Rep. Moran's Mouth

Who asked him to be Jack Murtha's muscle?

THE FIGHT over the post of House majority leader this week brought out the worst in a lot of people. Members were threatened, tacitly if not explicitly, with bad committee assignments and other punishments if they didn't back Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.), the choice of Speaker-elect Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). But at least most of those involved were canny enough to do their bullying behind closed doors. Not Rep. James P. Moran Jr. (D-Va.). The fight brought out the Northern Virginian's not-so-inner thug.

"We are entering an era where when the speaker instructs you what to do, you do it," Mr. Moran told The Hill newspaper before the vote. Gee, that sounds like a new breeze blowing. Those who failed to comply with Ms. Pelosi's wishes, Mr. Moran added, would suffer the consequences. "Some of the freshmen who came in with some naivete are understanding the meaning" of Ms. Pelosi's endorsement, he said. If they don't, "they'll screw themselves for the rest of their lives."

Even after the vote, even as the incoming speaker was proclaiming a time to "let the healing begin," Mr. Moran was taking names. "We have a pretty good idea" who the miscreants are, he said. "It remains to be seen if their wished-for committee assignments will be fulfilled."

Mr. Moran, once again, has let his mouth get the better of him -- and the lawmaker himself doesn't necessarily disagree. "I'm hung up about this war and I naturally get very competitive," he said when we asked about the comments. "I wind up saying things that, upon reflection, I feel the tone isn't what I meant to convey. And then, when I calm down and reflect, I have a very different view of things. . . . I can't argue with you that it comes off in a cruder way than I wish it did."