The Third Way
[Posted by reader_iam]
Speaker -of-the-House-in-waiting Nancy Pelosi is wising up and withdrawing her support of Alcee Hastings as Intel chairman, for which we should all be devoutly grateful. Regardless of the reason (lessons learned from the predictable Murtha debacle, perhaps?), it is at least a bit encouraging to see Pelosi take a step back and think about what the average person would expect from someone who promised “the most honest, the most open and the most ethical Congress in history."
The fact remains that she was foolish--at least politically, but that's the least of it--to push for Murtha, and clumsy in how she did it, given the practical and historical realities that even an unpowerful nonentity was able to predict. And it's a bit of a wonder that it took so long for her to realize that--gee!--if she really couldn't stomach Jane Harman, that didn't mean she should be pushing for Hastings. That she had the option--and did, from the beginning--to choose a third way.
I remember pointing out that bit of obviousness earlier this month, as part of one of several comments on this topic in a comments section here:
I guess that Pelosi finally figured out that "business as usual" wasn't going to be anymore acceptable coming from her side of the aisle than it was from the other, that she'd be held responsible if she continued to act as if she thought otherwise, and that it was time to acknowledge the obvious.
I commend her. Onward and upward, I say.
But--sheesh!--wouldn't you think that someone with her experience and her background could have been a little quicker on the uptake?
Speaker -of-the-House-in-waiting Nancy Pelosi is wising up and withdrawing her support of Alcee Hastings as Intel chairman, for which we should all be devoutly grateful. Regardless of the reason (lessons learned from the predictable Murtha debacle, perhaps?), it is at least a bit encouraging to see Pelosi take a step back and think about what the average person would expect from someone who promised “the most honest, the most open and the most ethical Congress in history."
The fact remains that she was foolish--at least politically, but that's the least of it--to push for Murtha, and clumsy in how she did it, given the practical and historical realities that even an unpowerful nonentity was able to predict. And it's a bit of a wonder that it took so long for her to realize that--gee!--if she really couldn't stomach Jane Harman, that didn't mean she should be pushing for Hastings. That she had the option--and did, from the beginning--to choose a third way.
I remember pointing out that bit of obviousness earlier this month, as part of one of several comments on this topic in a comments section here:
You know, Pelosi could go with a third option. She could dump Harman if Pelosi doesn't like her take on things AND skip Hastings because of his--ahem, how did you put that again?--character flaw, and fight for someone else.
I guess that Pelosi finally figured out that "business as usual" wasn't going to be anymore acceptable coming from her side of the aisle than it was from the other, that she'd be held responsible if she continued to act as if she thought otherwise, and that it was time to acknowledge the obvious.
I commend her. Onward and upward, I say.
But--sheesh!--wouldn't you think that someone with her experience and her background could have been a little quicker on the uptake?
