NO TO MURTHA. Let me add to Matt Yglesias' doubts about the wisdom of choosing Jack Murtha as House Majority Leader. Forget about left/right: just like Pelosi, the guy is representing his district, where he is wildly popular. He's got two major problems, from my perspective. One: pork. The guy believes his job is to get as much bacon for his district as possible, whether it makes sense or not. That's why Indiana University of Pennsylvania hosts the John P. Murtha Institute for Homeland Security. Two: the Abscam scandal, where he was caught on tape in an FBI sting involving a fake Arab sheikh who offered $50,000 in cash to eight members of Congress. To his credit, Murtha said he was "not interested" in the money, but he did invite the man to invest legally in Johnstown, the largest town in his district and a casualty of the collapse of the steel industry in western Pennsylvania. The taint of the scandal has never left him, and I think Republicans would have a field day with it if he were in the leadership. Murtha is a nice guy, and he has done a lot for a struggling district, but he represents an old-school, local party boss kind of patronage politician that we need to move beyond.
--Blake Hounshell
