Speaker in waiting

Nancy Pelosi apparently intends to stick to her plan of installing Alcee Hastings to the chairmanship of the House Intelligence Committee.  It boggles the mind.

He was removed from office as a federal judge in 1989 for taking a $150,000 bribe to render light sentences and other perks to two mobsters. And his latest disclosure forms list $2 million to $7 million in liabilities (mostly for legal fees).

Were Hastings a regular Joe applying for a security clearance of the lowest kind for a job at the CIA or FBI, he'd be rapidly and roundly denied. His history of public corruption, coupled with his precarious financial situation, makes him ripe to be targeted for espionage.

We may be in luck, particularly if John Murtha's losing run at House Majority Leader is any indication of Pelosi's leadership skills.  With national defense and national security taking back seat to political considerations, another Pelosi slap down would be in order.

For some time now, California Rep. Jane Harmon has been the chief Democratic voice on the intelligence panel, but the word in Washington is that Pelosi has cut a deal with the Democratic Black Caucus to give the job to Rep. Alcee Hastings of Florida. Trouble is, Hastings has his own checkered ethics record.

A onetime federal judge, Hastings was accused of accepting $150,000 in return for doling out a lenient sentence. He was tried and acquitted of criminal charges but impeached by the House in 1989 and ousted from the court by the U.S. Senate. Not exactly a letter of recommendation from a previous employer.

Why pass up Harmon? It's not altogether clear, but the rumor is that Pelosi can't stand the woman. It's not business. It's personal. That's also what seems to have prompted her opposition to Hoyer.

Pelosi's loss on Murtha was the nation's gain and the same will be true of her support for Alcee Hastings' chairmanship.  But, how perfectly she represents the Democrats, don't you think.