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Pass. The. Popcorn.

By Pejman Yousefzadeh Posted in Democrats | Featured Stories — Comments (17) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »

The gavel rests uneasy in Nancy Pelosi's hand. And with every passing day, her decision to throw herself into the leadership race looks dumber and dumber:

One conservative Democrat said that a Murtha-Pelosi ally approached him on the House floor and said pointedly: "I hope you like your committee assignment, because it's the only one you're going to get."

In a phone call initiated by Murtha that same day, the lawmaker told the longtime politician that he had already signed a letter of support for Hoyer. The congressman said he was stunned when Murtha told him, "Letters don't mean anything."

Hoyer's supporters complained about such tactics.

"Commitment is something of value in this institution," said Rep. Artur Davis (D-Ala.). "If you have somebody in this race saying, 'Oh, your promises don't really mean anything in a secret ballot,' that bothers me, and it should bother a lot of people."

Murtha, the ranking Democrat on the powerful Appropriations defense subcommittee, has been dogged by allegations that he has skirted ethical boundaries and has thwarted efforts to tighten rules on lobbying. Those questions were amplified yesterday after at least three attendees at the Tuesday-night meeting of Blue Dog lawmakers complained that Murtha had disparaged the Democrats' ethics and lobbying package.

"He said, 'You know, I believe it's total crap, but Nancy supports it, and I'm going to push it,' " said a senior Blue Dog Democrat and Hoyer supporter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was divulging comments from a closed-door meeting.

Pelosi aides stressed that Murtha remains dedicated to the package's passage, but the dust-up rekindled memories of past Murtha votes. He was one of 12 Democrats to vote against campaign finance legislation written by Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Russell Feingold (D-Wis.), and he was one of four Democrats who opposed an ethics package earlier this year that was designed to contrast the Democrats' tough stance with a weaker Republican bill. He also pushed a rules change to block outside groups from filing complaints to the House ethics committee.

Again, it should be emphasized that the reverberations from this leadership fight will last long after the fight ended. Democrats knew coming into today that Nancy Pelosi made a poor tactical choice in throwing her weight behind John Murtha in the leadership fight. She demonstrated disloyalty to Steny Hoyer, who helped win a Democratic majority and she helped elevate the "culture of corruption" by backing one of the more ethically questionable members the House has.

Now, in addition to all of that, Democrats know something else.

They know that Nancy Pelosi is weak.