HOYER V. MURTHA...I'm kind of ambivalent about the big Hoyer-Murtha batttle for majority leader. I'm no huge fan of Hoyer's ties to K Street and his general establishment-based political style, but, as Matt Yglesias points out, it's not as if Murtha is a whole lot more progressive. Indeed, when Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington released its annual "Most Corrupt Members of Congress" report in September, Murtha and the disgraced Reps. William Jefferson and Alan Mollohan were the only Democrats to make the list.

But I would take issue with something Ed Kilgore says in his defense of Hoyer. "It's not as though Steny has done anything to undermine House Democrats in their criticism of Bush Iraq policies," writes Ed. In fact, on the day last November when Nancy Pelosi announced her support for Murtha's call for withdrawal, Hoyer released a statement declaring, "a precipitous withdrawal of American forces in Iraq could lead to disaster, spawning a civil war, fostering a haven for terrorists and damaging our nation’s security and credibility."

Whatever you think of the merits of that stance, it's hard to argue that it didn't undermine Pelosi and Murtha's position.

UPDATE: THIS POST HAS BEEN CHANGED TO REFLECT THE FACT THAT REP. ALAN MOLLOHAN (D-W.V.) WAS INCLUDED IN CREW'S LIST OF MOST CORRUPT MEMBERS OF CONGRESS.