Are Some House Dems Becoming Pragmatic?

The key word is "some".

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer is not an idiot and he knows that under the non-leadership of Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the San Fran libs will get more powerful and have more say in policy matters. It appears that Hoyer has grabbed the reins from Pelosi to stop her from leading the majority party off a high cliff:

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said on Tuesday that the troop surge, which began in June, has had a significant impact on the situation in Iraq and noted that he had always been critical of the Bush administration for deploying an insufficient number of troops in previous years.

"Stability and a decrease in violence, they've done that - God bless them. I'm not surprised that they did," Hoyer told Cybercast News Service in response to a question about steadily declining U.S. casualty rates in Iraq. (Hear Audio).

Hoyer knows that Americans in general want to win in Iraq and leave with honor, he also knows that the hard left in his party is doing everything possible to prevent that and are talking down successes. If the Democrats want to maintain control of the House next November, it won't exactly help to give the GOP ammunition with which to brand them as unpatriotic or unsupportive of the troops--two labels that will destroy them in newly Democratis states in the South.

Just as Alcee Hastings smacked around Dennis Kucinich yesterday, Hoyer has the political acumen to see that if the liberal faction gets a firm grip, the party will go down in flames. Pelosi does not (or has chosen not to) see that as clearly as Hoyer and other adults in the party.

It's a step in the right direction I guess and one that has been a long time coming. Too bad that Hastings and Hoyer, along with many of the Blue Dogs, are the ones that are paying attention to what is happening within their party.

We may be seeing a shift back to some sanity in the party of FDR and Kennedy.

Update: Worldwide Standard has thoughts along these lines as well.