolutely crazy!
UPDATE
Now these are some pictures that need no captions:
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