Murtha Announces that he wants to be Majority Leader

Iraq war foe Murtha eyes Democratic leadership
Fri Jun 9, 2006 6:22 PM ET



By Susan Cornwell

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Rep. John Murtha, an outspoken opponent of the war in Iraq, unexpectedly announced on Friday he will run for the No. 2 leadership post in the U.S. House of Representatives if Democrats regain control of that chamber in elections this fall.

"If we prevail as I hope and know we will and return to the majority this next Congress, I have decided to run for the open seat of the majority leader," Murtha, a Pennsylvanian, said in a letter sent to House Democrats.

"I would appreciate your consideration and vote and look forward to speaking to you personally about my decision," Murtha said in the letter.

The announcement from the decorated Marine veteran appeared to take his party and Capitol Hill by surprise. The man who holds the No. 2 position in the Democratic caucus, Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, immediately made clear he had no intention of stepping aside.

"Mr. Hoyer worked extraordinarily hard to unify the caucus and take back the House for the Democrats, and that is his first focus," a spokeswoman for Hoyer said.

"As a result of that unity, he is confident that we will be successful in November, and he intends to run for majority leader," she said. Hoyer, who is from Maryland, believes he has the support of the overwhelming majority of House Democrats, she added.


(Additional reporting by Vicki Allen)
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He speaks very straight forward, and pulls no punches. When he's asked a question, he actually answers it! I think it was a good move for him to make this announcement, because the Pubs have been raging "don't elect Dems in Nov. becaause look at who's going to be in the leadership positions!" Many Pubs like Murtha, and I think, rather than this being a distraction, it gives us an advantage!

whether you agree with him or not. I think that's a good thing.

is a good related link thanks to jackbourassa who wrote it.

Another bad day for the DLC...and the hits keep on coming...

Only two days after the disastrous primary elections which saw progressive candidates defeat DLC candidates straight across America, comes word that Congressman Jack Murtha will run for the House Majority Leader position should we Democrats win back the House in November. Now on another post many DUers thought that Murtha was challenging Nancy Pelosi, this is incorrect. If the Democrats should win the November midterm elections, Pelosi will become Speaker of the House, thus creating a vacancy for House Leader. Murtha will run to fill that vacancy. But why is that bad for the DLC? Because the DLC point man in the House, Steny Hoyer, is running for that same position.

You may remember that Steny Hoyer is the Democrat who cut Pelosi off at the knees after she gave a press conference last year calling on George W. Bush to pull out the troops. Hoyer called a separate competing press conference the next day arguing that he thought the troops should stay, and then proceeded to regurgitate some Republican talking points on the war. It was rumored even that Hoyer planned to overthrow Pelosi as leader, or challenge her for the Speakership, should we win the midterms. This is why I think Pelosi, in a move of brilliant daring, preempted him and convinced Murtha to run against Hoyer. </snip>

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=2670482

because all I know about Murtha's record is that he changed his mind about Iraq but is still primarily a hawk.

One of the last things we need in Congress is another hawk with great power. We are already living Eisenhower's nightmare of the government being addicted to supporting the military-industrial complex at the expense of just about everything else. How much more of this do we need?