Pelosi’s Ascendancy in House Puts a Close Liberal Ally in the Spotlight
By KATE ZERNIKE
Published: November 25, 2006
Pable Martinez Monsivais/Associated Press
Representative George Miller, whom
Representative Nancy Pelosi called
“a valued friend,” has been standing
behind her for years, as at a news
conference in 2003.
WASHINGTON, Nov. 22 — In a friendship stretching over 30 years and many plane trips to Washington from their neighboring California districts, Representatives Nancy Pelosi and George Miller have become so close that, as colleagues say, they finish each others’ sentences.
So it was not surprising that, when Mrs. Pelosi faced the first test of her role as speaker-elect of the House of Representatives, Mr. Miller was in the background, pushing her to back Representative John P. Murtha of Pennsylvania to replace her as Democratic leader over the more centrist candidate, Representative Steny H. Hoyer of Maryland, who had been her No. 2 for four years.
In the week since Mr. Hoyer won the position, Democratic leaders have played down any disharmony created by the leadership struggle. But Mr. Miller’s role raised fears that after carefully nudging her party to the center, which many say helped the Democrats retake the majority, Mrs. Pelosi would let her liberal allies have too much influence.
In the concerns of some Democrats — and the I-told-you-so’s of some Republicans — Mr. Miller represents Mrs. Pelosi’s true liberal soul, and his pushing for Mr. Murtha a sign that the far left would dominate and destabilize the Democrats, after they have emerged from 12 years in the minority.
(snip/...)
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/25/us/politics/25miller.html?ref=us
"Oooooh, that's real scary, keeeeds!"So now Nancy Pelosi doesn't have a mind of her own, and is being guided, without her knowledge, by a terrifying Svengali figure hovering just behind her at all times, like Dick Cheney!