Grandma Pelosi, after the bruising she took for backing John Murtha for House Majority Leader over Steny Hoyer, has passed over Alcee Hastings to head the House Intelligence Committee. According to this A.P. story, the decision "could roil Democrat unity" in the House.
Critics pointed out that he had been impeached when he was a federal judge and said naming him to such a sensitive post would be a mistake just as the Democrats take over House control pledging reforms.
I think it was a smart move on Pelosi's part. After the Murtha debacle, she really couldn't afford to let "Bribe Me" Hastings chair the intel committee. The choice would have been absolutely rife with possibilities for Republicans.
Pelosi has not announced who the new Intelligence committee head will be. But Hastings had a characteristically classly parting shot in his news conference:
In a sign of the bitterness that has surrounded the debate, Hastings closed his statement by saying: "Sorry, haters, God is not finished with me yet."
Maybe God's not, but it sounds like the House leadership is.
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