Murtha for Majority Leader

Pelosi endorses Murtha:

House Speaker-to-be Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) endorsed Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.) yesterday as the next House majority leader, thereby stepping into a contentious intraparty fight between Murtha and her current deputy, Maryland's Steny H. Hoyer.

…Pelosi had been outspoken about her frustration with Murtha's declaration that he would challenge Hoyer, currently the House minority whip, for the majority leader post long before Democrats had secured the majority. Many believed she would remain on the sidelines, just as Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) did earlier this year when three Republicans vied for the post of House majority leader.

But in her first real decision as the incoming speaker, Pelosi said she was swayed by Murtha's early stance for a withdrawal of U.S. forces from Iraq. Her letter of endorsement yesterday made clear that she sees Iraq as the central issue of the next Congress and that she believes a decorated Marine combat veteran at the helm of the House caucus would provide Democrats ammunition in their fight against congressional Republicans and President Bush on the issue.

At first blush, this seems like a good move to me. Hoyer’s probably got the votes to win, so I imagine this is more of a public comment to show the Dems aren’t shying away from the Iraq issue and to give a shout-out to the grassroots who largely support Murtha. It seems like a pretty smart play.

Plus, if her endorsement really does upset Hoyer, I wouldn’t shed any tears for the man who scolded Stephen Colbert for being disrespectful to the president.